The Term "Slave" as discussed in H-West Africa

It is always crucial to examine the etymology of a word like this slave before making a statement that is going to be documented in this global library, the Internet for eternity.  A slave is strictly speaking an individual who is the legal property of another or other person and is bound to absolute obedience. Although slavery was abolished in the 19th century, you still have some subtle forms of slavery in some primitive communities where persons particularly women are bought and sold. Once in the the owners homes they are supposed to do as they are told, produce children, be sex objects, work, etc. and there may be no affection. 

 It will be recalled that the spread of some diseases in most of these societies, particularly STDs  that lead to several dying prematurely is attributed to the fact that once the husband dies, a relative or brother would not let the woman return to her parents or original home because it is considered that she was bought and she had to remain as the property of her husbands relatives. She is taken to sire children for them or engaged in unpaid labor.  Most had not diagnosed the causes of the death of her spouse and after having dalliance with her may die from what killed his relative, that is the husband in the first place. So the practice of lobola (Southern Africa) or bride-price may be done away with and let people live in vogue and do not take chances by advancing bogus rationales.  People who accept this sort of tradition ague strongly that they could not have their educated children and they marry whoever they want for free. This is archaic reasoning. In a perfect world the parent should support the  suitor of his daughter in kind and cash to take good care of his daughter instead of taking money from his daughter as if she was chattel. 

I stumbled upon this word's origin donkey years ago and it was explained in the old Encyclopedia Britannica that the term SLAVE emanated from the word SLAV. The Slavs are or were members of the eastern of central European speaking Slavic language.  It was in the past spelled as SCLAVE. Why, in the old days, the Slovakia was the principal supplier of enslaved persons for  human trafficking. For that reason, persons who surrendered their identity or human rights to another person or persons were generically known in Europe as SLAVES.  This was a long way before the blossoming of the despicable trans-European, trans-Saharan or trans-Atlantic slave trades most of us associate slave trade and slavery with.  Before the Dark Ages, there was slavery  and slave trade in all of Europe and in most parts of less civilized world. Remember that if you were born blonds, particular fairer sexes, you were sought after by the Arab sheikhs in the Middle East. Europeans easily sold these sort of individuals as they fetched good money as concubines or prepared as eunuchs to guard homes of officials. Note only that, children and captives after insurgences were sold rather than being killed. This was common with the opening of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that led to true African Americans immigrating to Americas before continental Africans were allowed to come and settle in the USA or the Americas. They provided labor to their owners gratis. That was ugly slavery. So, Africans or Africans Americans should not go around with the unsubstantiated or unfounded  belief that slaves were only confined in Africa or is referred only to Africa.  No one in the dark ages was safe and even thereafter. 

Interested persons may read more about slavery and slave trade in my book, Who is African American? Crossing Racial Barriers (Cultural Deprivation and African Americans' Struggles for Survival: On the Wake of Dr. Frantz Fano to President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the USA). This is published by Baico Publishing in 2009 at Ottawa www.baico.ca

Viban Viban Ngo, PhD.

> Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:03:06 +0000
> From: beckerleschar@ORANGE.SN
> Subject: the term slave: 4 REPLIES
> To: H-WEST-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:18:49 -0500
> X-Posted from H-NET Discussion List for African American Studies
>
> From: Abdul Alkalimat
> _____________
>
> REPLY 1
>
> From: hpthom2004@yahoo.com
>
> First of all, the use of slave HAS been challenged. There is a cohort of
> scholars who much prefer, and use, the term "enslaved persons." However,
> besides the fact of this phrase's awkwardness, the truth remains that
> "slave" is the actual historical word used by actual historical people.
> From a historian's point of view, we can best understand the thinking and
> sentiments of past historical actors by carefully interrogating their
> language and using it as they used it. A key aspect to understanding prior
> times is understanding how and why they used language. What did these
> words connote and denote in that time and place. Sanitizing history by
> altering language does not accurately "capture" former "worlds." Those who
> are not trained historians may harbor different sympathies and academic
> priorities than mine, but when I write about the past, I want to transport
> my readers to the times about which I'm writing. I'm sure others take
> other approaches.
>
> _____________
>