The feature geographical name BUI sometimes spelled 'BUY' is not idiosyncratically an Nso' or original Lamnso appellation. It was the
name of the prima occupantis, the
first inhabitants of the region the present Nso' peoples occupy who spoke a
different language from that of the present occupants of the region. Who were
those original occupants? They were and are still the Nkar and the thirty
original families the leader of Nso, Princess Ngonso met when she and her
entourage moved from Mbo Plain to the Blue Mountains. They were chased away
from what is now termed Mbonso by inclement climate, and slave raiders. Their
original language was akin to Nso' language, variously known today as Lamnso.
The Nkarians or Nkar and the Thirty Original Inhabitants, Mtaar Nso, the first occupants of the Blue Mountain
region (as early German geographers called it) gave names to prominent
geographical features among which are the River Bui (Buy) from which stemmed
the regionym Bui.
This was gazetted and popularized in 1972 when the French Institute Geographique National (IGN) later Africanized as the National Geographic Centre at Yaoundé was run by the French
expatriates. Apart from the continuation of the trusteeship support the French stayed on as part of French technical aid to the Cameroon Republic,
then known as the Federal Republic of Cameroon. Instead of Nso Division, the
name of the prominent river in the region was given as is the French tradition of giving names of
geographical regions from those of prominent natural geographical features of
the areas.
By following this convention, the French and French
Cameroonian surveyors contravened the agreement with the United Nations Organizations (U.N.O.) that names of
Southern Cameroons then known as the West Cameroon State (aka Ambazonia or Bimbia) were to remain sacrosanct as in the
English Royal Geographical Society (R.G.S.) ways of place naming. That is, Nkambe Division was to be Nkambe
Division and not Dunga and Mantum, the prominent geographical features of this erstwhile
division; Mamfe was to be Mamfe and not Manyu, Victoria to be Victoria division and not Fako and so on. That was not the ways names were given when Southern Cameroons was
under the British colonial government as the Trusteeship of the United Nations
Organization (UNO) [1915-1961] or even as a Deutsch
Schutzegebiete, German possession under Kaiser Wihlem (1884-1916). [see the
1/300,000 German series covering all of Alt and Neu Kamerun by the German
Colonial Survey, Berlin]
Furthermore, the Nso who hailed from Rima, Bankim
with their female leader, Princess Ngonso, the first known Nso Amazon had
settled in the region of the present day Central African Republic before their westward
march. We attribute their move to explosion of their population, family feuds,
and subsequent moves to the Bamenda Highlands to be able to ward off slave
rustlers from lofty positions. The mountains formed natural battlements for the
then smaller population that could not fight decisively invaders. Therefore, their
association with the Biu a Hausa Bakwaii in Nigeria by some sensational
forumites, we learn stand for deux in
French or two as in the English or baa
in Lamnso language is far-fetched.
It is true that there are coincidences in
languages. The Nso language has MOI standing for me, as in the Kikuyu language
in East Africa and the French language. They also have BONG, stand for good as in French. We cannot
conclude that the Nso had past connection with the French natives or
tribe before their assimilation in Cameroon Republic with their national language being French. Many in Cameroon have been fast to conclude that the ndze, Ki, Kov, etc that sound like
Russian, or Polish have some connection with those areas of the world where those
languages are spoken. Instead it should be that those have connection with the
Nso as being an African tribe, where everyone in the world originated. They
might have taken some African sounding terms with them. French is a more recent
Romance language and the old Run Lamnso is pretty older irrespective of the
fact that it is prostituted with dialects and languages of assimilated aliens.
'Bui' in the Nkar/Nso' translation would be “efflorescence”, a term
signifying the shimmering owning to the numerous cataracts that characterize
the rivulet that gave rise to the name of the present Bui Division. Apart from this, a good number of features in that region do not bear the present Nso' or Lamnso names. A study of the etymologies of their prefixes and suffixes by this writer (yet to be published) is backing this statement. It got to be borne in mind that migrating African tribes, nation statelets or kingdoms, when migrating in the past only took along the names they were referred to and not those of their geographical features. This stemmed from the fact that lands were not possessed as in the Western milieus but used for its productivity and left when rendered infertile. The names of such lands or features were not taken along. New occupants occupying such abandoned lands simply used the names they were called. This was similarly the case with Nsoland and many others as Bali, that migrated all the way from the present Northern Nigeria to the present day (UNO) Southern Cameroons.
Interested forumites who are determined to be in terms with the author
may read his work:
The Origins of African Place Names:
An Introduction to Topnyms and Politics in Africa. This is published
by Baico Publishing Inc, Ottawa
Another fine source is Royaume
Bamoum by Professor Claude Tardit, Paris. This is hefty and in French but
covers Bui, Bamum, Bafia and Bankim with smattering on geographical place
names.
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