Basotho indigenous plant names : an onomastics study

Abstract

The Basotho people have shared a deep-rooted connection with plants since ancient times, driven by their rich indigenous knowledge. This knowledge has enabled the community to bestow meaningful names upon their native flora, making them comprehensible and significant. Within the Basotho culture, names hold immense importance and are believed to possess the power to influence situations and the characteristics of individuals, plants, or animals bearing them. This naming practice showcases the Basotho's creativity and profound understanding of their cultural and historical heritage. The objectives of this study wereto identify the names of Basotho indigenous plants, to explore naming practices and cultures within the Basotho community and establish the relationship thereof; to describe the morphological features of Basotho indigenous plant names, and to describe the link between morphological and semantic aspects of Basotho indigenous plant names. The socioonomastics framework underpinned this study. This theory studies names in a social context, including their usage and perception in interpersonal interactions. The study employed an ethnographic content analysis using the qualitative method. Two methods were used to gather data for the study. The first was a semi-structured interview with traditional healers and herbalists who gave insight into different plants that Basotho found and used in the study's Qwaqwa area. The second method was a secondary data collection method where different pieces of literature on Basotho plants were discussed. Data from semi-structured interviews and secondary sources was analysed using ethnographic data analysis, a methodical approach to identifying and comprehending human behaviour and cultural patterns using qualitative data. The study found that our ancestors' vast indigenous knowledge and environmental awareness are demonstrated by the names given to the therapeutic plants. For present and future generations of traditional healers and herbalists, their capacity to name plants according to their morphological characteristics and semantic relationship to their treatments cleared the path for indigenous plant knowledge