Herero Translations

Thanks to David Seed's article, "Pynchon's Herero," in Pynchon Notes #10 [Published since 1980, Pynchon Notes] is quarterly journal which is a fount of Pynchon scholarship. Back issues are available.]

100, 322, 323:
Ndjambi Karunga: Herero God (invoked only in thanksgiving after some unexpected luck; or they [the Herero] pray to him when all other means of help fail)

100, 316:
omuhona: "lord, master"

152:
mba rara m'eroto ondyoze ... mbe mu munine m'oruroto ayo u n'omuinyo: "he was shining in my dream as if he were alive"

314-16, 320, 362-63, 673, 730, 732:
Nguarorerue: "one who has been tested"

316:
Otyikondo: "bastard" or "mulatto"

316:
eanda: "origin" (organized according to maternal rights)
oruzo: "derivation" (organized according to paternal rights)

316:
Omakungurua (Otukungurua): "the emptied vessels"

321:
Omumborombanga: "Tree" (According to Herero myth, man originated out of the omumborombanga tree, which is accordingly venerated for symbolizing the tribe's sacred descent)

322, 524:
Mukuru: "the old one" (signifying the primal ancestor of the Herero, the first man to emerge from the tree of creation)

325:
outase: "large, newly laid cow turd"

328:
okanumaihi: "the little drinker of sweet milk"

362:
mba-kayere: "I am passed over"

456:
m'okamanga: "instantly" or "instantaneously" (Probably in the sense of this radio transmission would be "come in.")

520:
orururumo ([oru = inanimate prefix] + "a flame") orunene (oru + "great" or "big"): "the high, rising, dead, the blazing, the great one"

521:
omunene: omu = animate + nene ("big") = "the eldest brother"

673:
iya 'kurandye: "we are going, my fellow"