# Afrikaans: Baba



## Pilarcita

Hello everybody, by any chance is there some one who speaks Afrikaans and  could tell me if *Baba* means dad or what. It´s in a Nadine Gordimer short story. I translated  it back in 1990 as dad, only that I don't remember from where I  took the term. I´ve been looking in the Web in all the available dictionaries and is traslated as baby.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Pilar


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## Cathy Rose

In some cultures, Baba is grandmother.  My own granddaughters call their great-grandmother "Baba." It may well mean something entirely different in another culture.


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## Pilarcita

Thanks a lot Cathy Rose for your quick response. Do you know where does the word come from?


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## Flaminius

_Baba_ is father in Arabic dialects and Indic languages at modern times.  I think I can trace it to Aramaic _abba_.  Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Persian Empire and of Middle East.  Its influences can be seen in Arabic, which supplanted but co-existed with Aramaic for a long time.

Afrikaans could have taken the word from one of the Arabic or Indic languages.

Aside:
_Baba_ in sense of a grandmother can be found in Slavic languages and Japanese but probably they are unrelated.


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## Pilarcita

Thank you very much Flaminius. It is possible that the word either travelled all the way from North to South Africa or was introduced by the Indian people who migrate to South Africa.
Again, thank you. You seem to be an encyclopedia.


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## Macunaíma

In the Candomblé, an African-Brazilian religion, the male priests are called Babalorixás (fathers of the orixás) and the female priests Yalorixás (mothers of the orixás). Orixás are the deities of this religion. Here's an article in English about the Candomblé. So, at least in Yorubá, the word _baba_ means _father_.


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## Pilarcita

Thank you, Macunaíma, I'll read the article.


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## mongoolis-in-suid afrika

Hello,there!Pilarcita!
I think I'm the right person from suid afrika who is able to answer your question.
"baba" is widely used around suid afrika and originally from Zulu or khosa black people's language which menas "man,or guy".by the way,hwere did you find it?


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## mongoolis-in-suid afrika

I do talk afrikaans,suid afrika is bilingual country:English and Afrikaans


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## avok

"Baba" means "father" in Turkish but may be of Persian origin.


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## J.F. de TROYES

Many languages that are undoubtedly unrelated use "baba" either for the formal word "father" or the informal one "daddy" . To the already quoted languages we can add Chinese, Swahili, Kikuyu, Bengali, Persian and certainly more. For Afrikaans I also assume, as it was previously said, that "baba" was borrowed from an African language , maybe from Zulu where it is used too.


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## filoutjie

In the book you have read, the meaning may have been "dad", but in Afrikaans "baba" means "baby": Hy is die baba van die familie. (He is the baby of the family).
Filoutjie


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## Pilarcita

Thanks all for your answers, sorry I haven't written before. Moongolis-in-suid  afrika,  as I wrote in the first post I found the word _Baba_ (sic) in Nadime Gordiner' short story "Amnesty", and I deduced it means father for the context:
_Look at this place where the white man owns the ground and lets you squat in mud-and-tin huts here only as long as you work for him _–_Baba and your brother planting his crops and looking after his cattle, Mama cleaning his house..__.
_She also used 2 or 3 afrikaans words like _doek, baas, _etc. But  I could easily found the translation for these..
Cheers


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## Abu Bishr

Pilarcita said:


> Thanks all for your answers, sorry I haven't written before. Moongolis-in-suid afrika, as I wrote in the first post I found the word _Baba_ (sic) in Nadime Gordiner' short story "Amnesty", and I deduced it means father for the context:
> _Look at this place where the white man owns the ground and lets you squat in mud-and-tin huts here only as long as you work for him _–_Baba and your brother planting his crops and looking after his cattle, Mama cleaning his house..__._
> She also used 2 or 3 afrikaans words like _doek, baas, _etc. But I could easily found the translation for these..
> Cheers


 
While _doek_ (cloth) and _baas_ (boss) are Afrikaans _Baba_ meaning 'Daddy' or 'Dad' is not. Also, the Afrikaans word for 'Mum' or 'Mummy' is not "Mama" but "Mamma" or "Mammie" or "Ma". The long vowel sound in "Mama" makes it sound more like Zulu, Xhosa, etc. This shows that _Baba_ and _Mama_ go together, and come from the same language(s). I only know _baba_ with a small "b" to ever mean "baby". The fact that "Baba" in the passage is used with a capital "B" and so also "Mama" with a capital "M" suggests to me that these are names that they are known and called by like "Dad" and "Mum".


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## MarX

Pilarcita said:


> Hello everybody, by any chance is there some one who speaks Afrikaans and  could tell me if *Baba* means dad or what. It´s in a Nadine Gordimer short story. I translated  it back in 1990 as dad, only that I don't remember from where I  took the term. I´ve been looking in the Web in all the available dictionaries and is traslated as baby.
> Thanks in advance.
> Cheers,
> Pilar


Hi Pilar!

In Jakartan Slang (Bahasa Betawi), the word for "father" is *Babè*.

It's normal in _Bahasa Betawi_ to change the final *-a* to *-è*.
So one may assume that *Babè* originated from *Baba*.


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## loxi123

hi there. 

baba in afrikaans means baby. though thats what i translate it as. i am sure it is, i have learnt it as that and i have used it in south africa as baby ye. yes definately means baby. 

Loxi


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