Basotho indigenous plant names : an onomastics study
Letseleha, Mamoya Vinolia
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
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