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Illustration of Umkhovu
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
Fayiro Nnamba 057 ku 446

Umkhovu

Era ayitibwa: imikhovu, esemkofu, esimkovu
Enfumo n'emboozi ez'eddaAbafu abalamuObulogo1500 okutuuka 1899

The umkhovu is the Zulu form of the witch's zombie: a body taken from the grave, revived by magic and kept as a familiar. Its tongue is removed so that it cannot speak. Colonial-era writers recorded the belief in the 1870s, half a century before The Magic Island popularised the Haitian zombi. It belongs to the same family as the zombie beliefs reported from South Africa in the late 20th century.1

Lwanyisa
Yasooka okuwandiikibwa
1875
Described in D. Leslie's Among the Zulus (1875)
Gy'ava
Zulu
Sawusafirika
Ekikireeta
Obulogo
A witch or wizard digs up a corpse and brings it back to life as a familiar.
Engeri omuntu gy'afuukamu omu ku bo
A dead person exhumed and revived by a witch.
Amagezi
Talina magezi

Yasooka ddi okulabika?

Ensi ey'eddaEmirembe egya wakati1500 okutuuka 18991900 okutuuka 19671968 okutuuka 19992000 okutuuka 20092010 okutuuka leero1875

Described in D. Leslie's Among the Zulus (1875)

ebiwandiiko by'omu nnimiro

Ensibuko bye zigamba

1

The Zulu word means an exhumed corpse revived as a witch's servant1

2

The witch cuts out its tongue, so that it can only make a wailing sound1

3

English writers of the 19th century rendered the plural as 'Esemkofu'1

4

H. Rider Haggard used them in his Zulu novel Nada (1895), haunting a 'Ghost Mountain'1

5

The Dictionary of South African English records the term from 1875 to 19251

Ensibuko

  1. Esemkofu - Dictionary of South African English

Buli kintu ku lupapula luno kiva mu nsibuko zino, nga kiwandiikiddwa mu bigambo byaffe. Olabye ensobi? Tubuulire ku [email protected].

Liisa ekibinja. Tewali birango, tewali bikulondoola, nga bisasulwa omuntu omu. Akasiimo kakikuuma ku yintaneti.Leka akasiimo

Enfumo okuva mu nsi ze zimu

South African witchcraft zombieSouth African (Tsonga, Sotho, Venda)

Omulembe gwe gumu: 1500 okutuuka 1899

JiangshiChinese, 1789Zombi (Haitian)Haitian (Vodou folklore), 1750StrigoiRomanian, 1714Vampir (South Slavic)South Slavic (Serbian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Bosnian), 1725AbhartachIrish, 1870Arnold PaoleSerbian, 1732
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