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Illustration of Umkhovu
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
Faylka No. 057 ee 446

Umkhovu

Sidoo kale loo yaqaan: imikhovu, esemkofu, esimkovu

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

Dagaal geli
Markii ugu horreysay ee la diiwaangeliyay
1875
Described in D. Leslie's Among the Zulus (1875)
Asal
Zulu
Koonfur Afrika
Waxa sababa
Sixir
A witch or wizard digs up a corpse and brings it back to life as a familiar.
Sida aad mid u noqotid
A dead person exhumed and revived by a witch.
Caqli
Maskax la'

Goorma ayuu markii ugu horreysay soo baxay?

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

qoraallada goobta

Waxa ilaha yidhaahdaan

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

Ilaha

  1. Esemkofu - Dictionary of South African English

Xaqiiqo kasta oo bogga ku jirta waxay ka timid ishahan, waxaana lagu qoray hadalkayaga. Khalad ma aragtay? Noogu sheeg [email protected].

Quudi kooxda zombiyada. Xayeysiis ma jiro, raadraac ma jiro, hal qof baa bixiya. Tibiriq yar ayaa ka dhigaya shabakadda mid furan.Tibiriq reeb

Khuraafaad ka yimid dhulalkaas

Isla xilligaas: 1500 ilaa 1899

Quudi kooxda zombiyadaTibiriq reeb