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

Umkhovu

Ikwabizwa ngokuba: imikhovu, esemkofu, esimkovu
Iintsomi zemveli namabali amanduloIvuswe ekufeniUbugqwirha1500 ukuya ku-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

Yiphose edabini
Yabhalwa okokuqala
1875
Described in D. Leslie's Among the Zulus (1875)
Imvelaphi
Zulu
UMzantsi Afrika
Oko kuyibangelayo
Ubugqwirha
A witch or wizard digs up a corpse and brings it back to life as a familiar.
Indlela umntu aba yiyo ngayo
A dead person exhumed and revived by a witch.
Ubukrelekrele
Ayinangqondo

Yavela nini okokuqala?

Ihlabathi lamanduloAmaxesha Aphakathi1500 ukuya ku-18991900 ukuya ku-19671968 ukuya ku-19992000 ukuya ku-20092010 ukuza kuthi ga namhlanje1875

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

amanqaku ophando

Oko kuthethwa yimithombo

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

Imithombo

  1. Esemkofu - Dictionary of South African English

Yonke inyaniso ekweli phepha ivela kule mithombo, ibhalwe ngamazwi ethu. Ubone impazamo? Sixelele ku-[email protected].

Yondla umkhosi. Akukho zintengiso, akukho zilandeli, ihlawulelwa ngumntu omnye. Ithiphu iyigcina ikwi-intanethi.Shiya ithiphu

Iintsomi zemveli ezivela kumazwe afanayo

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

Ixesha elinye: 1500 ukuya ku-1899

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