Homonyms Are Words

Homonyms are words that are in a dictionary that entered separately even though they have different meanings, same shape, and form and even the way that the words are said (tone) are the same. An example of this is the word -khothi, there are two entries for this word, the first entry means licker, the one who licks; the second entry has two meanings (homonym), the first one is the word means forefinger, this name was given where a person uses their fore finger to wipe off the food that is left on the plate and so the word was taken from that action, the other meaning of the second entry is; seven, this meaning was probably given because of the primary meaning as when a person is eating something they use both the thumb and the fore finger and so when a person puts both these words out, it make the sign for the number seven.

In these entries we can see a similarity in that they both have something to do with licking of the finger. In the first entry the meaning is licker, a person that licks things, tis can be connected to the second entry where the fore finger is used to wipe off the food that is left on the plate as when a person has wiped off the food off the plate then they will lick the finger that they were wiping with. The other meaning is also connected with the meaning seven, people use the fore finger and the thumb to eat and so when they are done eating they will lick their seven (thumb and fore finger). If I were to put this entry into a dictionary I would have put it as the same entry (polysemy) as the descriptions are linked, I do not understand why Doke and Vilakazi put the entries as separate instead of the same entry with three different meanings as a polysemy word.

There is another type of homonym where the words are near-homonym, this happens when the words are similar but has different meanings, and an example of this is the word -khonde. This word is entered three times in the dictionary the first meaning has a different meaning (i(li)khonde), it is which is a part of a beast's that is between the hip and rump where the flesh sinks in that is not connected to the other two whereas the last entries are connected to each other. The second meaning (isikhonde) one that talks about a type of plant "Species of plants of the Ascelias family, e.g Asclepias multicaulis, roots edible" (Doke & Vilakazi). The third meaning is the back of person's neck (umkhonde), an example of this meaning that was given in the dictionary is "Uloku ebekise umkhonde phansi" which means that a person walks with their neck down or they are depressed that is why they walk with their neck down, in the second meaning it could serves as a metaphor.

In this entry there is also a similarity in the entries and their meanings and they could have been entered as polysemy word as there is a connection between the second and third meaning. The person that has their neck down looks like a plant that is about to die as the stem faces down when the plant is about to die and so there is a connection between the two entries. The other connection could be one that means that a flower faces down when it is about to die and so there could be a similarity to a person that is depressed as they feel like their world is about to end. And so we see two types of connections between these two meanings. They would have been entered as polysemy words as even the way they are said is the same.

Polysemy is when words seem different but are all derived from the same meaning (multiple meaning), these meaning should be connected to the primary meaning which is the first meaning but in different ways. This type includes the word -khonga that has three entries, the primary meaning is to beg, begging a person for something. The second meaning is making business with the father of the girl that you would like to marry; the third is so take out a hand to receive something. I believe this is a polysemy word as all three meanings are connected and the last two are connected to the primary meaning, I would have, however put the second meaning ("Make business arrangements for marriage with the bride's father") as the primary meaning because when the representatives that go to make to arrangements

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