Mmuock Explained

Mmuock (sometimes Mmock) is the Anglicised form of Muòk (pronounced as /m̩muɔk/)—sometimes written as Mǒk (see next paragraph). The exonym is Bamock. Mmuock is a tribe in the West/Southwest of Cameroon. Belonging to the Bamilike ethnic group, the Mmuock tribe comprises four villages: Mmuock Leteh, Mmuock Fossimondi, Mmockmbie, and Mmock Leleng . The first three villages are found in the English-speaking Lebialem Division in the Southwest Region of Cameroon, while Mmock Leleng lies in the french-speaking West Region.

The Mmuock tribe speaks the Mmuock (Mmock) language. Due to dialectal differences, the name of the tribe is pronounced in Mmuock-Leteh and Mmuock-Fossimondi as pronounced as /m̩muɔːk/, and in the other two villages as pronounced as /m̩mok/. As a result, there are two Anglicised spellings: Mmuock and Mmock.

Etymology

The word Muòk (or Moòk) means fire in the Mmuock language.[1] There have been two different origin stories to the name. According to the first story, when four brothers, who later founded the four villages, separated, each was to make a fire if attacked; the smoke from the fire would alert the others. According to the second story, the name was given by the people of Bafou as a result of their inability to defeat and capture the four brothers.[2]

Names of days of the week

In the Mmuock culture, there are eight days in the week. The week days, in order, are as follow:[3]

  1. Ngangà (the first day)
  2. Mbeqgnúá (Betaâgnúá)
  3. Mbeqlěq
  4. Njϐngong (Ngong)
  5. Mbeqńkœó
  6. Njœêlekœr̄
  7. Fa'à
  8. Télǎng (Njœeláh).

The first day, Ngangè, is a public holiday and a day of rest; no manual labour is permitted. The second day is the market day.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Fotang, Tano . The Sound of Mmuock (Vol 1: Orthography) . first. Bamenda . Magnolian Publishers. 2011. 978-9956-645-17-6 .
  2. Book: Asaah, Thomas . Mmock in History. Yaounde. 1980.
  3. Web site: Mmuock Week Days . Mmuock Language Society . February 15, 2020.