AMAGAMA EZINYONI/ ZULU NAMES OF BIRDS

265pp., colour illus., paperback, Pietermaritzburg, 2020

This book is the outcome of the six-year Zulu Bird Name Project. Between 2013 and 2018, Adrian Koopman, Roger Porter and Noleen Turner facilitated annual workshops in which eighteen mother-tongue Zulu-speaking bird experts researched the names of bird species found in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Lists all the bird species found in the area, provides the proposed standardised Zulu name for each species, explains the underlying meaning and how the name came into being, and records all earlier names for these birds, even if no longer in use.

Adrian Koopman is an emeritus professor of Zulu at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His books include Zulu Names (2002) and Zulu Plant Names (2015).

Roger Porter, now retired, was a wildlife ecologist and conservation planner in the Natal Parks Board and KZN Wildlife.

Noleen Turner, now retired, worked in the African Languages Department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, where she is currently an honorary research professor.