Grusi

A strange feature of the Grusi language toponyms is an apparent absence of any based on tree names. The species which one might expect to find represented, because of their economic, religious, or social significance are the baobab, dawadawa, kapok, mahogany and shea trees. In Kasem, these would be (in Roman orthography) tiu, sungu, gungu, pina, and songo, and in Sisaala, teling, sugulung, kungkomo, piine, and suomo, respectively.

A common form of toponym found in the Kasem-speaking area is that constructed from a personal name, N, followed by -nia. Niggli's Kasem dictionary defines the suffix as 'common descent', so Nogsenia means 'Nogse's lineage or family'. However, it is obvious from examples given by native speakers that it is also used with the wider meaning of 'people'. Thus Boania, a village with residents from five different tribes who all worship the same god, Boa, means 'Boa's People'. Without local knowledge it is not always possible to be certain of the exact form of the eponym represented by N, as in the case of Nayagnia, which is said to be based on the name of the first settler, Yagm.

According to Ethnologue, Sisaala land has two main dialects, Tumulung & Western Sisaala , although a map given by Barker shows a more complex picture of 7 major dialects. In the southeast, where Tumulung is spoken, villages are often formed from sub-clans (or sections of clans). The toponyms are composed of the name of the founding ancestor, followed by the suffix -jaŋ, which Blass simply translates as 'village' or 'group of compounds'. By contrast, in the northwest, where the dialect is Western, it is more common for sections of villages to be so named. According to Mendonsa, "the jaŋ, as a subunit of the clan, is composed of a variety of agnatically related lineages, often divided into two maximal divisions, each composed of two or more lineages .. . The jaŋ is headed by the senior male of the oldest lineage of the jaŋ." A clear example, where the eponym has not been abbreviated or modified, is Dimajan, the male name 'Dima' meaning 'soul' (Blass).

A similar construction appears to exist using the Western Sisaala ebɛlle, meaning 'children', as in the villages Silbelle & Sorbelle, about 8km west of Tumu. The 1962 map also shows several instances of this form, e.g. Bugubelle, about 30-40 km south of Tumu, which Barker's map identifies as being in the Gelbagli dialect area. More examples are found even further south, in the area labelled on the Ethnologue language map as Paasaal (but shown on Barker's map as one of the 7 dialects of Sisaala), such as Tinniabele and Sawubele.

It is more difficult to give typical toponyms for the remaining Grusi groups because of the much smaller sizes of the samples and in some cases their social complexity. Some examples will illustrate.

The Chakali area south of Paasaal is a small peninsula of just 13 settlements in an area of Wa East District. Of these, Bulenga (reportedly named after a founder) is not Chakali-speaking, but is the seat of Wali-chieftancy for all the villages. In the nearby villages from northwest to southeast, viz. Gilan, Dupare (probably a Wali name meaning 'Under The Dawadawa Tree'), Chagu, Bisikan & Kandia (perhaps 'North' in Chakali), the language is closer to Wali. The remaining villages, viz. Torsa, Tiisa, Sogla ('Telling a Story'), Motigu, Katua, Ducie & Gurumbelle, represent a spectrum of Chakali usage amongst the community, and the language itself shows variation from village to village.

Far removed from the main Grusi area in Ghana is the little group of Delo-speaking people in the north of the Volta Region. The existence of the Delose (or Ntrubo), sandwiched between the GTML Adele to the north and the Akan incursion across the Volta in the south, is explained by the much larger Grusi presence in Togo, whence they claim to have originated. Barker lists 10 villages, whose names show little evidence of any Grusi language influence. Those so far located are, from north to south: Bontibor, Salifukrom ('Salifu's Town'), Pusupu, Brewaniase ('The Place Under-Foot'), Obanda, Abrubruwa, Dodo Tamale. The remaining three are: Akyem, Ando & Bankanba.