Xhosa: Nguqongqothwane

Today we have a somewhat famous Xhosa song, Qongqothwane | Knock-knock beetle, aka "The click song". I already posted the song here before this blog existed, and now I decided to move the analysis here. Alright, so:

1. "Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane":
   • Igqirha is found to be the singular form of the noun meaning "traditional doctor" at the Xhosa dictionary, and my Quora helper glosses it as "witchdoctor". I guess "diviner" could do. That is the Wikipedia take on this word.
   • Lendlela is le-, "of", + -ndlela, root of a noun meaning "road".
   • Nguqongqothwane is ngu-, "he's", a subject prefix for an opportune third person singular, + -qongqothwane, root of the name of this beetle which emits a characteristic knock-knock sound which the clicks in the name imitate. This beetle's passing is considered a good omen, which is why this song is sung at weddings. Cfr. Wikipedia on the beetles.
   So the first line means "He's the witchdoctor of the roads". Time to revise the «Diviner of roadways» English version on Sep 10 2018 at 11:22.
2. "Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, kuthiwa nguqongqothwane":
   • Sele, elided to sel' here, means "already", says Quora helper.
   • Eqabela, elided to eqabel' here, is e-, subject prefix, + -qabela, "climb", says Quora helper.
   • Eqgitha, elided here to egqith', is e-, subject prefix, + -gqitha, "pass by", says Xhosa dictionary and Quora helper.
   • Apha means "here", say Xhosa dictionary and Quora helper.
   • Kuthiwa is ku-, other subject prefix, + -thi, "say", + -iwa, "by them", so "he's said by them", or "he's called by them", where "them" is generic. In fact, maybe -iwa is actually a passivizing suffix. So from "he's called" I had "he's called" and 它叫, with this reinterpretation as "it's said he is", I'll have 人说 and 是 instead of 那, and as for English… we will see.
   • Nguqongqothwane is as above.
   So this line means «Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, it's said that he's the knock-knock beetle». There is a variant with "Sel'equbul'" instead of "Sel'eqabel". I ignore it, and leave the explanation to this other Quora post. Also, «He climbs up while passing by here» in that tune is kind of a tongue twister, so I changed it for the recording, and I also find "Ah oh" terrible, so I stuck to the original "awu" accidentally in the recording, but I planned to have "yah-hoo!".
3. The rest of what is in the below lyrics is essentially filler text with no meaning, as the English version should highlight.

Putting things together:

Igqirha lendlela, Nguqongqothwane, Igqirha lendlela, kuthiwa Nguqongqothwane, Igqirha lendlela, huyya, Nguqongqothwane, Igqirha lendlela, kuthiwa Nguqonqothwane. Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, ga’aya, Nguqonqothwane, Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, awu, Nguqonqothwane, Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, ga’aya, Nguqonqothwane, Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, mm, Nguqonqothwane. Igqirha lendlela, Nguqonqothwane, Igqirha lendlela, kuthiwa Nguqongqothwane, Igqirha lendlela, huyya, Nguqongqothwane, Igqirha lendlela, kuthiwa Nguqonqothwane. Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, Nguqonqothwane, Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, Nguqonqothwane, Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, Nguqonqothwane, Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, Nguqonqothwane. Igqirha lendlela, Nguqonqothwane, Igqirha lendlela, kuthiwa Nguqongqothwane. Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, ga’aya, Nguqonqothwane, Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha, mm, Nguqonqothwane.

He's the witchdoctor of the roads He's the knock-knock beetle, He's the witchdoctor of the roads, he's called The knock-knock beetle, He's the witchdoctor of the roads, huyya, He's the knock-knock beetle, He's the witchdoctor of the roads, he's called The knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, ga'aya, He's the knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, awu, He's the knock-knock beetle Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, ga'aya, He's the knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, mm, He's the knock-knock beetle He's the witchdoctor of the roads He's the knock-knock beetle, He's the witchdoctor of the roads, he's called The knock-knock beetle, He's the witchdoctor of the roads, huyya, He's the knock-knock beetle, He's the witchdoctor of the roads, he's called The knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, ga'aya, He's the knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, awu, He's the knock-knock beetle Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, ga'aya, He's the knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, mm, He's the knock-knock beetle He's the witchdoctor of the roads He's the knock-knock beetle, He's the witchdoctor of the roads, he's called The knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, ga'aya, He's the knock-knock beetle, Already he's climbing, he's passing by here, awu, He's the knock-knock beetle