Inciteful language: knowing and naming technology in south central Africa

The word busongo names a kind of technological know-how' across a large number of languages in south central Africa, a distribution that is a testament to the word's age. This essay reconstructs the history of the invention and changing meanings of busongo from its first millennium origins and tracks its use to the present using the methods of comparative historical linguistics. The resulting history illustrates the interplay of affective and sensory dimensions of technology in the creation of new understandings of technological practices in medieval central Africa. As a form of conceptual history, the story of busongo also raises new questions about the relationship between tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge and speech: is speech a form of tacit knowledge? If so, what are the implications for the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge?