PNAS：识别新大陆的植物

摘要 : 一项研究发现，对苏里南的非洲裔苏里南人的植物方言名称与非洲的植物名称的比较揭示出了被奴隶化的非洲人识别新大陆植物的程度。在1658年到1825年间，将近30万名西非人被奴隶化并且被带到了苏里南;这些奴隶携带了他们的植物物种与文化植物学知识。

一项研究发现，对苏里南的非洲裔苏里南人的植物方言名称与非洲的植物名称的比较揭示出了被奴隶化的非洲人识别新大陆植物的程度。在1658年到1825年间，将近30万名西非人被奴隶化并且被带到了苏里南;这些奴隶携带了他们的植物物种与文化植物学知识。

Tinde van Andel及其同事研究了非洲奴隶的苏里南后裔的方言植物名称，从而确定非洲人到达新大陆之后识别出了哪些植物。

这组作者识别出了保留了其旧大陆名称的原产于非洲的植物以及赋予旧大陆名称的新大陆植物、翻译成非洲裔苏里南人语言苏里南汤加语的非洲名称，以及旧大陆和新大陆之间的其他的民族植物学联系。

这组作者发现，20%的苏里南汤加语植物名称和逃跑的奴隶的后裔Maroons人的植物名称的43%含有强烈地类似于西非植物名称的元素。

这组作者说，这些结果提示，苏里南的非洲人，特别是生活在内陆森林的逃跑的奴隶，把他们的文化植物学遗产转移到了新大陆，这说明了语言的克里奥尔化与民族植物学信息交换的过程。

原文标题：Local plant names reveal that enslaved Africans recognized substantial parts of the NewWorld flora

原文摘要：How did the forced migration of nearly 11 million enslaved Africans to the Americas influence their knowledge of plants? Vernacular plant names give insight into the process of species recognition, acquisition of new knowledge, and replacement of African species with American ones. This study traces the origin of 2,350 Afro-Surinamese (Sranantongo and Maroon) plant names to those plant names used by local Amerindians, Europeans, and related groups in West and Central Africa. We compared vernacular names from herbarium collections, literature, and recent ethnobotanical fieldwork in Suriname, Ghana, Benin, and Gabon. A strong correspondence in sound, structure, and meaning among Afro-Surinamese vernaculars and their equivalents in other languages for botanically related taxa was considered as evidence for a shared origin. Although 65% of the Afro-Surinamese plant names contained European lexical items, enslaved Africans have recognized a substantial part of the neotropical flora. Twenty percent of the Sranantongo and 43% of the Maroon plant names strongly resemble names currently used in diverse African languages for related taxa, represent translations of African ones, or directly refer to an Old World origin. The acquisition of new ethnobotanical knowledge is captured in vernaculars derived from Amerindian languages and the invention of new names for neotropical plants from African lexical terms. Plant names that combine African, Amerindian, and European words reflect a creolization process that merged ethnobotanical skills from diverse geographical and cultural sources into new Afro-American knowledge systems. Our study confirms the role of Africans as significant agents of environmental knowledge in the New World.

原文地址：http://www.PNAS.org/content/early/2014/11/25/1418836111.abstract

作者：Tinde R等人

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