Mwele

»Bei den Bangala des Oberen Kongo ist der Name eines Mannes, solange er auf dem Fischfang ist und wenn er mit seiner Beute zurückkehrt, suspendiert, und niemand darf ihn erwähnen. Welches auch immer der richtige Name des Fischers sein mag, er wird ohne Unterschied mwele genannt.«

James Georg Frazer: Der goldene Zweig
Berlin 1967, I 360

The reason is that the river is full of spirits, who, if they heard the fisherman’s real name, might so work against him that he would catch little or nothing. Even when he has caught his fish and landed with them, the buyer must still not address him by his proper name, but must only call him mwele; for even then, if the spirits were to hear his proper name, they would either bear it in mind and serve him out another day, or they might so mar the fish he had caught that he would get very little for them. Hence the fisherman can extract heavy damages from anybody who mentions his name, or can compel the thoughtless speaker to relieve him of the fish at a good price so as to restore his luck.

Frazer, The golden bough; XXII

Ich bin der Freund der Menschen,
und zwar der einzig wahre.
Ich hasse sie.
Das läßt sie leben.

Zur Zeit bin ich nicht am Fischen.
Ich erfreue mich am Anblick meines Mithril.