The origin of the Koonzime people

The Koonzime ("OZM" in the Ethnologue) are a group of people with a common ancestor, Nzime ("Zime" if you speak the Badwe'e dialect). He had a son, Kɔɔ, who was a polygamist. He and one wife, Ampiʼi, had three sons, named Njeme, Nzime (for the grandfather), and Edweʼe. (click on the JPG at the left to enlarge.) These sons gave rise to the four ethnic groups known as Njeme, Nzime, Badweʼe and Njyem.

The Njeme, Nzime and Badweʼe speak one language, which can be called Kɔɔnzime, and which should probably have been hyphenated: Kɔɔ-nzime. This is the short form of the following phrase:

Dyɛɛ me Kɔɔ, mwan me Nzime

people of Kɔɔ child of Nzime

The three have discernable dialects and subdialects of Kɔɔnzime.

The Njeme split into two groups, one being on the northern border of the Koonzime, at Mindourou, and the other being south of the Dja River, south of Lomie. The latter group underwent a major linguistic change and they now call themselves and their language, now distinct, as “Njyem”. Their language is identified in the Ethnologue as “NJE”.