Word journey
The word zombie
a body raised by sorcery; the walking dead
The journey
| Form | Language | Date | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| nzumbi | Kimbundu · Kongo Religion | undated | ghost, a spirit who torments the living (date of record not given) |
| nzambi | Kongo · Kongo Religion | 1510 CE | god; Nzambi a Mpungu, the creator (recorded by Portuguese visitors to Kongo from the early 16th century; date approximate) |
| zonbi | Haitian Creole · Haitian Vodou | 1797 CE | "spirit, ghost": Zombi, called a Creole word by Moreau de Saint-Méry in Saint-Domingue (1797); later the corpse raised and enslaved by a bokor |
| zombi | English | 1819 CE | a spirit or deity (in Southey, History of Brazil) |
| zombie | English (United States) | 1929 CE | Haitian plantation zombies (Seabrook, The Magic Island) |
What is certain and what is not
The Bantu source is unsure: the OED prefers Kimbundu nzumbi ("ghost"); others suggest Kongo nzambi ("god") or zumbi ("fetish"), so both are left unlinked. Nzambi Ampungu was recorded for the Kongo God from the early 16th century, and the Haitian Creole zombi in 1797 (the TLFi also cites zambys, "spirit gods of African tribes", in the Encyclopédie of 1765); Kimbundu nzumbi is not dated in the sources used.