Karimojong
/ˌkærɪˈmoʊdʒɒŋ/noun
A member of an Eastern Nilotic people of northeastern Uganda, or their language.
Did you know?The name is commonly connected to the Karamojong phrase or expression “the old men can walk no farther,” referring to an ancestral migration tradition, though details vary in oral and scholarly accounts.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Eastern Nilotic
ŋi-mor / ngimor
“An ancestral ethnonym associated with the people later known as the Karimojong; the precise older morphology is debated.”
Precolonial oral tradition
Karamojong
ekar ngimojong
“Traditionally interpreted as “the land where the old men stopped” or “the old men can go no farther,” referring to an ancestral migration.”
19th Century
Karamojong
Ngimor / Karimojong
“Names used within and around the broader Ateker-speaking region for the people and their territory.”
Late 19th–20th Century
English colonial usage
Karamojong
“The conventional English spelling for the ethnic group and its language.”
Modern English
English
Karimojong
“A variant spelling of Karamojong, referring to the people, language, or culture of northeastern Uganda.”