What does Athing Mu's name mean?

It means I'm faster than everyone including loser keyboard warriors on LetsRun.

Luv2Run wrote:

It is Swahili for "I am faster than men on running message boards".

No, they don't speak Swahili in the Sudan. The only person competing that has a Swahili name is Malaika Mihambo.

Nonsense! wrote:

CountM wrote:

?????

What does "Steve" mean, or "Robert" or "Jennifer"? What an insanely ethnocentric and idiotic question. Why are Americans so stupid?

Bonus knowledge.

The "A" in Athing is pronounced like the A in apple, not like the "A" in Above or Amen.

Her last name is pronounced like Mo in Mo Farah, not like the sound a cow makes.

And stop saying that "She speaks so well" or or "She is so articulate" or other racist a$$ crap that you people say.

Steve, Robert, and Jennifer also have etymologies coming from respective languages. Those names were words or titles or phrases at one time, not just names so they meant something. The name Athing presumably does as well.

And being curious about another name is not idiotic or ethnocentric. Asking where does a name come from...asking what is the origin of a name or a word...is not ethnocentric.

Speaking of words, you're pretty casual with the term "racist"...you probably make everything about race when nothing has to be...you know who else does that? Actual racists.

Asking about her name is not a racist question.

Comments about her skin colour can be racists it those comments are have malicious intention.

Comments about her skin colour that are connected to the climate and evolution of the human species are not racist.

I agree that people are making everything about race these days. Stop that!

I have my own mnemonic devices for her name

1. Thing from the Addams Family (plus best intro music ever)

https://youtu.be/M_pMlnOxotA

2. The Greek letter mu

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/greek-alphabet-mu-signage-icon-178107989.jpg

She was clearly a chosen one.

I believe the Dutch are the tallest people.

Someone on NBC also incorrectly stated her family was from Ethiopia.

“I hate white men”

While I sympathize with what Ajax and others are saying along these lines, my guess is that these people are probably somewhat older (as I am myself), and many younger people do not think of racism the way we do/did. Back in the day, "racism" was identified according to the principles and actions of people. You had to consciously think racist thoughts and willingly do racist things in order to be considered a racist, and if you did not think or do them, you were not a racist. (We used to use the word "stereotype" to denote an impression that you might have about a group... but I think that concept is included as "racist" today.)

But

That's not how the current generation thinks of racism. Racism is not what you think or what you do; it's who you are. If you are a member of a certain demographic, you just ARE racist, in the same way that you just ARE a mammal. You can't NOT be.

So, essentially, no communication is possible because first, people are using the same word but meaning different things, and, second, no matter what you say or do, if you are within a certain demographic, you just ARE racist.

Jennifer = "Fair Phantom" or "White Wave"

Robert = "Bright Fame"

Steven = "Wreath" or "Crown"

Straight from the Goog.

Who knows what it means. We could ask every person on this planet the same question. Dunce

Canada in the 5000m - rock and roll wrote:

Her parents are from South Sudan.

Does anyone know if there are any stories out there about her family and their background? It was her parents who came over? Does she have any siblings? Her parents have done a great job raising her to have such maturity, confidence, and joy.

It means wanderlusty bear in Sudanese.

How dare you assume & basically accuse others like me, who simply may want to learn more about someone we admire, of bring racist or other ugly things!! It's you that's ignorant in my opinion. You who have negativity in your way of life.

You won't have to wait any longer folks, I am Jieng/Dinka like her. And a nerd while at it.

The correct spelling is actually Athieng Mou. Athing Mu is an American corrupted spelling of Athieng Mou. Her names start like this, Athieng Deng Tong Mawien Mou. The spelling in Dinka language (Thongjieng) is: Athiɛ̈ŋ Deŋ Tɔŋ Mawiɛ̈n Mɔ̈u.

Here are the meanings:

Athieng in Dinka refers to a cow with a grey-brown shade. This cow is named as such because those colours resemble the colours of a Tiang antelope ( Google Tiang). Tiang is so typical to South Sudan that the Dinka word, Thiang, is the scientific name for this specifies of Antelope. Google Tiang migration. Athieng simply means Tiang-coloured cow. Her dad either paid an Athieng cow as part of his dowry or if she was named after one of her grandmothers, then one of her grandfathers down the lineage had an Athieng cow as part of his dowry.

Mou literally means alcohol, a type that is specifically brewed traditionally in Dinkaland. There is a specific story to that too.

Deng means rain and it is a name that is passed on from grandfathers.

Tong means - war or spear

Mawien comes from wien which is a rope used to tie down cows in a cattle camp (see images of Dinka cattle camps on Google)

A big chunk of Dinka names are derived from cow colors or interrelation of colors on a cow. And those color names are in turn derived from animals that have similar shades.

Note that I explained just her first 5 names, the concept of fixed last names does not exist in our culture. Your names are a chain of your ancestors' names. Her full name is more than 10 names-long (my count goes to 14). But in the West, we are forced to adapt to Western last name conventions. Therefore, she is using Mou as her last name but it is actually the first name of her great great grandfather. We are patrilineal.

It means "the cattle are dying"