Mmuock


Mmuock is the Anglicised form of Muòk —sometimes written as Mǒk. It is a tribe in the Western part of Cameroon. Belonging to the Bamilike ethnic group, the Mmuock group comprises four villages: Mmuock Leteh, Mmuock Fossimondi, Mmockmbie and Mmouck Leleng. The first three villages are found in the English-speaking Lebialem Division in the Southwest Region of Cameroon, while Mmock Leleng lies in the french-speaking West Region.
The Mmuock tribe speaks the Mmuock language. Due to dialectal differences, the name of the tribe is pronounced in Mmuock-Leteh and Mmuock-Fossimondi as, and in the other two villages as. As a result, there are two Anglicised spellings: Mmuock and Mmouck.

Etymology

The word Muòk means fire in the Mmuock language. There have been two different origin stories to the name. According to the first story, when four brothers, who later founded the four villages, separated, each was to make a fire if attacked; the smoke from the fire would alert the others. According to the second story, the name was given by the people of Bafou as a result of their inability to defeat and capture the four brothers.

Names of days of the week

In the Mmuock culture, there are eight days in the week. The week days, in order, are as follow:
  1. Ngangè
  2. Mbeqgnúá
  3. Mbeqlěq
  4. Njϐngong
  5. Mbeqńkœó
  6. Njœêlekœr̄
  7. Fa'à
  8. Télǎng.
The first day, Ngangè, is a public holiday and a day of rest; no manual labour is permitted. The second day is the market day.