Editing Simbi (section)

== Etymology ==
While there is little written historical record of the word ''simbi'', there is consensus that it originated within [[Bantu languages|Bantu-speaking]] and [[Kongo language|Kongo-speaking]] communities and almost certainly began as a means for them to understand the spiritual nature of the world around them.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Ras Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1rEgAwAAQBAJ |title=African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry |publisher=Cambridge |year=2012 |isbn=9781107668829 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=1, 2, 111–113, 122–124}}</ref> Some believe the word ''simbi'' derives from ''simba'', a Kikongo word that means "to hold, keep, preserve."<ref name=":1" /> The similar phrase, ''isimba ia nsi'', which translates to "a distinguished person in the community," was recorded in an early Kikongo dictionary in the seventeenth century. This phrase and others, such as ''kisímbi kinsí'', which translates to "the very old person who does not die," are a few of the earliest evidences of the spiritual connection of bisimbi to the land of the living and the land of the dead.<ref name=":1" /> The word ''basimbi'' also translates to "guardians" with the phrase ''isimba ia nsi'' later becoming "guardians of the land."<ref name=":1" />