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18:45 Sep 4, 2010
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
German term or phrase:Bildbotschaften
In a text concerning art work from South Africa:
Die sogenannten Amagama, Bildbotschaften, wie sie in der Fachwelt genannt werden, haben ihre Wurzeln in der Fertigung von Schmuckstücken und Gewandteilen ...
I know what this means, but my problem is the "Fachwelt" reference and so I'm only really looking for the proper specialist term, if there is one. (Btw, amagama is Zulu for names/words, I think).
Explanation: I know you're looking for a proper specialist term, but I've looked at several references on the mural art of the ndebele, and how the geometric shapes represented secret codes of the villagers, but they never seem to refer to them with any specialist term... So "coded images" is entirely mine...
See eg here "These wall paintings done by the women of the Ndebele was their secret code to their people, disguised to anyone but the Ndebele." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndebele_house_painting
Of course, I'm inferring from the German reference I mentioned in the discussion above, that this is what the "amagama" is about.... here it is again:
"Die Mauern im Außenbereich und Teile der Fassade sind mit geometrischen Ornamenten in kräftig-bunten Farben bemalt. Diese Fassadenbilder werden in Südafrika von den Frauen der Ndebele gemalt und von ihnen als Amagama, Bildbotschaften, bezeichnet. " http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika-Haus_Freiberg
Thanks to everyone for their contributions, all of which are good contenders. It seems there is no specific English term for these images after all. The points go to Nesrin for all her research. Thank you. Amazingly though, my text goes on to say that there is no hidden meaning to these images or need for interpretation, so I think I'll probably have to go with 'expressive images'. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
...and this ENglish-language article seems to be about the same kind of paintings mentioned in the previous German article, however no mention of amagama!!
Here it's used in a similar context to yours, with pictures showing what this is all about
"Die Mauern im Außenbereich und Teile der Fassade sind mit geometrischen Ornamenten in kräftig-bunten Farben bemalt. Diese Fassadenbilder werden in Südafrika von den Frauen der Ndebele gemalt und von ihnen als Amagama, Bildbotschaften, bezeichnet. " http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika-Haus_Freiberg
I've found several references confirming that amagama is the plural of igama, which simply means name, or word.
E.g www.websters-dictionary-online.com/translation/Zulu/ elefuntboy.livejournal.com wiki.ulwazi.org/index.php5?title=Zulu_language - South Africa
Your context seems to be a very specific one.
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Answers
1 hr confidence:
coded images
Explanation: I know you're looking for a proper specialist term, but I've looked at several references on the mural art of the ndebele, and how the geometric shapes represented secret codes of the villagers, but they never seem to refer to them with any specialist term... So "coded images" is entirely mine...
See eg here "These wall paintings done by the women of the Ndebele was their secret code to their people, disguised to anyone but the Ndebele." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndebele_house_painting
Of course, I'm inferring from the German reference I mentioned in the discussion above, that this is what the "amagama" is about.... here it is again:
"Die Mauern im Außenbereich und Teile der Fassade sind mit geometrischen Ornamenten in kräftig-bunten Farben bemalt. Diese Fassadenbilder werden in Südafrika von den Frauen der Ndebele gemalt und von ihnen als Amagama, Bildbotschaften, bezeichnet. " http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika-Haus_Freiberg
Nesrin Local time: 02:56 Native speaker of: Arabic PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
Thanks to everyone for their contributions, all of which are good contenders. It seems there is no specific English term for these images after all. The points go to Nesrin for all her research. Thank you. Amazingly though, my text goes on to say that there is no hidden meaning to these images or need for interpretation, so I think I'll probably have to go with 'expressive images'.
Explanation: is used in ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndebele_house_painting
and many other sites when referring to the use of these images.
I can't confirm it is the "official" term but it would appear to be a common phrase used in this context.
phillee Local time: 02:56 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 7
The translation workplace 
