Talking SwahiliJust a little effort of speaking a few words of Swahili will get you a big return and big smiles! Around the eighth century, Arabs trading on the East African Coast referred to the varieties of Swahili spoken in the area as "languages of the coast" and the name is from the Arabic word sawaahil, meaning coast. It was further adapted to the language by the addition of the prefix ki, resulting in the name Kiswahili. It is a complex language spoken in East Africa and has ancient roots in the Bantu language family. It is thought to have originated in the early part of the first millennium A.D., and extends now across Central Africa. The grammar is based on a complicated Bantu structure that learners often find difficult to master. Many words have entered from Arabic, the result of centuries of interaction between peoples along the coast. (I.E. Intermarriages between the Omani Arabs and the Mijikenda communities, which consisted of 9 Bantu tribes who settled along the Kenyan coast line.) As with many other languages, loan words have entered the language from many places, particularly to name objects or concepts without pre-existing Swahili equivalents. Derivations of non-Bantu words can be traced to languages including English, German, Portuguese, Persian, Gujurati, Hindi, Hebrew, and even Chinese. Some Swahili words have entered other languages, most famously safari. The term "Waswahili" people, sometimes refers to all Swahili speakers, and sometimes refers more specifically to some of the millions of people who live along the Coast. Have fun!
Here are the ‘Big 5’:Buffalo - mbogo Animals - mnyama (wanyama, pl.) And some of the most known Kenya Animals:Baboon - nyani Bird - ndege Bushbuck - pongo/paa Cheetah - duma Crocodile - mamba Dik-dik - dikidiki Eland - pofu Flamingo - heroe Gazelle - swala/swara/paa/impala Gerenuk - swala tiga Giraffe - twiga Grant’s gazelle - swala granti Hippopotamus - kiboko Hyena - fisi Monkey - tumbili Oryx - chorea Ostrich - mbuni Snake - nyoka Topi - nyemera/paa Vervet monkey - tumbili Vulture - tai/gushu Warthog - ngiri Water buffalo - nyati Waterbuck - kuru Wildebeest/Gnu - nyumbu/mbogo Zebra - punda milia The basic Food terms:Bill - Hesabu BASICS:Hello - Jambo Numbers:zero - sifuri "This is a collaborative work by people all over the world. Together we are working to establish new dictionaries of the language - Kiswahili - both within Swahili and in conection with English. We are preparing print-based dictionaries and multi-media learning applications, all accessible to you through this home page. We invite you to become a contributing editor - help refine our lexicon by using our unique Edit Engine. It is the most widely spoken African language, with more than 50 million speakers in East Africa and Central Africa, particularly in Tanzania (including Zanzibar) and Kenya". New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
