Where does “Swahili” come from?
Swahili comes from Arabic swāḥil, the plural of sāḥil meaning "coast," reflecting the language's origins among coastal East African trading communities.
Swahili (English): An agglutinative language of the Bantu branch...
Definitions
- An agglutinative language of the Bantu branch...
Ancestry of “Swahili”, step by step
Swahili traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Swahili Mswahili
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swahili | Mswahili | A Swahili person |
| 2 | Swahili | m- | The prefix for noun class 1 denoting humans; The... |
| 3 | Arabic | سَوَاحِل | coastal dwellers |
| 4 | Arabic | سَاحِل | coast; boundary, coast; border of the desert |
via Swahili swahili
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swahili | swahili | — |