Where does “moto” come from?
moto (Lingala) comes from Swahili moto, from Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀jótò, from Proto-Bantu *-jóta, from Proto-Atlantic-Congo *-jot-.
moto (Lingala): person, man, human
Ancestry of “moto”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Swahili | moto | fire, flame; energy, charge; heat, temperature,... |
| 2 | Proto-Bantu | *mʊ̀jótò | — |
| 3 | Proto-Bantu | *-jóta | — |
| 4 | Proto-Atlantic-Congo | *-jot- | — |