There are about 340 million native speaks of English (Vista Wide) which is almost 7x more than Swahili which lies around 50 to 100 million. Swahili is a language that fuses African Bantu with Arabic. Note — there are many, many more Arabic words in Swahili. Unlike other languages, where you form numbers like 31 by saying “3-10-1” or something like that, Swahili has two only vaguely similar (between single digits and tens) numbers for 3 and 30: tatu and thelathini. That’s partly because in what my daughter likes to call the olden days (from around 700AD to the Middle Ages), the Arabic kingdoms had a great influence on Europe and the world. The interpretations and observations are my own, and comments are welcome. An overview of Arabic words in Swahili, from greetings and numbers through to complex verbs and even some expressions. This free app is able to translate IMAGE from CAMERA, words, phrase, sentence, text from Swahili to Arabic, and from Arabic to Swahili quickly and easily. This class also contains languages (such as the name of the language Kiswahili), and diminutives, which had been a separate class in earlier stages of Bantu. The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 834 total. Here's how you say it. Another set of borrowed Arabic words in Swahili are those for people and professions. Our goal is to bring you closer to places and people that would otherwise seem foreign by providing guides to studying languages, understanding culture, and living in unfamiliar places. Learn the most important words in Swahili Here you can find the translation of the 50 most important words and expressions into Swahili. The word for the Swahili language is Kiswahili. Arabic-Swahili Translator app - free and easy to use. These are words both for social relationships as well as professions that perhaps became more common with the arrival of traders (I note “soldier” in particular). sawa adjective. Many of these Arabic words in Swahili are direct imports. There are other words related to work and occupation that are imported from Arabic into Swahili but they’re at a more advanced level. The coastal dialect is much more rich in Arabic - words such as Shukran - Thank you, Marhaba - hello are easily identifiable to an Arabic speaker of the language. Swahili is said to be the easiest African language for an English speaker to … And the first time I heard that my teacher wanted to be addressed as mwalimu I started looking out for more Arabic words. The following are the Arabic words you’ll come across in Swahili by the time you’re at a intermediate conversational level (B1/2 in the Common European framework). 1728. More recognizable are words like "algebra" (al-jabr), "alcohol" (al-kuhūl), "alchemy" ("al-kimiya"), "alkali", "cypher" and "zenith" (see list of English words of Arabic origin). Phonology. It’s still used in Persian though with the same meaning. Swahili is a Bantu language of the Sabaki branch. The structure of Swahili is Bantu, and the lion’s share of the words are of Bantu origin. Swahili terms that originate from Arabic. Vowels (5). same, equal, right, true, understandable. If you are about to travel to Kenya and Tanzania, this is exactly what you are looking for! Swahili has been greatly influenced by Arabic; there are an enormous number of Arabic loanwords in the language, including the word swahili, from Arabic sawāḥilī (a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning “of the coast”). In some varieties of Swahili, the language prefix appears as chi-, as in Chimiini, which is spoken in Somalia, or shi-, as in Shingazija, a Even in that list I have probably missed some. Unlike English, both Arabic and Urdu are written from right to left. This Arabic word that means “some miscellaneous object” has made it into a number of languages (including Persian) because it’s so damn useful! Similarities in Vocabulary. How hard is it to learn? The word Swahili itself is derived from Arabic Sawahili سواحلي which is plural for ساحل meaning [Language] of the Coast. In Kenya tho When it comes to Swahili words, 'beautiful' has a few more terms. In Guthrie's geographic classification, Swahili is in Bantu zone G, whereas the other Sabaki languages are in zone E70, commonly under the name Nyika. Other Swahili words for beautiful include ‘mrembo,’ and ‘nzuri.’ How to say “and” in Korean — all the ways you can say it formally, casually, and in text. So much so that as an amateur hobbyist linguist I decided to try to categorise them. For example the concept of “in the distant past” in Swahili, using the word zamani, is related to the word zamaan which in modern Arabic just means “time”. Swahili Word List The purpose of this list is to give a rough idea of the Swahili language. The words listed below are not the most common words , but a broad sampling of words. I made those corrections. Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Swahili_terms_derived_from_Arabic&oldid=47083198, Swahili terms derived from Arabic languages, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The first example that comes to mind is safari, a word of Arabic origin that is the Swahili word for “journey.” Chances are, you’re also used to hearing this word in English in the context of a trip, usually to see animals, often in Sub-Saharan Africa. The oldest Swahili documents so far known are fourteen letters sent to the Portuguese of Mozambique and now in the Goa Archives in India. You can translate text and letters from Arabic to Swahili and from Swahili to Arabic back. Another loose category of Arabic words in Swahili is legal/social concepts, many of which were imported via Islam. Not only are half the digits from 0 to 10 in Swahili the same as Arabic numbers, what’s really interesting is all the multiples of ten and above come directly from Arabic! A few are related. More Swahili words for similar. Islam came to Africa very early in its history, in the seventh century. Swahili is definitely an African language. Viewpoints on colloquial Arabic always differ, sometimes even between my teachers. If you get a dictionary you’ll have a field day. There are 360 swahili-related words in total, with the top 5 most semantically related being pidgin, patois, amharic, bantu and afrikaans.You can get the definition(s) of a word in the list below … (See here for a more general overview of the Swahili language.). Historically, we understand that this influence came via trade with Arabs and through the influence of religion (Islam). Britis… Most of these Swahili words are direct imports from Arabic. Kiswahili is the Swahili word for the language, ... similar to how Arabic itself deals with the name Alexandria). Fundamental » All languages » Swahili » Terms by etymology » Terms derived from other languages » Afroasiatic languages » Semitic languages » West Semitic languages » Central Semitic languages » Arabic languages » Arabic. The Arabic word is said to come from a Persian city where the stone was mined.) Swahili to Arabic translation service by ImTranslator will assist you in getting an instant translation of words, phrases and texts from Swahili to Arabic and other languages. A third and important category of Arabic words in Swahili is numbers. If you are familiar with the noun classes of Swahili, the class 9 and 10, largest one, is mostly of loan words and has many words of Arabic origin. Some borrowed Arabic words in Swahili are archaic in modern Arabic. This page was last edited on 22 July 2017, at 20:22. For example, mwalimu has an equivalent in Arabic, معلّم (moallem), but that’s not used universally in modern Arabic (one reader tells us it’s common in Syria, though my teachers told us it’s not common in Egypt). A handful of Arabic adjectives made them into Swahili. Below, you will see the Arabic and Urdu numbers listed from 0-9. Find more words! Utendi wa Tambuka (The History of Tambuka), an epic poem written in Arabic script. I had somehow put in a more obscure word for “to wait”. Of all Swahili words that mean beautiful, 'wapendeza' is the most appealing as well as respectable of them all. This is a beginner’s list from my first 2000 words of studying Swahili. The other five of them remain pure Swahili. The word Kiswahili is a general term for many varieties of the language spoken along the East African coast. Pls.note that the arabic cognate to “suburi” (to wait) is arabic “sabr”, also: arabic “moallem” (teacher) is far from being archaic, it is used regularly in colloquial arabic (syrian, egyptian,…) and while “zamaan” may simply mean “time” in arabic, in colloquial arabic it is almost always used with reference to times long gone, when somebody says “zamaaaan” it usually means “that was looong ago” or “zaman ma shuftak” = “haven’t seen you in a long time”, thus very similar to it’s use in swahili, Thank you so much for those notes! Maybe in some regal setting, but not every day! Usually they’re denotated with an “(Ar. Swahili words similar meaning and pronunciation with Arabic 2 Swahili to Arabic Translation provides the most convenient access to online translation service powered by various machine translation engines. The below ones are the ones that I came across in my few months of study. Here are some words. It’s also interesting to note the types of Arabic words that got a foothold in Swahili. In comparison to English, of course the numbers are vastly different. In modern Arabic, nobody ever asks someone else to “approach”. Some of the Arabic phrases have modifications, like habari ya asubuhi. Origins of Swahili . I was surprised! Arabic is the major language spoken throughout Africa, although Swahili is right behind it. The Arabic language has contributed hundreds of words to the English language by many different routes. sawa. Swahili, from the Arabic word sawahil, meaning ‘of the coast.’. But it’s blindingly obvious that Arabic had a great influence on Swahili. The status of Swahili as an international language results from its strategic location on the coast of East Africa. Sawahili … Some borrowed Arabic words in Swahili are archaic in modern Arabic. We used itakli to learn several languages, and speak 10 between us. The final category of words I recognised is a generally broad category, but includes things relating to the body, mind, and health. Our guide to learning languages faster — 80-20 style, by focusing on the most common words. But I accept your point that it is sometimes used and amended the article to say that. Jabali (jah-bah-lee) – ‘strong as a rock’ Jabali literally means ‘rock’. Any good Swahili dictionary — unfortunately only available in physical formats — will have even more Arabic words in Swahili in it. It developed as a coastal trading language. Find more Swahili words at wordhippo.com! Most people who know any Arabic will have watched The Lion Kong, heard “rafiki” and thought, hey, that sounds familiar…. The use of Swahili spread with the growth of commerce during the colonial period in the 19th-20th centuries. A huge master list of beginner French words to learn — hundreds, all with example sentences.s, very interesting list! Swahili terms borrowed from Hindi (0 c, 15 e) Pages in category "Swahili terms derived from Hindi" The following 30 pages are in this category, out of 30 total. Nobody asks this question in Arabic (“What’s news of the morning?”). Swahili Translation. Even those these are accepted standard Swahili, they’re mostly used by people who either are Muslims or who live in a predominantly Muslim environment, like in Zanzibar (which is 98% Muslim). The word is used to describe a … ... know the Arab civilizations and their cultural and scientific contribution to the whole world. Arab sailors and traders have established links and ties with East Africa for centuries, their language strongly merged with the local language to produce a creole derivative. The Swahili-speaking populations on the East African coast served as intermediaries between the Bantu-speaking peoples in the interior of Africa and the traders on the coast who came from South Asia and Arabia. Arab and Persian. The name Swahili itself comes from Arabic; the Arabic word sahil means “boundary” or “coast,” and the internal name for the language is kiswahili, which means literally “language of the coast.”. Like this guide to Arabic words in Swahili? Further, many concepts of time and counting are imported Arabic words. This article gives some examples of Arabic words still in today's Swahili. The first category of Arabic any Swahili learner will come across is Islamic greetings in Swahili. It’s not a Middle Eastern language, nor a Semitic language like Hebrew. Anyone studying Swahili will quickly realise that the numbering system is hard to understand. Farsi proverbs that are easy to learn, often used, and rich in meaning. Join our email list and get it in your inbox. E.g. Similarly, the word halaal in Arabic relates to a specific kind of religious legality. faa’idah in Arabic means “benefit” more than “profit”, which uses another word in modern Arabic. (I’m more familiar with “yistanna” from Egyptian Arabic, anyway.). The Islamic greeting salam aleikum is used daily in Zanzibar, as is the standard response wa aleikum as-salami. Be sure to watch this video, where Meena (an Arabic speaker from Iraq) and Ayesha (an Urdu speaker from Pakistan) challenge each other with a list of words and sentences. When the followers in Arabia began to face persecution from the aristocracy in Mecca, Prophet Muhammad advised … In the same way, only a couple of the days of the week, Thursday and Friday, made it from Arabic into Swahili. Swahili terms borrowed from Arabic (0 c, 205 e) Pages in category "Swahili terms derived from Arabic" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 834 total. Another modification is karibu. )” after them. Why learn an arabic dialect vs MSA, and why learn Egyptian Arabic vs other dialects of Arabic. The Swahili for similar to is kufanana na. The type of Kiswahili that is spoken inland though varies. My favourite entry here was “fulani”. Below is a massive list of swahili words - that is, words related to swahili. (Oh, and one item of clothing added in). For example, mwalimu has an equivalent in Arabic, معلّم (moallem), but that’s not used universally in modern Arabic (one reader tells us it’s common in Syria, though my teachers told us it’s not common in Egypt). Since we studied both Arabic (well, continue to study… my next project is Modern Standard Arabic) and Swahili, we couldn’t help but notice a whole bunch of words that are of Arabic origin. There are also words from Arabic sprinkled throughout the other noun classes as well, such as: Kitabu/vitabu (class 7/8) Sanduku/masanduku (class 5/6) Mtihani/mitihani (class 3/4) Mshairi/washairi (class 1/2) Time-related words also seem to be … My teachers in Egypt told me that ‘moallem’ was the wrong word — I kept using it out of habit from Persian. It’s still used in Persian though with the same meaning. Like about 60 % of all Bantu languages, Swahili … You’ll like everything we write about languages, cultures, and distant destinations. Historical linguists do not consider the Arabic influence on Swahili to be significant enough to classify it as a mixed language, since Arabic influence is limited to lexical items, most of which have only been borrowed after 1500, while the grammatical and syntactic structure of the language is typically Bantu. ... and they are similar to the Spanish and Italian vowels. Get regular posts on language learning, global culture, and distant destinations. It comes from the Arabic word sahel, meaning ‘coast.’ Ki- is a prefix referring to language. Common Arabic Words in Swahili — A Complete Beginner’s List, a more general overview of the Swahili language, Arabic Numbers & Time Concepts in Swahili, Arabic Words for People and Professions in Swahili, Four Ways to Say And in Korean — Formal, Casual, and the Rest, The Most Exhaustive italki Review — 100+ Hours, seven languages, Persian Proverbs for Beginners (with English translation), 300+ Indispensable French Words — With Examples, Goodnight in French — Six Interesting Ways to Say It, Gern in German — Complete Guide to Liking and Not liking, Peace be upon you (standard muslim greeting), I’m well/at peace (one possible response). This is our italki review from long-term users. Not all these words are 1:1 correspondences. But in daily Swahili, karibu is used many times a day. [Swahili Word] kiburi [English Word] pride (haughty or contemptuous) [Part of Speech] noun [Class] 9 [Derived Language] Arabic [Related Words] takabari [Swahili Word] kiburi [English Word] arrogance [Part of Speech] noun [Class] 9 [Derived… This category has only the following subcategory. Swahili had a lengthy and penetrating contact with the Arabic and Persian languages for centuries, and borrowed a number of words directly from each. Swahili may date back several thousand years, but it developed into the language we hear today with the arrival of Arab and Persian traders on the East African coast between 500 - 1000 AD.Swahili is a word the Arabs used to describe "the coast" and only later did it come to apply to East African coastal culture specifically. It shows the impact of trade with Arabs on Swahili coastal culture. Hi there! A more general word qaanun (قانون) is used for law. 'Wapendeza' is Swahili for 'you look lovely or beautiful'. 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