Kiswahili Archives - Hiistoriya

The Evolution of Numbers in Kiswahili

May 9, 2021September 20, 2021 by Nasra O. Bwana

Nasra O. Bwana

Swahili is a Bantu language that has evolved over time and space due to factors such as religion, trade, colonisation and governance and technology. The numbers as known today in present-day standardised Swahili are as a result of evolution and influence. Besides the core language structure, Arabic had the most…

Was there ever a Kiswahili word for ‘Holy’?

August 23, 2020September 20, 2021 by Nasra O. Bwana

Nasra O. Bwana

‘The available evidence suggests that in the mid-nineteenth century, at the second coming of European-Christians to the East African coast, there was no lexical equivalent for ‘holy’ or its near-synonym ‘sacred’ in the spoken language of the Swahili people.’Frankl, P. J. L., and Yahya Ali Omar (1999) When looking for…