Bantu Languages - Bantu Words Popularised in Western Cultures

Bantu Words Popularised in Western Cultures

Some words from various Bantu languages have been borrowed into western languages. These include:

  • Bomba
  • Bongos
  • Boogie-woogie
  • Bwana
  • Candombe
  • Chimpanzee
  • Conga
  • Goobers
  • Gumbo
  • Hakuna matata
  • Impala
  • Indaba
  • Jenga
  • Jumbo
  • Kalimba
  • Kwanzaa
  • Mamba
  • Mambo
  • Mbira
  • Marimba
  • Rumba
  • Safari
  • Samba
  • Simba
  • Ubuntu

A case has been made out for borrowings of many place-names and even misremembered rhymes such as "Here we go looby-loo ... " – chiefly from one of the Luba varieties – in the USA.

Read more about this topic:  Bantu Languages

Famous quotes containing the words words, western and/or cultures:

    I wonder whether mankind could not get along without all these names, which keep increasing every day, and hour, and moment; till at the last the very air will be full of them; and even in a great plain, men will be breathing each other’s breath, owing to the vast multitude of words they use, that consume all the air, just as lamp-burners do gas.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    For twenty-five centuries, Western knowledge has tried to look upon the world. It has failed to understand that the world is not for the beholding. It is for hearing. It is not legible, but audible. Our science has always desired to monitor, measure, abstract, and castrate meaning, forgetting that life is full of noise and that death alone is silent: work noise, noise of man, and noise of beast. Noise bought, sold, or prohibited. Nothing essential happens in the absence of noise.
    Jacques Attali (b. 1943)

    Both cultures encourage innovation and experimentation, but are likely to reject the innovator if his innovation is not accepted by audiences. High culture experiments that are rejected by audiences in the creator’s lifetime may, however, become classics in another era, whereas popular culture experiments are forgotten if not immediately successful. Even so, in both cultures innovation is rare, although in high culture it is celebrated and in popular culture it is taken for granted.
    Herbert J. Gans (b. 1927)