Wikipedia has a short list of common words found in East African English, but more helpfully has included the etymology and some background on where the words have come from. I found it interesting that there was so much variety on where the words came from. (Most common were English and Swahili, but there were other Indian and African pidgins, etc. in there as well).
For example:
Boda-Boda means bicycle or motorcycle (more specifically one used as a taxi) . Boda is derived from Border so Boda-Boda literally would be "border to border."
Mzee comes from Swahili and means "Elder." Zee in Swahili means "old"
For wikipedia's complete list go here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.