Bantu Languages
@BantuLanguages
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Bantu languages: popularizing knowledge, sharing doubts / Vitrine sur les langues bantu (pas bantoues!) / Uma entrada nas línguas bantu (não bantas!)
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In many Bantu languages, the same word is used for moon and month. Sometimes even for menstruation.
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Whether from Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa etc, let me guess how to say 'send' in your Ntu language: it's something like 'tuma', 'toma', 'loma' 😉
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Ntu languages were breastfed by the same mother.
The word for "breasts" in some Ntu languages.
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@IamCatchvibe
Silozi was born from Sotho and local languages such as Luyi. Nothing surprising. A linguistic result of the Kololo conquest, themselves running away from the Zulu.
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In almost all Ntu languages, the word for « hunger » is like nzala, njaa, tsala, ondjala, injala, nzal, njana, indlala etc.
For « thirst » the most common form is like nyota, noota, nyotwa, lenyora etc.
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In a lot of Ntu languages, the word for the right hand side is related to the verb "to eat" 😉
Ex: (Oshindonga, Namibia)
olulyo = right hand side
okulya = to eat
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In most Ntu languages, "to dream" is -lota, so (u)kulota.
Some languages drop the "l", having just -ota.
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Is your (Ntu) language part of those having a word for "grandchild" ending with "kulu"?
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Typical of the Ntu languages!
nwa (drink)
dya (eat)
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Let me guess something: there's a word like kaa, makala or makara in your Ntu language meaning coal, ember.
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In almost all Ntu languages, the word for "child" is mwana. Some have mona or muna.
#Bantu
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Foreign languages inherited from colonization
What is glorified in our society but shouldn't be? 🤔
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This snake is called "𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐚" in almost all Ntu languages
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Whatever your Ntu language, you can easily guess which animal I'm talking about when I say ngulu or ngulube 🤪
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The most common word for « tree » in Ntu languages is muti (muti, mote, mudi, muhi, etc)
Sometimes it means stick or even medicine.
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What does "nyama" mean in your language?
Meat? Animal? Both? Or something else?
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Most Ntu languages use "na" (meaning "and") to connect 2 words or phrases. Sometimes the vowel varies.
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One word that is very similar among Ntu languages is the one for "go": kenda, genda, enda, wenda etc...
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How do you say "cry, weep" in your Ntu language? Most of us say kulila or something similar 😭
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Ntu languages are very similar when it's about counting from 1 to 5. It's less true from 6 to 9. Compare yours with Nyungwe (Moz)
1- mosi
2- piri
3- tatu
4- nai
5- xanu
6- tanthatu
7- nomwe
8- sere
9- pfemba
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mpa = give me!
genda = go!
(Luganda, Uganda)
Don't tell me your Ntu language is very different! 😀
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Baobab is a word of Arabic origin. But what's the name of this majestic African tree in your Ntu language?
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Words for "eyes" and "teeth" are very similar in Ntu languages. Let's check it out! 😉
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How do you call mortar and pestle in your Ntu language?
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The pangolin made the headlines some time ago.
The common name it bears in the Ntu languages, from Cameroon to South Africa, shows that it has been known to the Ntu world for millennia.
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How do you say « blood » in your Ntu language?
Because it’s subject to taboo, the original meaning is sometimes something else.
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In many Ntu languages, the word for "sell" is built on "buy" (sell = make buy).
Ex. in Gipunu (Gabon)
sumba = buy
sumbisa = sell
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How do you say "two thousand twenty three" in your Ntu language?
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Bantu languages generally have no verb "to have". We use "to be with".
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Let me guess something...
The generic word for 'mushroom' in your (Ntu) language starts with something like bwo, wo, ho...
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For "to smoke" 🚬 many Ntu languages use the same verb as for "to draw, to pull". Others, the same as for "to drink".
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How do you say "we are together" in your Ntu language?
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How do you call a gap between teeth in your Ntu language?
mwanya = natural space between teeth
pengo = gap of a lost tooth
Kiswahili (East Africa)
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Another word that we share from Cameroon to South Africa, from Kenya to Namibia:
"to cry" = kulila, kudila, kolela etc
#Bantu
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How do you call a shield in your Ntu language?
Forms like ngabo, nguba are the most common ones.
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Which European country has the best Yoruba accent?
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You'd be surprised how many of us have something like "kati" in our Ntu language to mean "inside":
gade (Yambasa, Cameroon)
khati (Iyaa, Congo)
mukati (Lulogooli, Kenya)
akati (Chiila, Zambia)
phakathi (Isizulu, South Africa)
#Ntu
💪
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From Cameroon to South Africa, from Kenya to Namibia, it's quite rare that a Bantu language has another word than MBWA (or cognate) for DOG
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Kanga (the animal) is probably at the origin of the name for the famous, beautiful cloth of Eastern Africa.
In Shona Zimbabwe they Call it (Hanga) What do you call it in your Native language ?
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Because Japanese and most Bantu languages have a similar syllabic structure C(onsonant)V(owel) with most of the time the same kinds of consonants and vowels.
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The noun for "butterfly" in Ntu languages is often long, with reduplicated sequence:
kipepeo (Kiswahili, Eastern Africa)
ibhabhathane (Isixhosa, South Africa)
lipulaputu (Kimatengo, Tanzania)
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Bunda or bonda (for buttocks) is a well-known word in the Americas (Brazil, West Indies etc) that comes from Ntu languages. But in Africa itself, it means various other body parts as well :
mbunda (Kisanga) = hips
bunda (Kivira) = belly
mbunda (Kimbundu) = pelvis, buttocks
etc.
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In most Ntu languages, the plural of an order is done by having enu/eni in the end.
Oshikwanyama (Angola/Namibia)
eta (bring, singular)
eteni (bring, plural)
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In Bantu languages, the word for 'above' is generally related to 'sky' and that for 'below' to the floor (ground).
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"buffalo" in Ntu languages is like...
mbogo, nyati or mpakasa 😉
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Let's compare our words for "blood" in Ntu languages.
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In Umbundu (Angola), Njamba (Elephant) and Ngeve (Hippopotamus) are the names given the twins.
What about your Ntu language?
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In your Ntu language, what is the word for this, often a hero in folk tales? It's ondimba in Umbundu (Angola), kitojo in Kipare (Tanzania)
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How do you divide the day (morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night...) in your Ntu language?
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May I know what name your Ntu language has for me ? 😅😅😅
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How to say "language" in your Ntu language? Is there a distinction between the language spoken and the tongue 👅?
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The noun stem NTU is stronger, deeper than you might think. In Luzinza (Tanzania) :
omuntu (person)
echintu (thing)
ahantu (place)
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« cultivate » in Ntu languages
dima (Mmaala, Cameroon)
dima (Kisanga, DRC)
rima (Kirundi, Burundi)
lima (Kesukuma, Tanzania)
lima (Rukwangali, Angola / Namibia)
lima (Tshivenda, South Africa)
#Bantu
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We all have something like "mbwa" for dog in our Ntu languages. But what for cat 🐱?
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How do you say « she looks like her mother » in your Ntu language?
Comment dites-vous « elle ressemble à sa mère » dans votre langue Ntu?
Como você diz « ela parece com a mãe dele » na sua língua Ntu?
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What do you say for ❤ in your Ntu language? Molema? Mutima? Mbunge? Roho?...
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*N-gòì is the reconstruction for ‘leopard’ in proto-Bantu
Some Bantu languages kept track of both vowels, others did not.
Isizulu (S.Afr.) ingwe
Mabale (DRC) nkoi
Kikamba (Kenya) ngo
Akoose (Cameroon) ngo
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Zimbabwe is considered the country in the world with the most official languages at a national level. 16 official languages of which 13 are Bantu languages.
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As a Ntu speaker, guess the meaning of:
"njila yalaha" (Luchazi, Angola)
A: "a false friend"
B: "a long way"
C: "an increased appetite"
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How do you say "congratulations!" in your Ntu language?
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Many Ntu languages share a common word for
« baldness », especially in the Eastern part.
It’s luβala in Ciila (Zambia).
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Cameroon is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in Africa with more than 260 languages belonging to different families. Dozens of them are Ntu and particularly important in the reconstruction of the proto-language. Among them: Bulu, Ewondo, Basaa, Tunen…
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Bantu languages are spoken in warm countries 🌞
But how do you say "cold" in your language?
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Ask (a question) = tuna
Ask (for money) = senga
This is in Lingala (Congo)
What about your Ntu language?
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To educate is to put the mind in order!
In many Ntu languages, 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐚 means arrange, pack up, teach, educate.
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Many Ntu languages are documented today. Many others not yet. We speak our languages but we don't study them enough, for our past, present and future. This twitter account has been created with the aim of stimulating, sharing, growing this interest for our own languages.
@BantuLanguages
How many of our Ntu languages are studied and examined at national level? Luganda and Swahili are I know
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The word for "hammer" is very similar in the Ntu languages
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In your Bantu language, what is the name of this famous dough made from plantain, maize or cassava and used as a staple food ?
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It's ridiculous to talk about Anglophone and Francophone Cameroon, a country that is home to more than 250 African languages!
That's the consequence of having no local language as official language.
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Kanyok is one of those Bantu languages whose words don't necessarily end with a vowel:
kwamb - 'to say'
kutal - 'to look at'
taat - 'father'
mwaan - 'child'
mvul - 'rain'
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Bantu languages generally have a specific word for "white hair" which is not related to the one for "hair".
Ex. in Rutooro (Uganda):
hair = isoke
white hair = oruju
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Did you know that tsetse (fly) is a Setswana word ? It means a kind of fly destructive to cattle.
Fly in this Ntu language is ntsi.
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Words for « cheetah » are quite different across Ntu language. What do you have in yours ?
sumbu in Luvale (Angola,Zambia, DRC)
ingulule in Isuzulu (S. Africa)
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Dear brothers and sisters, did you know we have the same name for it in our Ntu languages? 🦀
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This fireplace with 3 cooking-stones…
dio (Duala, Cameroon)
eziko (Kihavu, DRC)
jiko (Kiswahili, East Africa)
iko (Umbundu, Angola)
iziko (Isizulu, South Africa)
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How to say "prison, jail" in your Ntu language? Let's see if we often have a traditional word for that.
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In (most) Ntu languages, there is a very clear link between "fire" and "hot/warm".
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Let me guess something: whatever your Ntu language, the word for « to squat » or « to kneel » has an « m ».
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Words for "friend" and "enemy" are usually different from one Ntu language to another, especially if they are distant.
-Cindau (Mozambique, Zimbabwe)
xamwari (friend) / muvengi (enemy)
-Lingala (Congo)
moninga (friend) / monguna (enemy)
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How do you call the 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐧 in your Ntu language?
In a significant part of West Central Africa, it’s 𝐦𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚
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Saying "goodbye" in Ntu languages is about "go well / stay well"
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Let’s compare words for « arms » in our Ntu languages
We have a lot in common 😉
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The bow is the weapon that best symbolizes our cultures. Reconstructed *bu-táà (buta, bota, uta etc) in proto-Ntu, it derives from the verb *ku-tá (throw, put, do). It is also often used with a complement to refer to newer weapons. Note that 'war' is *bi-táà (eta, bita, vita etc)
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Let me guess something: From Cameroon to South Africa, From Kenya to Namibia, there is a "m" in the word for "squeezing, wringing, milking" in your Ntu language 😉
#Ntu
💪
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What's the name for the "ancestors" in your Ntu languages?
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