Imported 'Somali' Words

[SomaliPhilosopher]

Somalia has interacted with numerous cultures through its history and as a some of our language has been diluted. Lets create a list of some imported Somali words- common or rarely used words, though common would be more surprising. Perhaps we can try to add the original somali word too.

 

 

I'll start with

 

saxan (plate): Arabic صحن

Qaxwo (coffee): Arabic قهوة

Practically all 7 days of the week are Arabic in origin

raysal wasaare (Prime Minister): Arabic رئيس الوزراء

maxkamad (court): Arabic محكمة

Qalin (pen): Arabic قلم

Hawo (air): Arabic هواء

Moos (Banana, our staple fruit!): Arabic موز

Rooti (Bread): Hindu/Paki origin

 

There are many Somali equivalent to these words, though the imported words have become the de facto norm for such terms

[SomaliPhilosopher]

Lakin (but): Arabic لكن

 

^I am shocked!

[Safferz]

A few Hindi and Urdu words off the top of my head - surwaal (pants), sargaal (officer), gaadhi (car), laangadhe (crippled person)

[Wadani]

add 'badhasaab' to the hindi/urdu words.

[SomaliPhilosopher]

Safferz/Wadani-you guys familiar with hindu/urdu?

 

When did Somalis have contact with the hindus?

 

 

It is often said Af May May is the original af Somali and has less imported words

[Safferz]

SomaliPhilosopher;945135 wrote:

Safferz/Wadani-you guys familiar with hindu/urdu?

 

When did Somalis have contact with the hindus?

I've never studied the language, but I'm familiar with them as borrowed words. Somalia has always had Indians - southern Somalia is part of the Swahili coast, with centuries of trade and cultural exchange in the Indian ocean trade networks - but most of these Hindi and Urdu words came with the British, since Indians made up many of the officers/soldiers in the British Empire (called "askaris," another word we borrowed from the British who borrowed it from the original Arabic) and many also arrived as traders, shopkeepers and merchants with the colonial state. Hargeisa still has an area called the "Indian line" (colonial cities always had a segregated geography, reflecting the British distinction between whites, Asians (usually Indian) and Africans/natives).

 

A long time ago my mom told me a song kids in Hargeisa used to yell at Indians on the street -- "Hindi baa baa/Bariis kaagii//Ma bislaaninay/Baada joogso/Ku baarooro"

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

more hindi: Sabuun sanduuq sambusa kursi babuur(sounds indian)

[Safferz]

Naxar Nugaaleed;945142 wrote:

more hindi: Sabuun sanduuq sambusa kursi babuur(sounds indian)

All of those except sambuusa are Arabic

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Arabic can not be considered foreign though, a very large part of somali is arabic especially af waqoyi. of the top of my head

 

Ard (ground)

saqaaf (roof)

Kawiyat (Iron)

Maqli (frying pan)

markab (boat)

 

....

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Safferz they're Hindi words via arabic shaah/shaahi/chai lol

[Safferz]

Naxar Nugaaleed;945146 wrote:

Safferz they're Hindi words via arabic shaah/shaahi/chai lol

Some words certainly are, but I'm not so sure about these ones... for instance, we know that soap (at least the what we know as soap today) has its origins in the Middle East, so it makes sense that the word sabuun is Arabic. I also don't agree that Arabic is not foreign to us, and the Arabic imprint on our language is much less than most people think. The African language with the most Arabic vocabulary is Swahili, and even then the words of Arabic origin only make up something like 20% of the Swahili lexicon.

 

SomaliPhilosopher;945129 wrote:

There are many Somali equivalent to these words, though the imported words have become the de facto norm for such terms

A society's vocabulary is always limited to its social horizon and historical experience, so the vast majority of the foreign words in the Somali language (like any other language) will be words that describe concepts, objects, etc that are new to us and incorporated into our society as a result of cross-cultural contact. For example many words relating to literacy are Arabic, because our first encounter with writing was with Islam -- qalin, waraaq, kitaab, etc.

[underdog]

Arabs got around back in the day.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Arabic_on_other_languages

[NGONGE]

Naxar Nugaaleed;945142 wrote:

more hindi: Sabuun sanduuq sambusa

kursi

babuur(sounds indian)

Other than sambusa nd babuur, I think all the others are Arabic, saaxib. I'm surprised that you think the word Kursi is indian. I'd of course understand it if you were one of our atheist nomads (anyone else would have heard of ayaat al KURSI).

[brainblaster456]

SomaliPhilosopher;945135 wrote:

Safferz/Wadani-you guys familiar with hindu/urdu?

 

When did Somalis have contact with the hindus?

 

 

It is often said Af May May is the original af Somali and has less imported words

If you go to Berbera or Hargeysa you will find many Indians who have become Somalianized.

[nuune]

I am sorry to dissapoint you all, but every word you mentioned there has its own Somali original word, including the days of the week, numbers, and everything else you are writing all down there, some people just prefer to use imported words, others don't and preserve the language.