CONCISE
SWAHILI AND
ENGLISH
DICTIONARY
Swahili-English/English-Swahili
D. V. Perrott
~ TEACH YOURSELF BOOKS CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
‘A Concise Grammar
‘Notes on the Swahili
English Section
SWAHILI—ENGLISH DICTIONARY
Notes on the English—
‘Swahili Section
ENGLISH—SWAHILI DICTIONARY
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PREFACE,
“Tuts dictionary forms a companion to Peach Yourself Swahi and is
intended to be of equal use to both Rnglish and Swahil-speaking
tweople Although itis a Concise Dictionary. its Swahili seetion con
{ins all the words the compiler heage curing thirty years’ residence in
Fast Afvica, together with a selection of those taken for her own use
clus, and Madan and the writings
ipreseatiay words not yet in any die
tionary, Tt must be remembered, however, that Arabie words and
words from other Bantw languages of the mainland are often
duced into Swahili, and that variations in spelling end pronunciation
feist, Guidance on some of these will be found in the Alphabetical
‘Notes before the Swahili section
“The English vocabulary is based on that used in other Teach Your-
self dictionaries adapted to the diffrent circumstances of « tropical
‘Country. Its ten thousand words have therefore been well tested and
found a satisfactory selection
"The dictionary contains & Concise Grammar of the Swahili lan
‘guage, but much fuller information given in Swahili in this series,
“The compiler wishes to thank the Afriean friends who have helped
her by answering her queries, provded her with vernacular period:
ieals, br checking the work to ensure ite accuracy. INTRODUCTION
Swanrs is a Banta language which has incorporated words from
‘many other sources and 20 Bantuized them that even the speakers do
‘ot recognize that they are foreign words. Most have been introduced
bby Arab and Indian settlers and traders; a few by Portuguese and
German colonists, and a large oumber by the English. English and
Arabic words are now being increasingly used. Arab introductions are
“iatinctive, but one has tobe on the lorkout fr disguised English ones,
‘eg mguofalyoNe, a garment which des not fi. Most ofthese foreign
‘words, if nouns, are put into the N aad MA classes (see page 2).
‘Bantu words consist ofa root, the meaning of which i changed by
‘various prefixes and suffixes, and noums are grouped in clases accord
ing to their prefix. These prefixes afect other words in a sentence,
‘with the result that the word given in a dictionary is frequently
obscured by syllables added at the beginning and the end.
‘The Concise Grammar which follow is intended to summarize the
chief points to be remembered in wing this dictionary. They are
‘dealt with more fully in another book in this seriea, Teach Yourself
‘Swahili, which anyone who has not studied the language is advised
toget. ‘A CONCISE GRAMMAR
1. Novss
‘Swahili nouns fall into various classes which, for convenience, are
‘tually grouped as shown in the Table of Concorde on page, each
Sih wal sigs ad pra. mee i
‘Gass, the MWA cats (eg. mata wats) i the personal class;
wiry Os ed cele array e nm :
parka i casein bee eae
Se ceeaee
Sis og pt emo he aero
ce fr ck at
2 Se Ec th ern un of ma
sect Sea 78 i es ees tat
ee ie Sele te ge
eds Sah raat ele Adm
Pina a ormareracse ae
Za Bani Caceres afar foes
iano
SESE TE T g te vonage may oe
pear conte Meare act oi aa hte
pera: dant Pane ec eect
Serie tg magent avast
Reser iri a ccany Aine
ici tens cee Arcts
re ag ne ieee lc hacaaront
Sti vent icy mera citar ars
Eta com Gens aateeiesama, es
aoe
Sh SAE See al yl tenn nae
pearing tes Ra a cae ese
epee rh et we i eg
ie rts our tee oases
Soe en atyaustes aman raeaenosy
Sou taeaaitwadren ann eheas
Dahan Caan! Peta sens
Fr Coarse enter cea
separ ore ogee mista
Baty Cenperbacmake tanner
Breed peariet me toca os Net
fuko matuko, large bags).
‘For mort about the Nand MA clases see Teach Yourself Swahil,
haplers $6, and 44, and for ‘and smallness chapler
fins 8; the 'U-Hase (og, wel myrt) consis of mocas veginta
with’ or, beore a vowel w, Mon’ are abstract nouns (e.g “usu
beauty) of names of substances (eg. unga, four) and these: Si course,
‘ave to plural, The others, with a few exceptions, take the plu! of
the Neclas with the usual changes caused by the letter 9. As the
2
lrals are shown inthe dictionary, iti aot necesary to remember
‘tee, the Ula fa ery tne, and move can be found
about it in Teach Yoursey Sushi, chapter
Class 7, the Pa-class, contains only one werd, maball, place (found
sometimes as muahali or pahal) and all ke concords are made with
{he preix pa, ‘The other concords given ia the Table are explained Ia
the Bote on Place on page 12
Si he Ui coian al anv wed a verbal cane
(og, kulmba, singing) eis aot given separately fa the Table,
{Sine lant cstumhy Snder the prolx fay there a note “ania
{ngnitives”.Tnanitives begin with ku, aad when used as noUns,
ther concords begin with ku or kw before vowel
Nown Prefses
1a the Table of Concorde you will se two kinds of prefixes, called
here, Adjectioe Profzes aid) Vorb Prose, lee we are consigering
the frst Kind only.
‘ia the Get four classes they are the same as the of the
soins: mwa, mcm, ach, kivvl tn the MA-class there sm singulat
Bex J Th putin bracket, ecu i only aed when the
ajecuve begina witha vowel sss the singular pres
eae Bis, auadsing the sdfectve-rark good, We got 00
sf the Table, and adding the