4 ms·
Having studied a lot of Arabic back in the day, I was fascinated by how many similarities there are in Swahili. I wonder if this influence is conquest based or
by smallmouth 5y ago
Having studied a lot of Arabic back in the day, I was fascinated by how many similarities there are in Swahili. I wonder if this influence is conquest based or occurred prior to Islam or if Swahili influences migrated northward. Interesting.
- martopix 5y agoSwahili was born as a language of communication between the Arab merchants, from Oman, and the local Bantu population. That was in Zanzibar, which was an Arabian merchant outpost, much safer than the African mainland. So it has a Bantu grammar substrate and lots of Arabic loanwords.