mwanawefwe: I am impressed by observations made in this article. It is interesting that far away in West Africa some peoples refer to a child as 'omu' or 'omo'; 'omuan' for person and umunna for children . The Bukusu (a subgroup of the Luyia) in Kenya say 'omuana' for a child and 'babana' for children, while 'omundu' is a person. I begin feeling the urge to get more word relationships from these ethnic groups. I think we are one and the same people unless geneticists say otherwise.

That's interesting, you saw a similarity with the west African languages and I with yours but not with the west african ones.
The words you used are similar to the baSotho language words for the same thing (nguana and bana) and the omundu is similar to umuntu in the Nguni languages which in some places is pronounced as umundu, ndebeles and some swazi dialects do. Nwana is child in xiTsonga and chiVenda.
Someone mentioned before the Igbo(west african) equivalent is Nwa.

The words in Bukusu are definitely bantu, if you said them in South Africa we'd know what you were talking about because even the singular and plural follow the same logic or rhythm. Its amazing to see how the words have evolved like just looking at the words for elephant that I've seen in this thread which are jobo, joko, njoku, njogu, ndovu, ndlovu I would have never linked the first with the last, so depending on where you look you might not see that there's a link when there is.

I'm curious, there's a saying in South Africa umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (a person is a person because of people). I'm curious to know how it would translate into Bukusu.

Genocide ? Not this again. All over the internet. Even though their demographic is increasing faster than any other. They complain about employment even though as a group they have a lower unemployment rate than some western countries. these people live in a world of one. They complain about government incompetence, Crime and violence effecting white people when these things effect everyone and in fact effect black and coloured people more than it does them. That's why this will be dismissed as nothing but racist ramblings and "apartheid nostalgia"- I saw that in some article. I don't know who they think they are fooling. They were singing Die Stem(apartheid anthem) and
waving the old apartheid flag.

In one picture you can see a government protecting the democratic rights of the protesters. In the other you can see a government that shoots and kills protesters it doesn't care to deal with.

Tony Spike:
A) The Bantus once occupied areas around the ancient Misri and Sudan pre-2500 BC.

B) Political upheavals around Egypt and its vassal states (Sudan and Kush/Nubia) affected the Bantus which led to their early migrations out of their homelands.

- What about the Nilo saharans and Afro asiatics ? Weren't they the inhabitants of this area ? I thought the Bantu were more related to the West African Niger-congo language group than to either one of these.

The Y DNA lineages of the modern day Bantu are the same as those of modern day west Africans not so much to the modern day people of Sudan.

Where are all the Igbo or other west African translations ? Are there any Nilotes around here ?

Really interesting info EMG.

Luhya/wanga words:

Luhya - English - swahili

- Zulu

Nombi-i have constructed
Yaho- there - hapo

- Lapho

Inguvu-clothes,- nguo

- Izingubo, izimpahla

Mboni-I am healed -,nimepona

- Ngilaphekile

Ambele-he/she has given me,-amenipea

- ungiphile

Etsa-Look,-angalia

- Buka, bheka

Muliango- -door

- umnyango

Mavuyu-egg

- iqanda

Milembe- hallo -Salamu

- sowubona, kunjani

Ingo-Home,-nyumbani

- ikhaya

Lijembe- hoe -Jembe

- ikhuba. izembe is an axe.

Mundu-a person,mtu

- umuntu

Makura-Oil,- mafuta

- amafutha

Shikombe-Cup, -kikombe

- ikhomishi

Amba-Nails,-kucha

- fingernails is izinzipho. Metal nail is isipikiri.

Shitabu-book

- ibhuku, incwadi

Ivedia-Radio

- iwayilesi

Itsu-house

- indlu, umuzi, idladla

Shiteli-Bed

- umbhede

Matuma-maize

- umbhila


Musala-Tree

- isihlahla, umuthi

vilao-shoes

- izichathulo

tsikwuyi-firewood

- izinkuni

Isimu-Phone,simu

- ucingo, umakhalakhukhini

Vunyasi-grass,nyasi

- Tshani

Ingokwo- chicken -kuku

- nkukhu

Injira-road

- umgwaco, isitradi

Mabwoni-potatoes

- amazambane

Musatsa-A man

- indoda

Mwana-a child

- umtwana

Mukhali-A woman

- umfazi

Matsi-water

- amanzi

Libokisi-box

- ibokisi

Itivi-Television set

- iTV, umabonakude

Isugari-sugar

- ushukela

Mulinjeti-blanket

- itshalo, ingubo

VUnyasi-grass

- utshani

Inguleme-Pig

- ingulube

Mikhonye-sugarcane

- umoba

Machani-tea

- tiye

Nguni-i am asleep,-nimelala

- ngilele. Lala is used in a different tense

Navi-i have knitted,nimeshona

- ngithungile

Mukoye-kamba - rope

- intambo

Musahi-blood

- igazi

Inda-stomach

- isisu

Liswi-hair

- izinwele

Vulwale-sickness/ugonjwa

- ukugula

Mushele-grandmother/old woman

- gogo (grandmother),
Isalukazi (old woman)

Musakhulu-Old man

- umkhulu (grandfather), ixheku (old man)

Mukhali-a mother

- umama

Musatsa-a father

- ubabe

Muyahi-young man

- insizwa, indoda (man), umfana (boy)

Mukhaa-young girl

- intombi, intombazane

Ikavati-cupboard

- ikhabethe

Vusala-porridge

- iphalishi

Isutsi-fish

- inhlanzi

Vwina-deep hole/shimo

- umgodi (hole) ojulile (deep)

Imbuli-goat

- imbuzi

Likondi-sheep

- imvu

Linyonyi-bird/ndege

- inyoni


Nyasaye-Mungu/God

-nkulunkulu

Shivala-Earth/dunia

- umhlaba

E1b1b

E1b1a

The first image is a map of Y-DNA haplogroup E distribution. The second is of the E1b1a subgroup and the third of the E1b1b.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about. All men have a Y chromosome. Because women don't have a Y chromosome the fathers Y chromosome is passed directly to his son. You can therefore study lineage this way, because it is passed on relatively unchanged, but it can mutate over time. The two most common lineages in Africa are E1b1a which is associated with sub saharans and E1b1b which is associated with horn and north africans and is also found in south europeans and middle easterners.

Something interesting is that they say E split from an ancient group DE to form E and D however D is no longer found in Africa only asia. Only 5 people have been found to have DE and they were all Nigerian.

tpia@:
the south africans seem a bit more aggressive than other african countries when it comes to nigeria.

Why don't you give people the benefit of the doubt. Nigerian movies are popular in SA. Everyone is always imitating a nigerian accent or saying things like chineke or whatever else they hear from those Africa magic films.

There is a huge problem here of Nigerians selling drugs and what not and that has created a lot of stereotypes. But obviously there are Nigerians working corporate jobs or as phd lecturers etc in SA but nobody talks about them. Only squeaky hinges get oiled. Yes a lot of people do often associate Nigerian with scam/drugs/illegal that's not prejudice its something they form from experience or observation, I get a lot of emails from Nigeria about money transfers or winning money and places like Hillbrow are infamous for having a lot of Nigerians many of them being drug dealers and part of crime networks. Its unfortunate. Its not fair on your part to accuse South Africa of being inherently xenophobic against Nigerians. I have nothing in common with the guy living in a shack or RDP in Alexandra who attacks foreigners because he feels theyr taking his jobs, his views are very different to mine and so to accuse us all of things done by a section of the population (the poor, unskilled and probably alcoholic) is not accurate.

There are over 50 million people in SA. There is no individual known as The South Africans. How many Nigerians immigrate to other non West African African countries as oppose to the number of those who come here, obviously.

tpia@:
why are south africans so much into nigeria?

Around one in ten black people in the world is Nigerian. So as far as Africans goes most people will likely come into contact with Nigerians more than any other group hence why people talk more about immigrant Nigerians than others, all over the world in every country, its not just SA. The stereotypes in SA are no different than those in other countries.

The average South African

You simply ask them where they're from. I don't understand why well off Africans come onto the internet to bash each other for the whole world to see when there are countless websites out there dedicated to insulting black people indiscriminately in the worst ways possible. Things that have been said on this thread are rubbish. The xenophobia is in very poor areas among people who either feel theyr jobs are being taken by illegal immigrants or feel threatened by illegal immigrants who operate illegal networks. The dislike people have for Nigerians in SA is for those who come here only to destroy the country by bringing in contraband or setting up illegal networks. Not Nigerians in general. Most SAns worth a damn don't know anyone who is an illegal Nigerian selling drugs or involved in illegal business. There is no issue with Nigerians who contribute which are the only ones I've encountered. No SAns are not all lazy, we've achieved a lot in the last 19 years.

some-girl:
I fail to see any remarkable similarities between Igbo and Swahili or Zulu. I think words are being twisted around to appear similar.
Some of the Igbo translations I've seen here are inaccurate or don't apply to most ancient Igbo groups.

Igbo like most languages have things in common with many other languages especially surrounding ones.

One could decide that because me in french is moi and in Igbo mua, pronounced same way, they could be related.

Turkish is the only language apart from Igbo, I've come across, where possessive pronouns are m suffixes. Most other languages use a mi suffixes and others prefixes.

e.g
life - Uwa(Igbo); Turkish (Hayat)
my life - Uwam (Igbo); Hayatım (Turkish)

I want - A chorom (Igbo); Istiyorum (Turkish)

The above example doesn't demonstrate any remarkable similarities between both languages.

True. I don't think anyone is saying there are lots of similarities between Igbo with specifically Swahili and Zulu, i think finding links between bantu and west african languages would be really interesting, we look the same so surely we have a common ancestry. Taking words slightly out of context for the sake of comparing is not always wrong. For example Thetha in Xhosa (a fellow Nguni language dialect with Zulu) means to talk but in Zulu it means to shout, the two words definitely have a common origin but the meanings of the words have changed. sometimes the meanings of words change slightly when languages are separated.

Now I'm not saying french is related to Igbo but many languages use a short word beginning with an M for me/mine/I. It could be a case of an ancient common human word which hasn't changed very much.

These are some words for me/I/mine in different languages

French - moi
Portuguese - mim
Spanish - mi

English - me
German - mir/mich
Dutch - mijn
Polish - mnie
Danish: mig
Norwegian: meg
Swedish: mig
Greek - mou
Hebrew - me/mi
Marathi - mee
hindi - main
divehi - mashe

Yoruba - mi
Wolof - ma
Igbo - mua
Swahili - Meme
Zulu - Mina

It could be a coincidence since there are many which don't conform to this. Words for mother and father I've noticed have common variations mama, ma, nana, papa, pa, baba, tata and variations of these too.

740megawatts:

Apparently, The Zulu word, Ndlovu, for Elephant is a corruption of the original Bantu word, Njoku. Somebody must have been playing around with consonants in ancient times...interesting

Yes, I think many bantu languages play around with consonants. Swapping Rs with Ls or vice versa. Even within dialects. for eg. where Zulus use Z Swazi us t etc like zami/zakho (mine/yours) and tami/takho (mine /yours).

The Shona word for witches is baroyi and the Sotho one is baloi. What's cool about this is the word abaloyi makes sense as witches in zulu since it would mean people who perform witchcraft but a different word for witch is used which also means someone who performs witchcraft umthakathi which uses a synonym for loya which is thakatha.

Back to consonant changes Swazi also changes th in Zulu to ts and d to dz. A lot of words are identical with just letter substitutions. Like is thanda in Zulu, in Swazi its tsandza and in Tsonga its rhandza. Words for eat too in zulu you say idla, idya in Tsonga and ija in Sotho. So yeah its possible ndlovu was once Njoku however simply being a language from Cameroon doesn't mean it hasn't changed as much as any other bantu language over the same time period.

.

moksofafrica:

man moto (lingala)moto
men wato (douala)bato
meat nyama
cow nyaka
goat mboli
elephant njoku
house ndawo (douala)dabo
mother nyango\nyange
father sango\sange
water maliwa (douala)madiba

The zulu equivalents are

man(as in human/person) umuntu
Man (as in a male) indoda, umlisa
men(as in people) abantu
Men (as in many males) amadoda, abeslisa
In the basotho languages spoken here in South Africa they also use moto and bato for person and people.

meat nyama
cow nkomo
goat mbuzi
elephant ndlovu
house muzi, indlu, ikhaya
In zulu the word ndawo means place

mother nyoko, mama, mage, unina,
father yihlo, yise, baba/babe
water amanzi

Tony Spike:

Meanwhile, Water is almost the same in Yoruba and Igbo. The word is a variation of the ancient Egyptian version.

Water - MW (ancient Kemet/Egypt) - Omi(Yoruba) - Mmiri(Igbo)

The word for water in zulu is (a)manzi, in other SA languages Venda & Sotho its madi and metsi. In Swahili its maji in Lingala its mayi. So the proto bantu word can be assumed to have a Mmm sound at the beginning and end with an ee sound. Since that seens to be the common denominator. So there could be a connection with Mmiri and MW. In Arabic its Maa, hebrew its maam in berber its amazi and for kicks in Japanese its mizu .

uThando (isiZulu)
Lerato (seSotho)

Someone mentioned the Igbo word for child is nwa. The Tsonga and venda word for child is nwana. The Zulu word for child is (um)twana from I'm guessing umuntwana which literally would mean little person. The plural is abantwana. Could be a connection or it could just be coincidence. I'm curious to know what are the west African language equivalents of commonly shared Bantu words like meat(nyama), goat(mbuzi), chicken(nkukhu), drink (nwana). Maybe simple words might be more likely to be shared like words for 123 or water, animal, tree, hair, mother, father etc.