Science, ideas & the artsFrom names to words

conga

Portuguese sailors brought the name of the Kongo kingdom to Europe; Cuban Spanish named a carnival dance and its tall drum after the Congo, homeland of many enslaved Africans, and the conga line swept the United States in the 1930s before the drum went round the world.

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The road to American English

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1483Kikongo

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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