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Swahili

Arab sailors called the East African shore as-sawāḥil, 'the coasts'. Its people and their Bantu language took the name as Waswahili and Kiswahili, 'coast-dwellers', English recorded Swahili in 1814 and colonial German and French spread it, while the singular sāḥil 'coast' named the Sahel, the 'shore' of the Sahara.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Swahili to German

From English to French

From English to Russian

From English to Japanese

From Arabic to French

900 CEArabic

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

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