وشائج لغُوية بين السواحيلية والعربية

Abstract

The Swahili language is one of the important languages. The word Swahili is derived from the
Arabic word Sawaahil, meaning the inhabitants of the eastern coast of Africa from northern
Mozambique through Zanzibar to Mogadishu.
This language is spoken by more than one hundred and fifty thousand million (at least 150,000,000)
Africans, in addition to those who have learned it for their professions or social cohesion.
The history of the Swahili language dates back to the beginning of the Christian era but historians,
researchers, investigators and others put it in the seventh century AD.
The Swahili language is influenced by the Arabic language which is the language of Islamic
religion and culture in which religious rites are performed and because of its revelation sanctity of
the Qur'an and Sunnah.
This scientific paper presents the relationship between the Arabic and Swahili languages. The paper
reveals that 60% of the Swahili nouns, 60% of the verbs and 15% of the numbers have been
borrowed from Arabic while 20% have originated from other Bantu and other languages.