The Arabic Lexical Presence in Swahili: Mechanisms of Semantic Borrowing and Their Civilizational Representations

Abū Ghalyūn, ʻAṭwah

The Arabic Lexical Presence in Swahili: Mechanisms of Semantic Borrowing and Their Civilizational Representations

al-Ḥuḍūr al-Muʻjamī al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah: Ālīyāt al-Iqtirāḍ al-Dalālī wa-Tamaththulātuhu al-Ḥaḍārīyah

الحضور المعجمي العربي في اللغة السواحلية: آليات الاقتراض الدلالي وتمثلاته الحضارية

ʻAṭwah Abū Ghalyūn

د. عطوة أبو غليون

Conference: The Second Istiqama International Conference: Omanis and the Swahili World — Influence and Interaction — Mombasa, 2026

Romanized conference title: Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur

Language of the paper: Arabic — this page presents the English metadata layer.

Permanent citation ID: MHF-MOMBASA2026-002

Abstract

This research investigates the Arabic lexical presence in the Swahili language through an analysis of the mechanisms of semantic borrowing and their civilizational representations, situated within the context of linguistic and cultural interaction between Arabic and Swahili. The study proceeds from the hypothesis that Arabic influence on Swahili was not merely a transient lexical borrowing but constituted a profound sociolinguistic and civilizational phenomenon, intrinsically linked to the spread of Islam, the movement of religious education, and commercial and cultural exchange along the coasts of East Africa. The study identifies selected models of Swahili lexemes of Arabic origin and analyses the pathways of their semantic evolution — whether through narrowing and specialisation, broadening and generalisation, or semantic shift — while elucidating how these developments reflect the civilizational contact between the two languages and the social conditions in which the borrowed vocabulary was received and reshaped.

Keywords

Arabic loanwordsSwahili lexiconSemantic borrowingLanguage contactEast AfricaSociolinguistics

How to cite

Abū Ghalyūn, ʻAṭwah. "al-Ḥuḍūr al-Muʻjamī al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah: Ālīyāt al-Iqtirāḍ al-Dalālī wa-Tamaththulātuhu al-Ḥaḍārīyah" [The Arabic Lexical Presence in Swahili: Mechanisms of Semantic Borrowing and Their Civilizational Representations]. Paper presented at Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur, Mumbāsā, 2026. MHF-MOMBASA2026-002

Catalog record

Romanization follows the ALA-LC Arabic table used by the Library of Congress and the British Library. The original Arabic is carried in the parallel MARC 880 fields, linked by subfield $6 — the standard treatment for non-English resources.

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=100  1\$6100-01$aAbū Ghalyūn, ʻAṭwah,$eauthor.
=245  13$6245-02$aal-Ḥuḍūr al-Muʻjamī al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah: Ālīyāt al-Iqtirāḍ al-Dalālī wa-Tamaththulātuhu al-Ḥaḍārīyah /$cʻAṭwah Abū Ghalyūn.
=242  10$aThe Arabic Lexical Presence in Swahili: Mechanisms of Semantic Borrowing and Their Civilizational Representations$yeng
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=500  \\$aConference theme (in Arabic): المحور الثالث: الأثر العربي في السواحلية.
=520  3\$aThis research investigates the Arabic lexical presence in the Swahili language through an analysis of the mechanisms of semantic borrowing and their civilizational representations, situated within the context of linguistic and cultural interaction between Arabic and Swahili. The study proceeds from the hypothesis that Arabic influence on Swahili was not merely a transient lexical borrowing but constituted a profound sociolinguistic and civilizational phenomenon, intrinsically linked to the spread of Islam, the movement of religious education, and commercial and cultural exchange along the coasts of East Africa. The study identifies selected models of Swahili lexemes of Arabic origin and analyses the pathways of their semantic evolution — whether through narrowing and specialisation, broadening and generalisation, or semantic shift — while elucidating how these developments reflect the civilizational contact between the two languages and the social conditions in which the borrowed vocabulary was received and reshaped.
=546  \\$aText in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
=653  \0$aArabic loanwords
=653  \0$aSwahili lexicon
=653  \0$aSemantic borrowing
=653  \0$aLanguage contact
=653  \0$aEast Africa
=653  \0$aSociolinguistics
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