Mashrūʻ Qāmūsī - Kamusi: Qāmūs Ishtiqāqī Thulāthī al-Lughah li-Tawthīq al-Athar al-ʻArabī fī al-Muʻjam al-Sawāḥilī - Raḥbī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh ibn Saʻīd; Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur (2026) (Mumbāsā) (Mumbāsā : Jamʻīyat al-Istiqāmah al-Khayrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-ʻĀlamīyah, 2026)
Despite general acknowledgement of the wide Arabic influence on the Swahili language, many modern lexicographical studies neglect the precise etymological dimension of Arabic words in Swahili and are at times affected by historical and political biases that diminish the extent of this shared linguistic heritage. The available Swahili dictionaries likewise lack an organised scholarly methodology allowing researchers and interested readers to trace Arabic roots accurately while preserving the morphological precision and original vocalisation of the words. This research presents the Kamusi project as an academic initiative to prepare an etymological dictionary setting out the wide influence of Arabic alongside the Bantu languages that gave rise to the Swahili language, in a trilingual form intended to serve both scholarly and general users.
Permanent citation identifier: MHF-MOMBASA2026-015.
Conference theme (in Arabic): المحور الثالث: الأثر العربي في السواحلية.
Text in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
Keywords: Etymological dictionary; Swahili lexicon; Arabic loanwords; Lexicography; Bantu languages; Digital humanities