2

Does Swahili (and hence cognates of other Bantu languages) simba have any relation to सिंह (~singh or ~simha in Hindi and Sanskrit respectively according to Wiktionary, please correct me if I am wrong), or is it simply a coincidence? After all, they sound very similar and have almost identical meanings. If so, did this borrowing result from contact? Did Bantu and Indic/Indo-European language families have common ancestors? A cursory search on Wikipedia doesn't yield any clues.

Links: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu/%C7%B9c%C3%ADmb%C3%A1, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simba#Swahili, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/सिंह) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages#Suggested_macrofamilies

Improve this question
0

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
4

That is a coincidence, the two words are not related, neither are the Indo-European and Bantu languages.

The Swahili simba 'lion' comes from the Proto-Bantu *ǹcímbá 'any of various wild felines or similar, including wildcat, lion, leopard, civet, genet'.

Improve this answer
9
  • 4
    @Anonymous - Yes, there are really many coincidences in unrelated languages.
    – Yellow Sky
    Nov 5, 2017 at 17:40
  • 5
    Coincidences like this are very common. Any two languages taken at random will divulge a dozen or two words or word-like chunks that look or sound very similar and mean very similar things. That's unavoidable because there are many orders of magnitude fewer word-shapes available in any language than there are meanings to apply to them. The devil is in the details, in this case the meaning of "very similar" -- just how similar do meanings and sounds have to be?
    – jlawler
    Nov 5, 2017 at 21:11
  • 5
    The majority view among Indologists is that the Sanskrit siṁha “lion” does not have an Indo-European etymology, but that it is a substrate word. Thus, the question of whether or not Indo-European and Bantu are related is of no relevance to this question.
    – fdb
    Nov 5, 2017 at 23:18
  • 1
    False Cognates Alert :)
    – WiccanKarnak
    Nov 6, 2017 at 7:14
  • 2
    This is only half an answer, missing the other root. Wiktionary (through our @Aryaman) makes the less bold claim "is likely unrelated". The Sanskrit form is compared to Tocharian, Chinese, Tibetan--all possible to have loaned from Buddhist scripture, yes? Chechen and other languages I don't know about are mentioned, too. The thing is, a root sinĵʰás is proposed, which is obviously not the same as Proto-Bantu, however for a limited time-depth under several assumptions (e.g. about contact). I wonder how Bantu is reconstructed, if writing came very late,
    – vectory
    Jan 1, 2019 at 9:26
2

Indic languages are not related to the Bantu languages genetically; however, both Hindi/Urdu and Swahili were influenced by Arabic due to contact between speakers. Neither of these words arose through mutual loans from Arabic, though; 'lion' in Arabic is 'أسد,' or ' 'asada.'

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    siṁha is Sanskrit. Arabic has nothing to do with this.
    – fdb
    Nov 6, 2017 at 9:50
1

If the word is borrowed, the direction of borrowing would have to be from Bantu to Indic, given that nsimba is widely distributed in Bantu, not limited to Eastern Bantu. This is not impossible in light of cultural imports at Chanudaro from Africa around the 2nd millenium BCE (pearl millet, African women). In light of the fact that the root appears in Armenian and Vedic, the borrowing would have to date to about that period. However, the Bantu expansion would have just started at that point, and certainly would not have reached coastal East Africa (a plausible point of Afro-Indian contact). So there is no plausible point of contact between the two populations at that time.

The consonant change b→ǵʰ which would be required in light of the differences between the Indo-European words and the Bantu words is also a highly improbable change – it doesn't correspond to any sound change tendency in Indo-European.

Improve this answer
-1

Trade goes back to the 5th century BCE between India and the east coast of Africa. Under such circumstances, loan words occur between languages that are otherwise unrelated. A possible example: The word "sangha" in Sanskrit refers to "community", as does the word "sanga" in the Shona language.

Improve this answer
-4

i think both can be related as well as it could be a coincidence. relatedness possibilities are numerous as East African Coast of the "INDIAN" Ocean had been trading with Malabar Coast and Beyond and were connected by land since eternity. But, as Lion is one of the most prominent animal in all languages throughout the history. And Lions were found all over the world as well. Therefore introduction of the word, to and from India (or Indo-european) and Africa (sawahili) origins is equally plausible.
On the other hand, convergent evolution in human societies is a common occurrence. seemingly independent groups of people developed similar tools, skills, social structures and designs. similarly many words in unrelated languages often sound similar because ultimately all words originated from sounds. e.g. words describing sounds, animal sounds and natural phenomenological sounds and sounds associated with basic human actions and emotions like yawning, coughing, sobbing, laughing, etc. Thus both convergent development or built-in tendencies or genetically determined human social and intellectual progress resulting in similarities between unrelated societal groups should be explored more. And at the same time we should be open minded in examining the possibility of complex interactions and relations among distant societies. Trans-Atlantic Pre-Columbian interactions have recently been discussed, similarly ancient Indo-African interaction and diffusion should also be explored further.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.