Samburu language
Encyclopedia
Samburu is the Eastern Nilotic
, North Maa
language spoken by the Samburu in the highlands of northern Kenya
. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus). Samburu is closely related to Camus (88% to 94% lexical similarity; Camus is sometimes considered a Samburu dialect) and to the South Maa language Maasai
(77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word Samburu itself derives from the old Maa word 'saamburr' for the leather bag the Samburu use.
Eastern Nilotic languages
The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in...
, North Maa
Maa languages
The Maa languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages spoken in parts of Kenya and Tanzania by more than a million speakers altogether. They are subdivided into North and South Maa...
language spoken by the Samburu in the highlands of northern Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus). Samburu is closely related to Camus (88% to 94% lexical similarity; Camus is sometimes considered a Samburu dialect) and to the South Maa language Maasai
Maasai language
The Maasai language is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000...
(77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word Samburu itself derives from the old Maa word 'saamburr' for the leather bag the Samburu use.
External links
- Ethnologue report on Samburu
- Samburu language at The Rosetta Project
- Maa Language Project