Modern vocabulary (loanwords)
Lesson 9 of 13≈ 14 min
A language that absorbs
Like any living language, shikomori has borrowed massively from its historical neighbours:
- From Arabic for over a thousand years (religious, legal, scholarly, commercial vocabulary)
- From French since colonisation (1841 Mayotte, 1886 rest of the archipelago) — administration, technology, modern life
- From swahili continuously (the East African coastal language, partial mutual intelligibility)
Loanwords are integrated into local grammar: they take noun classes, some plurals in ma-, etc.
French loanwords
Note the frozen French articles (l-, du-, ma-)
| Shikomori | French origin | Note |
|---|---|---|
| gari | car (English « car » via swahili) | class 5/6 |
| dipe | « du pain » (some bread) | frozen article |
| gato | cake | class 5/6 |
| likoli | « l'école » (the school) | frozen article |
| lapitali | « l'hôpital » (the hospital) | frozen article |
| banki | bank | |
| bisikileti | bicycle | |
| pasiporo | passport | |
| zalumeti | « les allumettes » (the matches) | frozen article |
| aeroplani / âvio | airplane | two forms coexist |
| zarde | garden | |
| barji | barge (inter-island transport) | |
| taksi | taxi | invariable |
| bibiro | baby bottle | standard b, not ɓ |
| biro | office | |
| dukutera | doctor | class 5/6 → madukutera |
| polisi | police officer | 5/6 → mapvolisi |
| shofera | driver | 5/6 → mazofera |
Arabic loanwords
Scholarly and religious vocabulary — often transmitted via swahili
| Shikomori | English | Arabic origin |
|---|---|---|
| adaɓu | respect | أدب |
| kalamu | pencil, pen | قلم |
| kitabu | scholarly book | كتاب |
| kofia | cap, hat | كوفية |
| dhahabu | gold | ذهب |
| thamani | price, value | ثمن |
| roho | heart, soul | روح |
| karatasi | paper, diploma | قرطاس |
| hazi | work | حاجة |
| uhuru | freedom, independence | حر |
| bahari | sea | بحر |
| aya | verse | آية |
| kur'ani | Quran | قرآن |
| îdî | festival | عيد |
| âda | custom | عادة |
| ûdî | oriental lute | عود |
Listening
- gari (car)
- likoli (school)
- kalamu (pencil)
- uhuru (freedom)
Grammatical integration of a loanword
When shikomori absorbs a French word, it bends it to local rules:
- gari takes class 5/6 → plural magari
- dukutera takes class 5/6 → plural madukutera
- But taksi stays invariable (class 9/10)
- aeroplani / âvio have two competing forms — the nasal vowel is written â (circumflex) in the 2019 norm
Rule of thumb: older loanwords had time to agglutinate with a local class; recent ones stay invariable.
Practice
Plural of gari?
Plural: ___.
Which French article survives in likoli?
likoli = ___ + école (school).
Mini-quiz
What does uhuru mean?
uhuru = ___.
Next lesson: counting beyond ten
You now have useful vocabulary across 9 fields: daily life, numbers, colours, body, nature, family, food, time, modern vocabulary.
Four lessons complete the module: large numbers, orientation, emotions and classroom instructions.