Swahili names and phrases in TLG and their meanings

[PrincessKiara]

Clumsy title, but I wanted to create a topic where we can share the meanings of the characters names and various Swahili words and phrases used in the show.

To translate and look up words/names, I use this site: http://africanlanguages.com/swahili/

Character names:

Fuli - very fast, very speedy
Beshte - friend, pal, buddy
Bunga -fool, simpleton (or foolish, silly)

Tiifu - obedient, submissive, compliant (or obedience, discipline)
Zuri - good, nice, beautiful, pretty, lovely, cute, attractive

Jasiri -risk, dare, be daring

Janja - crafty, canny, knowing

Ajabu - amazing, astonishing, wonder, amazing thing, wonderful, uncommon

Makuu - ambition, arrogance, vanity, self-importance, pride

Makucha - nail, claw

Mbeya (umbeya) - curiosity

Swala - impala, antelope, gazelle

Goigoi - lazy, weak

Dogo - small, little

Mzingo -circuit, orbit, circle. Can also mean bad odour.

Mapigano (Pigano) - fight, battle, quarrel

Badili - change, substitute, adapt, alter

Laini - delicate, soft, tender, smooth

Mbali Mbali Fields - far, distant, remote

Ushari - provocation, quarrelsomeness, aggravation

Twiga - giraffe

Chungu - bitter, sour, strong, pungent (also has several other meanings such as black ant)

Nne and Tano - Four and Five

Phrases and words:

Sisi na sawa - we are equal

Kupatana - to agree

Zuka zama - Zuka means to appear, arise, emerge, pop up and zama means dive, sink, submerge, immerse, go under. The Zuka Zama phrase from TLG is said to mean "pop up and dive in."

Kion: Hevi kabisa! Totally intense!
Bunga: Zuka Zama! Pop up, dive in!
Fuli: Huwezi! You can’t (catch me)!
Beshte: Twende Kiboko! Let’s go hippo!
Ono: Hapana! Oh, no!

Please share the Swahili meanings of character names and phrases here!

[Tsuki]

Jambo is hello and of course Simba is Lion in Swahilli

[gothprincesskiara]

According to Bunga WHY did they have to make him by his name, no wonder I dont like him anymore....Shhhh dont tell Kion I said that, to me being brave shouldn't always mean you do stupid stuff without thinking, I mean...I say Bunga is a bad example like if your friend jumped off Pride Rock would you do it too?

[PrincessKiara]

[quote="Tsuki"]Jambo is hello and of course Simba is Lion in Swahilli [/quote]

I knew about Simba, but Jambo was new to me, such a cute word for "hello!"


[quote="gothprincesskiara"]According to Bunga WHY did they have to make him by his name, no wonder I dont like him anymore....Shhhh dont tell Kion I said that, to me being brave shouldn't always mean you do stupid stuff without thinking, I mean...I say Bunga is a bad example like if your friend jumped off Pride Rock would you do it too?[/quote]

Not all of the characters have names that mean something in Swahili, but from what I`ve seen, the ones that do, have names that match their character (either personality or physical appearence) well. There are however some where the meaning of the name doesn`t reflect the character, such as Sarabi meaning mirage or optical illusion.
Pumbaa`s name has similar meanings to Bunga, and yet he`s shown to be intelligent at times.

To be honest, I laughed when I learned what Bunga`s name means, I think it fits him! He`s a totally hyper, over-the-top character and he can certainly be reckless at times. You`re right, not a good example to set for children, let`s hope they don`t learn crazy antics from Bunga. He can be both foolish and silly - I don`t think he`s stupid, he just acts without thinking, which can be foolish. Bunga is supposed to be the Bravest, but I honestly think he`s just reckless and foolhardy, which is not the same as having courage.

[Squeely]

[quote="PrincessKiara"]There are however some where the meaning of the name doesn`t reflect the character, such as Sarabi meaning mirage or optical illusion.[/quote]
Turns out, Rafiki was spiking the drinking water throughout the entirety of TLK. Sarabi actually is a mirage. Simba and the lionesses didn't realize until sometime after Simba dethroned Scar, which is why there's not a word spoken about Sarabi in any of the sequels.

[Vorkey]

Cool. Swahili is a language I've always wanted to learn just for fun. I even bought a book so I could teach myself, but I never read it.

These are the catchphrase translations.

Kion: Hevi kabisa! Totally intense!
Bunga: Zuka Zama! Pop up, dive in!
Fuli: Huwezi! You can’t (catch me)!
Beshte: Twende Kiboko! Let’s go hippo!
Ono: Hapana! Oh, no!

My favourites are Hevi kabisa and Huwezi.

[moonsugar33]

I threw Badili, the nice leopard from the new episode, into Google Translate and it picked it up as Swahili right away: "Changed". Which brings up the amusing imagery of a leopard changing its spots. I'm assuming it's a reference to the character development he'll undergo :3

[KionScar]

According to Wikipedia episode summary the other leopard's name is Mapigano, using the online Swahili-English dictionary that happens to be linked it the first post.

mapigano pl noun 5/6 See singular pigano
Root -pigana
pigano noun 5/6 Root -pigana
1 fight, battle
2 quarrel
-pigana verb, + associative Root -piga
fight, beat each other

[PrincessKiara]

I edited the post to include the catchphrases and some more characters names, including the three newest ones from the Galagos episode as well as the meaning of Mbali (Mbali fields has been mentioned before).