A handbook of the Swahili language, as spoken at Zanzibar. Edited for the Universities' mission to Central Africa PDF
Preview A handbook of the Swahili language, as spoken at Zanzibar. Edited for the Universities' mission to Central Africa
:C\J A HANDBOOK OF THE SWAHILI LANGUAGE, AS SPOKEN AT ZANZIBAR. EDITEDFOR THE UNIVERSITIES'MISSION TO CENTRALAFRICA BY The late EDWARD STEERE, LED., MISSIONARYBISHOPFORCENTRALAFRICA. . FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED BY A. C. MADAN, M.A., SENIORSTUDENT AND FORMERLY TUTOROFOH. CH. OXFORD. LONDON : SOCIETYFOR PROMOTINGCHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. NORT43H,UU.MUEBEMERVILCATONRIDASATV^EBNI^UEJ^, MW..BQrM;MWWMKW^,^yCT„lwJ^i^ l8 MICROPORE BY 94| PRESERVATION Lav* AUG "9 1989 x> oi \$70 XV ADVEKTISEMENT TO SECOND EDITION. The First Edition having been at the last sold out withunexpectedrapidity, Ihave not been able to add so much as I should havewished to this. The chief novelty is the omission of what I called the second classofSubstantives,whichprovedtobeonlythemost commoninstanceofthegeneralrule, thatSubstantives of any and every form denoting animate beings are constructedwithAdjectives andPronounsintheforms propertothefirstclass. Somewords havebeenadded totheVocabulariesandafewmistakescorrected. During the last four years the work of translation andcollectionhasbeengoingsteadily forward, Swahili preaching has been going on, and some Elementary School-books printed in Zanzibar for our vernacular schools. The greatworkof evangelizingAfricaseems togrowin magnitude the moreone understandswhat is required for it; but our hopes still growwith the growthofourknowledge. Edwabd Steers London,January1875. ( XVU ADVEETISEMENT TO THIED EDITION. ThisEdition maybe taken to represent substantially the final form which the Handbook assumed in the hands of its compiler, the late Bishop Steere. No estimate can be attempted here of his services to philology in general, and the student of African languages in particular, still less of their bearing on the spread of Christianity in Central Africa. What- evertherelativepurityofthedialectsofMombasaand Zanzibar, and however great the debt Bishop Steere undoubtedlyowed to his distinguished predecessor in their study, Dr. Krapf, the broad fact remains that Bishop Steeretookthelanguageas hefound it spoken in thecapitalcityof theEastCoast, reduced its rules to so lucid and popularaform as notonlytomakeit accessible, but easyto all students, andfinallymadea great advance towardsstereotyping its forms and ex- tending its use by embodying it in copious writings andtranslations. Some of the last hours of his lifewere apparently spent in preparing this Handbook for a newedition. Those who were familiar with the many cares and anxieties then pressing on him, will not be surprised that there were signs of haste a,nd pressure in his b xviii VHi:FACE. revision. With Part 1. v.r, he seems to have ii satisfied. Tho cornetinns of the texl were few and unimportant,and thongh the Listsof Wordsmight ha\ largely added t«>. he seemstohave preferred leaving them as they were, in view of tlio strictly tical purpose ofthowholebook. With Part II. (the Swahili-EnglishVocabulary,&c.) the case is rather different. AVith the aid ofvarious members of the Mission, the Bishop had made some- what largecollections inordertoexpand and complete it. Probablyfromthe pressureof workheforealluded to,he had only prepared a selection of them for this Edition. It has been thought better, however,to in- corporateall thewords found in his notes and added with his approval. But it must be remembered that tin.- Bishop never regarded Tart II. as ranking as a Dictionary, even in embryo, but rather as a tolerably full list of words to serve as a useful companion to Part I. Even with this reservation, there remain manytraces of imperfection in arrangement, spelling, and inter]>n-tation of words, which would doubtless have been removed ifhehadbeenallowedtimetopass the whole listunderrevision finally. Thisfinal revision nooneis inapositionadequately tosupply. Minorcorrections and additions have been cautiouslyandsparinglymade. OneAppendix(No.V.), likelyto subserve the practical aim of thewhole, has n added, with theVen. Archdeacon Hodgson's ap- provaL There still remain among theBishop's notes us specimens of Swahili verses, pro- ., which might have formed another. PREFACE. xix Itisthoughtbest,however, toreserve them, andleave thewholebook,asfaraspossible, as theBishopleftit. Subsequent editorsmayfind somethingtoadd. They probablywillnotfindmuchtoalter. A. C. M. — P.S. Dr. Krapf's great Dictionary of the Swahili Language, in its printed form, was in the Bishop's handstooshortatime toallowof his making any use ofitforthisEditionofthe Handbook. Zanzibar,Christmas,1882.
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