"Anafuta meza."

Translation: He wipes the table.

[Aria487]

According to Moin dictionary, the Farsi word میز /miz/ table is from Mongolian language.
According to Collinsdictionary.com, the word also exists in Portuguese and in Spanish.
Wordsense.eu notes it comes from Latin "mēnsa" table.

[DiegoJaviUnlam]

It is really interesting! I really do not know about the origin, but perhaps the borrowing is more from Portuguese. Even in Indonesian, it exists the word "meja", that is because the Portuguese contact with the islanders (also the first Indonesian linguists liked to borrow some words directly from Latin before the independance, resulting a Malay language with a rich addition of Latin, Dutch, Sanskrit, Old Javanese, Arabic, and some words from Portuguese.)

Noun

meza (n class, plural meza)

1) table (item of furniture)

Verb

meza

1) swallow (to cause to pass from the mouth into the stomach)

(Also the word "limau" is a Portuguese borrowing, possibly from Classical Persian)

Etymology (Swahili: limau)

Borrowing from Portuguese limão.

Noun

limau (ma class, plural malimau)

1) lemon (citrus fruit)

Synonyms

ndimu

Etymology (Persian: لیمو)

Compare Sanskrit निम्बू ‎(nimbū, “lime”) and Baluchi لیمبو ‎(limbo).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA: /liːˈmoː/

(Iranian Persian) IPA: /liːˈmuː/

(Tajik) IPA: /liːˈmɵː/

Noun

لیمو • (limu) (plural لیموها ‎(limu-hâ))

1) lemon

2) lime

From Wiktionary:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meza

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/limau

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lim%C3%A3o#Portuguese

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%85%D9%88#Persian

[KareemRaad]

In Arabic cultures there is a style of eating which is called "meza", which is when many small dishes are shared in the middle of the table -- I was told growing up that the word "meza" referred not only to the style of eating, but also originally meant table, so it is possible that the origin is Arabic, but I am no linguist. Just studying this course I feel like many Swahili words derive from "old-Arabic" (just like there is "old-English") that isn't commonly used anymore.

[postaestetix]

In Indonesian it is "meja" (z goes to j quite often there).

[Mr.Quizzical]

Table in both Portuguese and Spanish is "mesa". Swahili uses a "z" instead.

[Aria487]

That much is mentioned in Collins reference, and doesn't change the fact that it's still the same word :-)

[pablopublico]

The letter s between vowels sounds /z/ in Portuguese.

[TseDanylo]

Thank you for your comments on the discussions. They are very interesting :)

[manyofa]

I speak tshivenda from south africa, there are many words that are the same with Swahili, not only tshivenda but all other bantu languages as we have 9 indigenous languages.

[cwaospi]

I want to learn Tshivenda and Nguni languages. You should make a course on your language!

[VincentOostelbos]

Just a silly mnemonyc I have for kufuta... imagine someone wiping something with their foot!

[deactivated user]

"He is wiping the table" is marked wrong??

[juryrigging]

If you think your translation is correct and is marked wrong, use the report feature.

[Vanessa119505]

Wrong!! " kufuta" is to erase. In school my Kiswahili teacher is like " futa ubao" ( rub the blackboard ) * kupanguza * is to wipe. Not kufuta.

[Vanessa119505]

Which is why * kifutio * is a rubber/eraser.

[thisisfourwords]

Yes it does mean to erase, it says so earlier in the lesson. Some words have double meanings and im guessing this is one of them. Hmm...

[Nick672734]

Why "he clears the table" is not correct?

[thisisfourwords]

It technicality is correct. Report it and request that it be added as an option. :)