"Mwanaume"
Translation:Man
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764
In several other places, I have seen this spelled, "mwanamume", are these alternate spellings or is one correct and the other not? I will note that upon googling, I found more results without an M, but only dictionary definitions with an M.
- 754
I have the same questions. In 'Dictionary of literary Swahili' by Jan Knappert and Leo van Kessel there is only Mwanamume - man, a male, husband (pl. wanaume). And in 'Swahili grammar and workbook' by Fidèle Mpiranya I found this explanation: Importantly, the noun mwanamke “woman” has a double prefix mw- and -m-, which becomes wa- and -wa- in the plural form wanawake “women”, because it is a compound word (mwana + mke, lit. “offspring + wife”). The male counterpart is also a compound word (mwana + mume, literally “offspring + husband”). However, the second prefix of its plural form is not apparent (wanaume), while the plural prefix wa- is fully realized in the simple form mume/waume “husband(s)”, that is, in word-initial position.
