End of the Middle-Ages View of the Portuguese on the Swahili Language.
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Taken from: The Social Fabric of Material Consumption in the Swahili World, circa 1450 to 1600; 1998 Jeremy G. Prestholdt.
P12-14
The linguistic communality that characterized the East African coast from Barawa to Sofala in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries until the middle of the seventeenth century is evident from contemporaneous written sources.
Portuguese sources are very clear that the language of the East African coast was not Arabic, though undoubtedly some Arabic speakers were in the region. Instead, coastal East Africans spoke what Europeans often referred to as the “language of the coast,” distinct from that of interior peoples and a “soft” language unlike the “harshness” of Arabic. Thus Chittick’s assertion that a form of Swahili was spoken in the sixteenth century is probably accurate for much of the coast as well as the extreme southern maritime communities.
Suggestive of the relationship between the languages of the southern and central coasts—defined here as the area between the sultanates of Sofala and Malindi—the language of Zanzibar (KiUnguja) was close enough to that of Mozambique Island to allow speakers of the “language of Moçambique” to converse easily with KiUnguja speakers. (João de Barros, Decadas da Asia vol 4)
Portuguese sources are more explicit in regard to the linguistic situation south of Mozambique Island. While Mozambique residents were reported to “speak the language of the land,” they also had “the same language and customs as those of Angos [Angoche].” (Duarte Barbosa 1514 in A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar). Further, Mozambicans had: the same language and customs as the mouros of Çoffalla [Sofala](idem). Such linguistic unity on the southern coast is probable, considering that both oral and written traditions record that settlers from Kilwa founded all the major towns from Mozambique to Sofala. Even into the 1500s this close connection was evident as most towns on the extreme southern coast paid yearly tribute in goods and kind to the Sultan of Kilwa.
A final bit of linguistic evidence, surviving in a Portuguese account of the coast and attesting to the presence of Swahili in the south, is a proverb documented by Nurse and Hinnebusch to be the first recorded version of Swahili. It is quite probable, therefore, that by the end of the fifteenth century a discontinuous but coherent linguistic community had emerged over long stretches of the East African coast as far south as Inhambane.
The proverb “Gombe zuco virato, ambuze capana virato” was recorded south of Sofala in the early sixteenth century. A modern standard Swahili transliteration renders the proverb, “N’gombe huko viatu, mbuzi hapana viatu,” or “Cattle (leather) make sandals, but goat (skin) does not.”(1) What is particularly intriguing about this proverb is that it was collected in Inhambane among people who do not appear to be native Swahili-speakers, suggesting that the language was in wide usage.
(1) the text says: (When describing a party); And another song is: Gombe zuco virato ambuze capana virato,” which means: the cow has leather for shoes and the goat does not have leather for shoes, not because they wear shoes but because none of them walk with shoes unless they have a problem with their feet, and if they have to walk through rough woods then they make leather soles from the leather of cow that is placed under the feet tied with some straps. (Taken from: “Carta do Padre André Fernandes para os Irmãos e Padres da Companhia de Jesus em Portugal,” in G. Theal, ed., Records of South-Eastern Africa (hereafter Records). Vol 2:p131-2.
Taken from: Ethiopia oriental, Volume 1 By João dos Santos. (d1622); His book is about 1580-1600.
P68-69
(When talking about the religion of the Kaffir people in the Sofala coastal area. That means not inside a Swahili town.)
…… in conversation they only know, confusingly, that there is a great God whom they call Molungo but they do not pray to him or order from him. When they suffer from some need or infertility, they come to the king for aid, taking firm care that he is able to give them all the things they desire and need (by giving him gifts) and that he can achieve everything from the dead, their ancestors with whom he speaks. ………
Note: In Swahili the name for God is Mungu.
P73
(In the kingdom of Quiteve to which Sofala belongs; the king’s guards that are butcher executioners). (On Orders of the king); They immediately cut off his head. These people usually go around shouting around the king's houses and fences, saying yama yama, which means flesh flesh. ……
Note: this is also a Swahili word.