digadi
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Swahili[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Various academics suggest that the first syllable of madigadi (from English mudguard) has been reinterpreted as the Swahili noun prefix ma-,[1][2] leading to the singular form digadi. However, this word appears to be unattested outside the academic literature.
Noun[edit]
digadi (ma class, plural madigadi)
References[edit]
- ^ Welmers, William Everett (1973) African Language Structures, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 160:
- Similarly, the (British) English word mudguard has been adopted in the form /madigadi/; the syllable /ma-/, however, is a plural prefix, so that the form is taken to mean ‘fenders’; the corresponding Swahili singular prefix has a zero allomorph with polysyllabic consonant-initial stems, so that ‘a fender’ is /digadi/.
- ^ McMahon, April M. S. (1994) Understanding Language Change, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 207: “Similarly, madigadi 'mudguards' and maching'oda 'marching orders' fit into the Swahili class of ma- plurals, which delete ma- in the singular, producing digadi 'mudguard' and ching'oda 'marching order'.”