Nama
Khoekhoegowab
Nama is a Khoe-Kwadi language spoken in Namibia, South Africa, and Botswana, by about 250 thousand people. Glottolog rates it threatened.
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Khoekhoe (Nama) is the most widely spoken click language outside Bantu, with some two hundred thousand speakers in Namibia. Its four basic clicks combine with other features into twenty click consonants.
Khoekhoe or Khoikhoi ( KOY-koy; Khoekhoegowab, Khoekhoe pronunciation: [k͡xʰo̜͡ek͡xʰo̜͡egowab]), also known by the ethnic terms Nama ( NAH-mə; Namagowab), Damara (ǂNūkhoegowab), or Nama/Damara and formerly the pejorative term Hottentot, is the most widespread of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa that make heavy use of click consonants and therefore were formerly classified as Khoisan, a grouping now recognized as obsolete. It belongs to the Khoe language family, and is spoken in Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa primarily by three ethnic groups: Namakhoen, ǂNūkhoen, and Haiǁomkhoen.
From Wikipedia · Khoekhoe language · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words in Nama
| Meaning | Word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| mother | ǁgûs | |
| father | ǁgûb | |
| child | ǀgôa-i | |
| man | khoeb | |
| woman | darekhues | |
| eye | mûs | |
| ear | ǂgaes | |
| nose | ǂguis | |
| hand | ǁkhôab | |
| head | danas | |
| water | ǁgammi | |
| star | ǀgamiros | |
| rain | ǀnanub | |
| tree | hais | |
| dog | arib | |
| cat | ǀhôas | |
| fish | ǁaub | |
| bird | anis | |
| horse | hab | |
| one | ǀgui | |
| two | ǀgam | |
| three | ǃnona | |
| four | haka | |
| five | koro | |
| ten | disi | |
| hundred | kaidisi | |
| thank you | gangans | |
| house | oms | |
| red | ǀnawa | |
| white | ǃuri |
Most similar languages
Vocabulary
Grammar
- MundariAustroasiatic83% alike
- KorkuAustroasiatic77% alike
- Kui (India)Dravidian77% alike
- TouoIsolates76% alike
- AsuriAustroasiatic75% alike
- Jennu KurumbaDravidian75% alike
Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.
Nearby languages
Elsewhere
Glottolog · nama1264 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · naq