This information is free to use with acknowledgements.

Hello and welcome to Lugha ya Nilotes, which is… for ‘Languages of the Nilotes.’

The purpose of Lugha ya Nilotes is to show people the similarities of certain words in the languages of the Nilotic people. The translations were provided by different people, who volunteered to translate words in their respective language(s). This material is only but a small representation of the nations that are mentioned here.

The Nilotes are a language group who are mostly located around East Africa, within the countries Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Nilotes migrated southwards along the River Nile, hence the name Nilotes, into present day Uganda, from there they spread out into Tanzania and Kenya.

In this study, commonly used words are translated for a number of the Nilotic languages. The translation was done in both singular and plural form. However, if a word does not have a plural form it will not be pluralised.

Words that are similar have been added to pages known as Comparisons.

Under the heading ‘LIST OF COUNTRIES IN EACH REGION OF AFRICA’, names of the countries act as links leading to a new page with a table displaying selected words in the languages of various nations and details of the individuals who did the translations.

LIST OF COUNTRIES IN EACH REGION OF AFRICA

The African continent is made up of 54 countries, 6 of which are islands. Within the 54 countries are numerous nations. Furthermore, the African continent is divided into 5 regions, including Northern Africa, Western Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Africa and Southern Africa.

Northern Africa comprises of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara.

Western Africa comprises of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Eastern Africa comprises of Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Central Africa comprises of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe.

Southern Africa comprises of Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

References