jambo
noun
matter; affair; thing; also encountered in greeting formulas.
The noun is richer than the tourist greeting it is often reduced to.
Forms
- hujambo
- singular greeting · are you well?
- sijambo
- singular reply · I am well
Origins
Jambo is inherited through Proto-Sabaki from Proto-Bantu *ìjàmbò; older Swahili records also connect it with kuamba, “to say.” The family of forms includes jambo and mambo.
Sources3
M. Haspelmath and U. Tadmor, World Loanword Database · Swahili profile (Max Planck Institute / Lexibank, 2009), Swahili profile; forms.csv.
Earlier Bantu classification cross-check.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), 112.
Records jambo / mambo and related matter or affair senses.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), alphabetical entry: jambo.
Historical form and relation to kuamba.
Examples
Kuna jambo nataka kusema.
There is something I want to say.
Jambo hili ni muhimu.
This matter is important.
Hakuna jambo jipya leo.
There is nothing new today.
Jambo hilo litatatuliwa kesho.
That matter will be resolved tomorrow.
Si jambo dogo.
It is not a small matter.
Tuzungumze jambo moja kwa moja.
Let us talk about one matter at a time.
Jambo la kwanza ni salama.
The first matter is safety.
Alileta jambo jipya kwenye mkutano.
They brought a new matter to the meeting.
Kila jambo lina wakati wake.
Every matter has its time.
