karibu
interjection · adverb
welcome; near; almost.
A hospitality word and a spatial word. The construction decides which sense is active.
Origins
Karibu entered Swahili from Arabic قَرِيب (qarīb), “nearby,” and extended across proximity, welcome, and near-completion senses.
Sources3
Sergio Baldi, Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021), entry 2264, 257.
Traces karibu to Arabic قَرِيب (qarīb) with near, kinsman, and related senses.
M. Haspelmath and U. Tadmor, World Loanword Database · Swahili profile (Max Planck Institute / Lexibank, 2009), Swahili profile; forms.csv.
Classifies karibu as a pre-modern borrowing from Arabic qarīb.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), alphabetical entry: karibu.
Records historical near and welcome uses.
Examples
Karibu nyumbani.
Welcome home.
Kiti kiko karibu na mlango.
The chair is near the door.
Karibu kila siku tunatembea.
Almost every day we walk.
Karibu, kaa hapa.
Welcome, sit here.
Tuko karibu kufika.
We are almost arriving.
Duka liko karibu sana.
The shop is very near.
Karibu kwa chai.
You are welcome for tea.
Alisimama karibu na dirisha.
They stood near the window.
Karibu usiku tulirudi.
We returned almost at night.
