soma
verb
to read; to study.
With a book or text it means to read; with a subject it can mean to study.
Origins
Soma is inherited Bantu vocabulary, reaching Swahili through the northern Sabaki languages from Proto-Sabaki -fyoma, ultimately Common Bantu -píoma. A related form, -fyoma, is still used specifically for reciting the Qur’an.
Sources5
Charles Sacleux, Grammaire des dialectes Swahilis (Paris: Procure des PP. du Saint-Esprit, 1909), PDF page 337.
Illustrates soma in subjunctive constructions about reading. Historical evidence; not a survey of current Kenyan speech.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), PDF page 381.
Identifies soma as a counterpart of taali, to study. Historical evidence; not a survey of current Kenyan speech.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), PDF page 416.
Lists soma for reading. Historical Zanzibar evidence.
University of Kansas Open Language Resource Center, University of Kansas Kiswahili Glossary (University of Kansas Open Language Resource Center), soma glossary rows.
Gives -soma as “to study”.
- soma (Wiktionary)
Derives soma from Proto-Sabaki *-fyoma (< Common Bantu *-píoma), notes the -fyoma doublet for Qur’an recitation, and lists cognates.
Examples
Ninasoma kitabu kipya.
I am reading a new book.
Wanafunzi wanasoma kwa bidii.
The students are studying diligently.
Alisoma barua yote.
He read the whole letter.
Tutajifunza kusoma Kifaransa.
We will learn to read French.
Soma ukurasa huu.
Read this page.
Someni kwa sauti.
Read aloud, everyone.
Anapenda kusoma hadithi za kale.
She likes to read ancient stories.
Ninasoma Kiswahili jioni.
I study Swahili in the evening.
Je, umesoma habari za leo?
Have you read today’s news?
