Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu/ngòmbè

This Proto-Bantu entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Bantu

Etymology

A Mashariki Bantu word burrowed from an extinct, unkown language in east africa (possibly Nilo-Saharan?) in the late first millennium BC. Later spread to Western Bantu languages.

Noun

*ngòmbè class 9 (plural *ngòmbè class 10)

1. cow/ox, cattle (irrespective of sex)

Descendants

• Central western Bantu
  • Njila
    • Herero (R30): ongombe
    • Umbundu (R11): ngombe
    • Kimbundu (H21): ngombe
    • Lunda (L52): ñombi
  • West Coastal Bantu
    • Nzadi (B865): ŋgwɔm
    • Kongo (H16): ngômbe
      • → Palenquero: ngombe
  • Luban
    • Luba-Katanga (L33): ñombe
  • Lingala (C30B): ngɔ́mbɛ́
• East Bantu
  • Northeast Bantu:
    • Great Lakes Bantu
      • Luhya (J32): ing'ombe
      • Gusii (J42): eng'ombe
      • Nyole (Uganda) (J35): eŋombe
    • Thagiicu:
      • Kamba (E55): ng'ombe
      • Kikuyu (E51): ng'ombe
    • Northeast Coast Bantu:
      • Mwani (G403): ng'ombe
      • Swahili (G42): ng'ombe
        • → Malagasy: omby
  • Nyasa:
    • Chichewa (N31): ng'ombe
    • Tumbuka (N21): ng'ombe
  • Shona (S10): mombe, n'ombe
  • Southern Bantu
    • Makua:
      • Makhuwa (P31): inyompe
      • Chuabo (P34): ng'ombe