kashfa

Swahili

Alternative forms

• kashifa

Etymology

From Arabic كَشْف (kašf, “unveiling, uncovering”). The pejorative meaning comes from Godfrey Dale (1861–1941, Christian missionary in Zanzibar 1889–1925) publishing a translation of the Qurʾān into Swahili in 1923, widely suspected to be inaccurate.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

kashfa class IX (plural kashfa class X)

1. (archaic) uncovering, unveiling, exposing
2. scandal (incident that brings disgrace)
3. slander, libel, insult

   kashfa za dini ― religious slander

Related terms

• -kashifu (“to defame, slander”)

Further reading

• Lacunza-Balda, Justo (1997) “Translations of the Quran into Swahili and Contemporary Islamic Revival in East Africa”, in David Westerlund, Eva Evers Rosander, editors, African Islam and Islam in Africa. Encounters Between Sufis and Islamists, London: Hurst & Company, →ISBN, page 95 seqq.