Origin of the name Kilimanjaro
Posted: 11 Jun 2021, 11:32
The origin of the name Kilimanjaro is not certain.
European explorers had adopted the name by 1860 and reported that “Kilimanjaro” was the mountain’s Swahili name. But according to the 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia, the name of the mountain was “Kilima-Njaro,” comprised of the Swahili word “Kilima” meaning “mountain” and the Chagga word “Njaro” meaning “whiteness.”
German missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote in his Missionary Labours (1860), “The Swahili of the coast call the snow-mountain Kilimanjaro, “mountain of greatness.” It may also mean “mountain of caravans” (kilima – mountain; jaro caravans), a landmark for caravans seen everywhere from afar, but the inhabitants of Jagga call it Kibo, `snow.”
Another possibility is that Kilimanjaro is the European pronunciation of a KiChagga phrase meaning “we failed to climb it.”
European explorers had adopted the name by 1860 and reported that “Kilimanjaro” was the mountain’s Swahili name. But according to the 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia, the name of the mountain was “Kilima-Njaro,” comprised of the Swahili word “Kilima” meaning “mountain” and the Chagga word “Njaro” meaning “whiteness.”
German missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote in his Missionary Labours (1860), “The Swahili of the coast call the snow-mountain Kilimanjaro, “mountain of greatness.” It may also mean “mountain of caravans” (kilima – mountain; jaro caravans), a landmark for caravans seen everywhere from afar, but the inhabitants of Jagga call it Kibo, `snow.”
Another possibility is that Kilimanjaro is the European pronunciation of a KiChagga phrase meaning “we failed to climb it.”