Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu/ìbèdé

A borrowing from Western Nilotic, where it referred to sorghum; compare Luo bél (“sorghum”).

*ìbèdé class 5 (plural *màbèdé class 6)[1]

1. (Common Bantu) pearl millet

This term is shared between many Bantu languages, but a single form cannot be formally reconstructed to the level of Proto-Bantu because of historical or linguistic considerations. Bostoen states that it can be reconstructed to Proto-Eastern Bantu with the meaning "pearl millet".

• East Bantu
  • Northeast Savanna Bantu:
    • Thagiicu
      • Kikuyu (E51): mwere
    • Northeast Coast Bantu
      • Swahili (G42): mwele, uwele
    • Nyanja:
      • Chichewa (N31): maŵere (“finger millet”)
  • Southern Bantu:
    • Nguni:
      • Phuthi (S404): emabele (“sorghum”)
      • Zulu (S42): amabele (“sorghum”)
    • Sotho-Tswana:
      • Northern Sotho (S32): mabele (“sorghum”)
      • Tswana (S31): mabêlê (“sorghum”)
      • Sotho (S33): mabele (“sorghum”)

• *màcángʊ́

• Bostoen, Koen (2006–2007), "Pearl millet in early Bantu speech communities in Central Africa: A reconsideration of the lexical evidence." Afrika und Übersee: 89, 183–213.