Old Swahili-Arabic Script and the Development of Swahili Literary Language

Abstract

Swahili culture and language occupies a specific place in the literary culture of African peoples. Besides the rich oral tradition and folklore, the old Swahili script in literature and the old literary language were an integral part and parcel of Swahili culture. At present there is modern multi-genre fiction in Kiswahili. Swahili literature, thus, has served for understanding the cultural wealth of Waswahili through its centuries-old history. Swahili folklore is widely known, starting with E. Steere's collection of Swahili tales, published in 1870. The written heritage has been less studied, although there are vast funds of old manuscripts in the library of Dar es Salaam University and in the most prominent centres of African studies in Europe. Side by side with Islam, the characters of the language of the Holy QurDan came to the East African coast (from the eighth century). The Waswahili adapted them for their language. Thus the Swahili written language and written tradition were brought into being. The old Swahili script, or Swahili-Arabic alphabet (Kiarabu) based on the Arabic letters, seems to have been used as far as back as the eleventh century. The earliest specimens of the old Swahili script were found on coins and tombstones (makaburi). According to the W. Hichens, in early times writing was done on papyrus, made of the split leaves of palms. Later Syrian, Indian and European paper