Swahili
Root
muti
tree, wood, timber; by extension medicine, herbal preparation
Swahili mti stands on the same root as Shona muti, tree
- Confidence
- 96/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- mtiSwahili
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative Bantu holds that Swahili mti descends from Proto-Bantu *mu-tí "tree, wood", one of the least contested reconstructions in the family, and that Shona muti, Zulu umuthi, Bemba muti and Ganda muti are its cognates rather than its ancestors or descendants. Below Proto-Bantu the *ti root for "tree" is widespread in Benue-Congo but not securely reconstructible.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 8 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.
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