Re: OT: Another analytic question

Hi!

Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...> writes:
> On Jan 12, 2005, at 5:27 PM, caeruleancentaur wrote:
> > Also of interest: kitabu, book, is an Arabic loan word from "ktb"(?),
> > to read.  I am more familiar with the Hebrew triphonetic stem.  There
> > is a class of ki- nouns in Swahili which take the plural in vi-:
> > kisu, knife; visu, knives.  Kitabu is treated as a ki- class noun
> > with the plural vitabu, books!!!!
> > Charlie
> > http://wiki.frath.net/User:Caeruleancentaur
>
> /ktb/ = 'write'
Yes, 'kitab' is borrowed into *many* languages indeed.

Suahili is especially funny about borrowings due to the reanalysis of
prefixes as classes.  The ki-/vi- class is also used for borrowing
'video', I think, so the singular in Suahili is 'kideo'. :-)

**Henrik