Talk:Bwana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matt, I like your additions esp. re the Tarzan stories, but I'm confused by some.

I used 'Caucasians' because 'Bwana' was applied to Americans as well.

Ah, good point; I've changed it back to Caucasians.

Why 'often used as'? Is there another Swahili word for 'Mr.'? Quill

Oh, I see...I was reading the "often" in the sense of "Bwana often means Mr, though sometimes it means something else", rather than "Mr can often be translated by Bwana"; perhaps we need to express this better?— Matt 08:25, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Okay, I gotcha now. I didn't write that well; it's really 'Bwana' often (usually) means 'Sir', though it is also the translation for 'Mr.' and sometimes means something else. It's a bit tricky, because Bwana is a fluid word and traditionally can mean a range of polite addresses and terms from 'master' to 'husband' (when used in context). Otherwise, it is taken to mean 'Sir', and as far as I know, 'Mr.' when used with a person's name (first or last) is always translated as 'Bwana'. Hmmm...how to get this across...? Quill 11:19, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)