Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
-aji. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-aji, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-aji in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-aji you have here. The definition of the word
-aji will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
-aji, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Swahili
Etymology
From *-aga (constantly repeated action or habitual state) + -i.[1][2]
Suffix
-aji
- (usually in m-wa class(I/II)) agent of an action or person who performs the action as their profession
- m- + -soma (“to read”) + -aji → msomaji (“reader”)
- mw- + -uza (“to sell”) + -aji → mwuzaji (“vendor”)
- ki- + -nywa (“to drink”) + -aji → kinywaji (“beverage”)
- (in u class(XI)) fact of performing an action
- u- + -fuga (“to keep (livestock)”) + -aji → ufugaji (“herding, livestock management”)
- u- + -pasua (“to operate on”) + -aji → upasuaji (“operation”)
Derived terms
References
- ^ Polomé, Edgar C. (1967) Swahili Language Handbook (Language Handbook Series), Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, page 77:
The agentive suffix {i}, added to the Bantu verbal derivational suffix *{ag} expressing a constantly repeated action or a habitual state, constitutes the Swahili complex nominal derivational suffix {aji}, which indicates more specifically the habitual doer of the action, especially the professional agent, {...} With the class-prefix {u}, the suffix {aji} expresses the abstract concept of the habitual action
- ^ Schadeberg, Thilo C. (1992) A Sketch of Swahili Morphology, 3rd edition, Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, →ISBN
- Marten, Lutz, Gibson, Hannah, Guérois, Rozenn, Jerro, Kyle (2024) “Morphosyntactic variation in Old Swahili”, in Hannah Gibson, Rozenn Guérois, Gastor Mapunda, Lutz Marten, editors, Morphosyntactic variation in East African Bantu languages: Descriptive and comparative approaches, Berlin: Language Science Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 389 of 373–420: “In addition, the agentive suffix -aji is also found, which appears to be an innovation in Swahili.”