Home Language HacksAfrican 20 Beautiful African Words in ‘The Lion King’ That’ll Make You Smile

20 Beautiful African Words in ‘The Lion King’ That’ll Make You Smile

by Michele
2 comments
lion king names and lyrics
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Apart from learning what ‘Hakuna matata’ means, do you know which language it’s from? or what ‘Simba’ means? What about the translation for the opening lines of ‘The Circle of Life’?

Disney’s 1994 classic, ‘The Lion King’ included so many African cultural and linguistic references, but sadly most of them were lost on the average film-goer.

After visiting South Africa, I became more interested in African languages, including Afrikaans and the Khoisan clicking language. This led me to want to explore the meanings behind many of the terms used in the Africa based movie, The Lion King. We all know the movie so well, yet at the same time, so much is lost in translation.

After reading this post you’ll have a newfound appreciation for the film after knowing the meanings behind the characters’ names and meaning behind those catchy lyrics.

Let’s start with the ones you kind of already know.

What Does Hakuna Matata Mean?

The most iconic phrase coined by the film is without a doubt ‘Hakuna matata’, this expression is taken from the African language Swahili. Roughly translated, ‘Hakuna Matata’ means “no worries”. It is formed by the words Hakuna (‘there is not here’) and Matata (plural form of ‘problem’).

While the phrase is commonly heard in Zanzibar and Kenya, it is uncommon amongst native speakers of Swahili in Tanzania, who prefer the phrase “hamna shida” in the north and “hamna tabu” in the south.

The Lion King African words Hakuna Matata

What are ‘The Circle of Life’ Lyrics?

The dramatic first scene of the film reaches emotional heights with the accompaniment of Elton John’s ‘The Circle of Life’. While the song has some distinctive lyrics, unless you speak the lingo, the meaning is virtually lost.

The opening lines start out in Zulu before switching over to English. The song’s intro goes…

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba
Sithi uhm ingonyama
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama
Siyo Nqoba
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala

Which means….

There comes a lion, father
Oh yes it’s a lion
There comes a lion, father
Oh yes it’s a lion
A lion
We’re going to conquer
A lion
A lion and a leopard come to this open place

From this point, the song segues into English lyrics which you probably know by heart.

The Lion King - Circle of Life lyrics translated

The translation of this song might sound pretty underwhelming but there’s more to it. The loosely translated line ‘There comes a lion’ the speaker of this sentence is speaking to an adult male whom he respects and refers to as ‘baba’, which means ‘father’ but in Zulu culture, it is seen as respectful to refer to one’s betters as mother or father.

The lion, in this instance, can be seen as symbolic of adversity as ‘The Lion King’ is based on the Masai tradition of having the young men kill a lion when they come of age. The speaker at this point would thus be a young Masai man prior to his initiation.

What Do the Characters’ Names Mean?

Did you know that each of the characters names have their own meaning?

As with many characters in Lion King,  Pumbaa’s name derives from the East African language Swahili. In Swahili, Pumbaa means to be foolish, silly, weak-minded, careless, negligent.

The Lion King African words Pumbaa

Timon is one of the few characters whose name has no meaning in Swahili. Instead, Timon is a historical Greek name meaning “he who respects”. Timon’s name may also possibly derive from Shakespeare’s tragedy Timon of Athens which would be another Shakespeare reference in a film which derives its plot from Hamlet.

Here is a list of other names and their meanings:

Rafiki, the mandrill, is another Swahili name meaning ‘friend’.

Simba means ‘lion’.

While Sarabi, Simba’s mother, means ‘mirage’.

The Lion King African words Simba

Nala means ‘gift’.

For the hyenas, Shenzi means ‘savage’ and Banzai means ‘to skulk’ or ‘lurk’.

The Lion King African words Shenzi Banzai

All other names are real Swahili names.

What is Rafiki Singing About?

When Rafiki’s learn’s Simba is still alive and see him in the fields he sings a song repeatedly. Watch below.

The lyrics ‘Asante sana, squash banana, we we nuga, mi mi apana’ means ‘thank you very much, squash banana, you’re a baboon and I’m not’.

As the Genius annotations explain, it’s notable that the opening of the song is sung in Zulu, a language of South Africa, while all the characters’ names in are in Swahili, a language of eastern and southeastern Africa.

Some of the story’s elements also pull from Masai tradition, which has its own language and so, “The Lion King” is less a product of one nation than of pan-Africanism and of universal values.

So, now that you know the meaning behind the lyrics and character names, why not watch the movie again?


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Sources Business Insider / Wikipedia


Over to you!

Did you know the meaning of these names?
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2 comments

Travel With Trang February 12, 2018 - 23:27

How interesting to know as I kid I was speaking some Swahili then! Also, I saw you were from Melbourne which is one of my fave cities there (I worked and lived there for a year on a work holiday visa).

Reply
Michele February 12, 2018 - 23:36

haha see? Speaking another language is easy ;)
Oh how cool that you lived in Melbourne. I’m so happy to hear you loved it there!

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