Barotse
/bəˈrɒt.siː/noun
A historical name for the Lozi people, their language, or their former kingdom in western Zambia.
Did you know?The Barotse people are also known as the Lozi, whose annual Kuomboka ceremony dramatically moves the Litunga, or king, from the flooded plain to higher ground.
Etymological Timeline
Bantu expansion period
Proto-Bantu
*ba-
“A plural human-group prefix, conventionally reconstructed in many Bantu languages”
Precolonial period
Western Bantu languages
Luyi
“An earlier name associated with the people later known as the Lozi”
19th Century
Lozi-related usage
Rotse
“A form used in the ethnonym from which Barotse was formed; its deeper derivation is not securely established”
19th Century
Bantu/English usage
ba-Rotse
“A plural people-name, formed with ba-, the Bantu class prefix for groups of people”
19th–20th Century
English
Barotse
“The established English name for the Lozi people, their territory, and their kingdom”
Modern English
English
Barotse
“A historical or regional term referring chiefly to the Lozi of western Zambia”