Luchazi
/luˈtʃɑːzi/noun
Luchazi is a Bantu language spoken chiefly in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, and the name of its people.
Did you know?Luchazi is closely associated with the Chokwe-Lunda cultural and linguistic sphere, whose traditions include powerful masked initiation performances and spirit-centered ritual art.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Bantu, c. 3000–500 BCE
Proto-Bantu
*ba-ntu
“People; the reconstructed ancestral source of the term Bantu, the language family to which Luchazi belongs.”
Early Bantu expansions
Bantu
lu-
“A noun-class prefix commonly used in Bantu languages for languages, speech varieties, or abstract formations; its precise function varies by language.”
Precolonial period
Luchazi
Ciazi / Chazi
“The internal ethnolinguistic name traditionally underlying the modern form is not securely explained in published historical etymologies.”
19th–20th Century
Portuguese/English
Luchazi
“A recorded European spelling for the Luchazi people and their language in Central African ethnographic and linguistic literature.”
Modern English
English
Luchazi
“The established name of the language and ethnic group, especially in descriptions of Angola, Zambia, and neighboring regions.”