Ovimbundu
/ˌoʊ.vɪmˈbʊn.duː/noun
A Bantu-speaking people of central and southern Angola, or a member of that people.
Did you know?Ovimbundu is the Umbundu plural form traditionally contrasted with Ocimbundu for one person, reflecting a Bantu noun-class system rather than a simple English-style plural.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Bantu
Proto-Bantu
*ntu
“Reconstructed root associated with a person or human being in many Bantu languages; its precise relationship to the ethnonym is debated.”
Precolonial period
Umbundu
muntu
“A person or human being in Umbundu, from the wider Bantu vocabulary of personhood.”
Precolonial period
Umbundu
ocimbundu
“The singular ethnonym or noun traditionally referring to an individual Ovimbundu person.”
Precolonial period
Umbundu
ovimbundu
“The plural form referring to the Ovimbundu people.”
16th–17th centuries
Portuguese
Ovimbundu
“A Portuguese-recorded form of the name for the Umbundu-speaking peoples of the Angolan interior.”
Modern English
English
Ovimbundu
“The established English ethnonym for the people and, in some contexts, an individual member of the group.”