Tswana
/ˈtswɑː.nə/noun
Tswana refers to a Bantu language of southern Africa or to the people who speak it, especially in Botswana and South Africa.
Did you know?The name is connected with Batswana, the plural name for Tswana people, and Botswana literally means “land of the Batswana.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Sotho-Tswana
PST
*tswana
“To be alike, equal, or similar; a reconstructed ancestral root traditionally linked to the ethnonym.”
Early Sotho-Tswana
Bantu
tswana
“A form associated with likeness or equality in the developing Sotho-Tswana language group.”
Precolonial southern Africa
Tswana
Motswana
“A single Tswana person; the singular noun formed with a Bantu person-class prefix.”
Precolonial southern Africa
Tswana
Batswana
“The Tswana people; the plural form with the ba- human plural prefix.”
19th Century
English
Tswana
“English adoption of the ethnonym and the name of the language.”
Modern English
English
Tswana
“The Tswana people, their language, or the cultural group associated with Botswana and neighboring regions.”