Native to Kenya ISO 639-3 saq | Dialects Camus | |
Region Samburu district of Rift Valley Province Native speakers 240,000 (2009 census)
(including Camus) Language family Nilo-Saharan?
Eastern Saharan
Eastern Nilotic
Lotuxo–Teso
Lotuxo–Maa
Maa
Samburu |
Samburu is the Eastern Nilotic, North Maa language spoken by the Samburu in the highlands of northern Kenya. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus). Samburu is closely related to Camus (88% to 94% lexical similarity; Camus is sometimes considered a Samburu dialect) and to the South Maa language Maasai (77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word Samburu itself derives from the old Maa word 'saamburr' for the leather bag the Samburu use.
References
Samburu language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA