Also Sowauli, Suhaili, Suaheli, -ele, Swaheli. [lit. = pertaining to the coasts, f. Arab. sawāḥil, pl. of sāḥil coast. In Fr. souayeli.] A Bantu people (or one of them) inhabiting Zanzibar and the adjacent coast; also, their language, Kiswahili. b. attrib. or as adj. Hence Swahilese (Sowhylese), Swahilian adjs., of or pertaining to (the) Swahili; Swahilized ppl. a., assimilated to the Swahili.
1814. H. Salt, Voy. Abyssinia, etc., App. i. p. iii. Some sailors attached to an Arab boat, who called themselves Sowauli. Ibid., p. iv. The Sowauli are sometimes called Sowaiel by their northern neighbours the Somauli.
1833. W. F. W. Owen’s Narr. Voy. Africa, etc., I. xix. 358. The language of these people differs from that of the Sowhylese. Ibid. Every Arab and Sowhyly carries a sword. Ibid., 360. The most wealthy of these Sowhyly states was the Sultany of Patta.
1850. Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 490. The tribes speaking the Suaheli language.
1893. D. J. Rankin, Zambesi Basin, xvi. 268. The Swahili and Swahilised natives.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, xviii. 194. I had a long talk with him in broken Swahili.
