Umlungu: the colourful history of a word used to describe white people in South Africa

Umlungu: the colourful history of a word used to describe white people in South Africa
By The Conversation 08-08-23 11:47

In South Africa “umlungu” is a word that’s commonly used to refer to white people. It comes from isiXhosa, the language of the country’s Xhosa people. It’s always been a mystery how the word originated or what it actually means because no human beings were referred to as umlungu before the arrival of white people in the country by ship. There was, however, a word “ubulungu” which meant “that deposited out by the sea” or sea scum.

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