Murundi

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A person born in or belonging to the small East African country of Burundi, or something relating to that nation or its people
2. Someone from the central African nation of Burundi, or anything connected with that country and its inhabitants
3. A native or inhabitant of Burundi, a landlocked country in East Africa, or a thing associated with it

Etymology: Murundi is a Bantu-language formation rather than a classical borrowing. In many Bantu languages, the prefix mu- marks a single person, and here it attaches to Rundi, the name of the people and language of Burundi. A Murundi is therefore one person from Burundi. The plural is "Abarundi" in Kirundi and "Warundi" in Swahili, and the Swahili form is the one most often seen in English writing. The base, Rundi, is also the root of the country's name, Burundi, where the prefix bu- is a Bantu marker for a land or region, as in Buganda. The ultimate meaning of Rundi is uncertain, and sources do not agree on one explanation, so it is best treated as an open question rather than settled history.