The Lion King is a
phenomenal Disney movie. The story
follows Simba as he is raised by a meerkat and a warthog and his mission once
he is grown. This movie has been seen by
many children from the 90s and 00s, but do they know the meaning behind some of
the Swahili terms or even any knowledge on the basis of the movie.
Swahili is the native language of the Bantu on the East coast of Africa. Places where this language is heard is Kenya and Tanzania.
You may not know but you already know a phrase in
Swahili. “Hakuna Matata” was a coined
phrase in the movie. When they say this
phrase in the movie it is followed by them saying “it means no worries.” This is the actual meaning in Swahili.
A few other words in Swahili that you have heard but not
know the meaning to are the names of the characters.
Simba
means lion
Nala
means gift
Sarabi
meaning mirage
Sarafina
means bright star
Rafiki
means friend
Timon
means respect
Zazu
means movement
Although we may not think of it. Disney is actually expanded our vocabulary
and teaching us the Swahili language in subtle ways. Every Disney movie has a little something we
can learn from it .
I never knew that the names of the characters meant something. I knew that there were was some deeper meaning behind the movie itself but not the little detailed hidden meanings. Are there any other inside meanings about The Lion King that we may or may not know about?
ReplyDeleteThe Lion King also has some of its songs written partially in Swahili, but besides that The Lion King is loosely based of of Hamlet and a Mali legend.
DeleteThe Lion King is one of the favorite childhood movies and this is very interesting to learn the hidden meanings behind the names! I also, never thought about Disney teaching us vocabulary words from a movie, but now I see it is pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteThe Lion King is one of my favorite movies even to this day. I think it's one of the best movies of all time honestly. Everyone knows what Hakuna Matata but I don't think very many people stopped to think of what the other things in the movie meant, I sure didn't. Great blog, keep up the good work!
ReplyDelete