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Knapp, Robbin D. 2006. "Swahili English: B". In Robb: Swahili English. Feb. 12, 2006.

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bwana n.

from bwana "master, great man, dignitary, personage, Mr., sir, lord (God)": (in Africa) master, boss, sir [< Swahili < Arabic abuna "our father" < abu bound form of ab "father" + -na "our"]. This entry suggested by Tony Kalume.

• "In fact, were it not for some scattered viewings of the 1952 classic Bwana Devil and a trip on the Jungle Safari ride at Disneyland in 1961, my knowledge of African life, I regret to say, would be entirely dependent on the Jungle Jim movies." p. 8, "Our hotel [in Nairobi] is a Holiday Inn – very nice and comfortable, but hardly a place that shouts: 'Welcome to Africa, Bwana.'" p. 14, Bill Bryson, Bill Bryson's African Diary, 2002.
• "Then there is the romance of the visiting sophisticate, Bwana Michael in his khaki shirts with epaulets." Michael Crichton, Travels, 1988, p. 346. The story is in New Guinea, showing bwana in a non-African context.
• "'It would be well, Bwana, to kill the other.'" Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Son of Tarzan, 1915, p. 115. Bwana is used 107 times in this book.
• "'Oh, what a good Bwana!'" Theodore Roosevelt, A Book-lover's Holidays In The Open, 1916.
• Call Me Bwana, starring Bob Hope, 1963.
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