Mrima

Mrima (kwa Kiingereza: Mrima Coast) ni jina la sehemu ya pwani ya Afrika ya Mashariki inayotazama Zanzibar. Wenyeji wake walijulikana kama Wamrima ilhali kati yao walikuwa watu wa makabila mbalimbali. Kimrima kinahesabiwa kuwa kati ya lahaja za Kiswahili.

Mipaka ya eneo hili ilielezwa tofauti katika vyanzo vya kihistoria. Kwa jumla ilieleweka Mrima ilihusu ukanda wa pwani hadi umbali wa matembezi ya siku mbili hivi kutoka mwambao kuelekea bara, kwa hiyo takribani maili 20 au kilomita 30-35.

Ludwig Krapf aliyekusanya habari zake mnamo 1844 - 1852 mjini Mombasa alitaja eneo la Waswahili Wamrima kuwa lilianza upande wa kaskazini kwa Wavumba, yaani wasemaji wa lahaja ya Kiswahili ya Kivumba, wanaotazama kisiwa cha Wasini (Shimoni, Kenya), na kuendelea hadi vilima vya Usambara na "nti ya Mrima" (nchi ya Mrima)^[1].

A.C. Madan aliyekusanya habari za kamusi yake mnamo 1890 pale Zanzibar, alitaja Mrima kuwa eneo kati ya "Oassi" (Wasini) hadi Kipumbwi kwenye mdomo wa mto Msangasi, takriban km 25 upande wa kusini ya Pangani ^[2].

Krapf na Madan wanaeleza jina la "Mrima" kutokana na matamshi tofauti ya "mlima", yaani "nchi chini ya milima" (Krapf) au nchi inayopanda juu kuanzia mwambao (Madan).^[3]

Watafiti wengine walikuta matumizi ya jina hili kwa eneo pana zaidi upande wa kusini, mfano C. H. Stigand alieleza lahaja ya Kimrima kuenea kuanzia Vanga (Kenya) hadi karibu na Kilwa ^[4]

Nchini Kenya kuna kijiji cha Mrima na kilima cha Mrima takriban km 20 upande wa kaskazini wa Vanga, Kaunti ya Kwale^[5].

Fungu Mrima (pia Fungu Marima) ni kundi la miamba ya matumbawe baharini kati ya Kisiwa cha Mafia na bara^[6].

1. ↑ Krapf anamnukuu mmisionari Mwingereza Last wa Mpwapwa: “ The coast-line opposite Zanzibar and inland for two days' march, about twenty miles,is called Mrima."(Krapf, Ludwig: A dictionary of the Suahili language, London 1882, "Mrima"
2. ↑ "Mrima, n. and Merima, name of the strip of coastland opposite and south of Zanzibar, with its own dialect of Swahili called Kimrima. The people also are described as Wamrima. (Perh. cf. mlima, i. e. the hill-country, rising from the coast inland.)" Swahili-English dictionary, 1903 Oxford, Clarendon press, "Mrima"
3. ↑ linganisha kamusi zao zilizotajwa, makala zao kuhusu "Mrima"
4. ↑ C. H. Stigand: Dialect in Swahili: A Grammar of Dialectic Changes in the Kiswahili Language, Cambridge 1915; "Kimrima, or the dialect of the Mrima coast, is in use, with local variations, from Vanga nearly to Kilwa." uk. 16
5. ↑ linganisha geonames org "Mrima"
6. ↑ Tazama [https://www.geonames.org/154763/funga-marima.html Funga Marima = Fungu Mrima