Etymologically
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mamba

Etymology and origin of the English word mamba

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmæmbə/, /ˈmɑm.bɑ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Zulu imamba,[2][3][4][5] or perhaps Swahili mamba.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large, venomous African snake (by 1859 in Etymonline; 1862 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster).[4][6][3][5]

Semantic evolution

A writer in the Journal of the Society of Arts in 1859 described the mamba as a “chasing snake” that would pursue a rider for a mile, rearing on its tail.[4] The name now covers several species of the genus Dendroaspis, chiefly tree-dwelling, including the green mamba and the black mamba.[6][2][5][7]

Timeline

  • 1859 – mamba in an English journal.[4]
  • 1862 – first OED quotation.[6][3][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Any of several long, slender, venomous, chiefly arboreal green or black elapid snakes of the genus Dendroaspis of sub-Saharan Africa, whose bite is often fatal.
  • cobra
  • black mamba

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Mamba.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/mamba. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·