1. Wolof - Noun
2. Wolof - Proper noun
A West African people, mostly in Senegal.
The language traditionally spoken by those people.
(historical) The former realm of the Wolof, maintained from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
Wolof (plural Wolofs or Wolof)
An individual member of the Wolof people.
A popular one, first proposed by Fr. David Boilat (1853), was that "Senegal" comes from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, meaning "our canoe" (more precisely, "our pirogue "). Source: Internet
His contemporary, Damião de Góis (1567) records it as Sonedech (from "sunu dekh", Wolof for "our river"). Source: Internet
History of the Wolof state of Jolof until 1860 including comparative data from the Wolof state of Walo, p276. Source: Internet
ISBN 0-7369-2084-6 which is also found among the Wolof). Source: Internet
One popular theory (proposed by David Boilat in 1853) is that it stems from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means "our canoe" (or pirogue ), resulting from a miscommunication between 15th-century Portuguese sailors and Wolof fishermen. Source: Internet
Portuguese chronicler João de Barros (writing in 1552) says the river's original local Wolof name was Ovedech (which according to one source, comes from "vi-dekh", Wolof for "this river"). Source: Internet