<translate> Nadharia ya pili inaeleza kuwa neno Kiswahili asili yake ni Kiarabu, wakati lugha yenyewe ni Kibantu. Kwamba Waarabu walipokuja Afrika Mashariki na kuwakuta wanaoishi huko, kando ya pwani, waliwaita Saheel, ambalo ni neno la pwani kwa Kiarabu, na kwamba baada ya muda neno hili lilibadilika na kuwa Kiswahili kwa lugha na Mswahili Waswahili kwa wingi, kuwaashiria watu hao. Ushahidi wa Kiswahili kama lugha ya Kibantu ulianza tangu karne ya 2 AD katika hati iitwayo Periplus of Erythrean Sea iliyoandikwa na mwandishi wa Kigiriki asiyejulikana jina lake ikielezea kupanuka mapema kwa ustaarabu wa Waswahili kuelekea Somalia, Kenya na Zanzibar. <eng>
A second theory states that the term Kiswahili is of Arabic origin, while the language itself is Bantu. That when the Arabs came to EA and found those living there, along the coast, they referred to them as Saheel, which is Arabic for the coast, and that over time this term evolved to become Kiswahili for the language and Swahili or Waswahili in plural, referencing the people. Evidence of Kiswahili as a Bantu language dates back to as early as the 2nd century AD in a document called Periplus of Erythrean Sea written by an anonymous Greek author detailing the early expansion of Swahili civilisations towards Somalia, Kenya and Zanzibar. 