As with many characters in "The Lion King", Pumbaa's name derives from the East African language Swahili. In Swahili, " (v.)" means "to be foolish, silly, weakminded, careless, negligent." Timon is one of the few characters whose name has no meaning in Swahili; "" is a historical Greek name, taken to mean "he who respects." Timon's name may derive from Shakespeare's tragedy "Timon of Athens", another Shakespeare reference in a film which derives its plot from "Hamlet". A more likely explanation is that he is named after the Greek philosopher Timon, a disciple of Pyrrho, the founder of the school of scepticism.