What is "mulungu"

Mulungu (also spelled Murungu, Mlungu, and in other variants) is a common name of the creator deity in a number of Bantu languages and cultures over East and Central Africa. This includes the Nyamwezi, Shambaa, Kamba, Sukuma, Rufiji, Turu, and Kikuyu cultures. Today, the name "Mulungu" is also often used to refer to the Christian or Islamic God. The Swahili word for God, "Mungu", is a contraction of the original form "Mulungu", which still appears in Swahili manuscripts of the 18th Century.

In some Bantu cultures (for example the Ruvu culture) the same word "mulungu" is also used with a distinct meaning, to refer to certain forest spirits; this homonymy has occasionally confused ethnographers and missionaries.