Probably from Kongo m-báambi (“monitor lizard”), from Proto-Bantu *-bambe (“monitor”)[1]
bámbi
- a species of large lizard
- ^ Norval Smith (2015) “A preliminary list of probable Kikongo (KiKoongo) lexical items in the Surinam Creoles”, in P. Muysken, N. Smith, editors, Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, page 427
