Samburu is the
Eastern Nilotic, North
Maa language spoken by the
Samburu in the highlands of northern
Kenya. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus). Samburu is closely related to
Camus (88% to 94% lexical similarity; Camus is sometimes considered a Samburu dialect) and to the South Maa language
Maasai (77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word
Samburu itself derives from the old Maa word 'saamburr' for the leather bag the Samburu use.