Four dictionaries exist in Ndau.
The first is ChiNdau-English and English-ChiNdau Vocabulary with Grammatical Notes compiled by J.P. Dysart, G.A. Wilder and A.J. Orner in 1915. It is very inclusive in its vocabulary
coverage as it contains entries from all five dialects of Ndau including “many words of Zulu
origin” further buttressing the argument that Ndau could have been once historically linked to
Zulu language and culture.
The second is an unpublished manuscript by an anonymous
compiler titled Ndau to English and English to Ndau Dictionary with Charts. This
dictionary’s purpose was “to meet the needs of those who desire it in the evangelization and
civilization of the Ndau people.” From both dictionaries target audiences, it is clear that both
bilingual dictionaries were not meant primarily for mother-tongue speakers of Ndau but
facilitated the acquisition and overall comprehension of Ndau language and culture by
missionaries and others white settlers in Chipinge and then then-Melsetter Districts.
The third is a dictionary by Manuel dos Anjos Martins’ (2013) Elementos Da Lingua Ndau: Grammatica, Literatura Oral e Dicionario. The book includes grammar, short stories, folktales and poetry and the Ndau-Portuguese Portuguese-Ndau Dictionary Section.
The fourth is a Concise ChiNdau Dictionary compiled by Clifford Simango in 2019. The
dictionary is a bilingual Ndau-English dictionary that acknowledges that “ChiNdau is a
language that is suffering from language degradation” and hence the dictionary’s purpose is
“an attempt to document ChiNdau words and can be used as a reference book for teachers
and students. Perhaps because the lexicographer is a Zimbabwean, the dictionary focuses on
Ndau as spoken in that country. What is perhaps missing is an inclusive monolingual
dictionary to aid in the documentation, growth and development of Ndau in Zimbabwe.