I have asked my Zulu-speaking colleagues as to what is the accepted word for "flag" in Zulu and the reply is "ifulegi". (It is definitely not "iduku" as that means handkerchief.) This has been confirmed with a translator. Pronunciation of "ifulegi" is as written "if-u-legi".
Bruce Berry, 17 Aug 2007

In Bantu langages (at least those spoken in Southern Africa) syllables almost always end with a vowel (some words in the Sotho languages are an exception to this), and a vowel is often a syllable on its own. So you would pronounce this word as "i-fu-le-gi" (with a hard G). The derivation is clearly from the English word "flag", with two extra vowels to make it conform to the Nguni manner of word construction.
Mike Oettle, 23 Aug 2007

[⚓]

Word " amafulegi "

Word:: amafulegi
Script:: Latin
Variant:: plural of "ifulegi"

Note also that the preffix "i-" is the article which in the Nguni group is always included with the noun. The plural is "ama-", thus "amafulegi" for "flags").
Andries Burgers, 11 Sep 2007

That is mentioned also in the English Wikipedia article about the Zulu language.
António Martins, 15 Aug 2007

[⚓]

Word " ifulagi "

Word:: ifulagi
Script:: Latin
Variant:: unknown ^{(help needed!)} variation of "ifulegi"

I have also seen the word "ifulagi" used in Zulu for flag, in a multi-lingual dictionary (Afrikaans, English, Pedi (North-Sotho), Sesotho (South-Sotho), Tswana, Xhosa and Zulu — published by Reader’s Digest). Could well be dialectical differences although I cannot from my limited knowledge of Zulu, say for sure. The Nguni-group of languages do have regional dialects, especially in the contact regions.
Andries Burgers, 24 Aug 2007 and 11 Sep 2007

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