The story
- Swahili · borrowed fromzilizopendwa“those that were loved (inanimate)”
- English todayzilizopendwa
From Swahili zilizopendwa (“those that were loved (inanimate)”), probably because the genre arose in the post-independence era in East Africa and was loved by locals for its representation of freedom.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.