kĩiniĩ gĩtaita
Kikuyu
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /keíniěꜜ ɣetaita/
Idiom
kĩiniĩ gĩtaita
- Lit., “something upside down without leaking”; According to Benson (1964), kĩnya (“gourd”) precedes this phrase in some cases then entire meaning is “an upside-down gourd which does not leak.”
- A riddle whose solution is mũkamo wa ng'ombe[1] “cow's udder”; another solution is kĩnya.[1]
- A fool who does not make use of an obvious opportunity.[2]
References
- Njoroge, Hezekiel Njau (1994). "The Riddle." In Masheti Masinjila and Okoth Okombo (eds.), Teaching Oral Literature. Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Oral Literature Association, pp. 51, 62. →ISBN
- “-iniĩ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 187. Oxford: Clarendon Press.