nyũngũ
Kikuyu
Etymology
Hinde (1904) records nyungu as an equivalent of English cooking vessel in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Ulu dialect” (spoken then from Machakos to coastal area) of Kamba nuungu as its equivalent.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɲò.ᵑɡǒ/
- As for Tonal Class, Armstrong (1940) classifies this term into mote class which includes mũtĩ, gĩkwa (pl. ikwa), gĩthaka, kĩnya, kĩrũũmi, mũcinga, mũgate, mũhaka, mũrũthi, njagĩ, njohi, nyũmba, etc.[2] Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 2 with a disyllabic stem, together with kĩgunyũ, njagĩ, kiugũ, and so on.
- (Kiambu)
- (Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including gĩkwa (pl. ikwa), ithangũ (pl. mathangũ), kiugũ, kĩboko, kĩgunyũ, kĩnya, kĩroboto, kĩrũũmi, mbogo, mũcinga, mũgate, mũhaka, mũrangi, mũrũthi, ndaraca, ndirica, njohi, nyũmba, thĩ, and so on.[3]
Noun
nyũngũ class 9/10 (plural nyũngũ)
- earthen pot used for cooking or keeping something
- nyũngũ ya mbarĩki - pot for keeping castor-oil
Derived terms
(Proverbs)
- aka erĩ nĩ nyũngũ igĩrĩ cia ũrogi
- nyũngũ ya mũingĩ ndĩagaga mũteng'ũri
See also
- ndigithũ, thaburia
References
- Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 14–15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).
- Yukawa, Yasutoshi (1981). "A Tentative Tonal Analysis of Kikuyu Nouns: A Study of Limuru Dialect." In Journal of Asian and African Studies, No. 22, 75–123.
- “nyũngũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.