hũngũ

Kikuyu

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records hungu as an equivalent of English kite in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Nganyawa dialect” (spoken then in Kitui District) of Kamba mbuungu as its equivalent.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /hòᵑɡó/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 4 with a disyllabic stem, together with kĩng'ang'i, ngũkũ, kĩeha, and so on.

(Kiambu)

(Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including hiti, icembe, igoko (pl. magoko), ihĩtia (pl. mahĩtia), itumbĩ (pl. matumbĩ), kĩeha, kĩng'ang'i, mũhikania, mũhũmũ, mũkanda, mbica, nduka, ngingo, ngũkũ, rũthanju, tombo, and so on.^[2]

Noun

hũngũ class 9/10 (plural hũngũ)

certain species of bird of prey
1. kite^[3]^[4]
2. hawk^[3]^[5]
3. vulture^[6]

Derived terms

(Proverbs)

hũngũ ĩgĩthiĩ igũrũ ndĩatigire thĩ kũrĩ kwega

References

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 34–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ 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.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 “hũngũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 177. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, v. I, p. 465. →ISBN
^ Muiru, David N. (2007). Wĩrute Gĩgĩkũyũ: Marĩtwa Ma Gĩgĩkũyũ Mataũrĩtwo Na Gĩthũngũ, pp. 10, 33.
^ Barra, G. (1960). 1,000 Kikuyu proverbs: with translations and English equivalents.

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 34–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[yy1981-2] 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.

[tgb1964-3] 3.0 ^3.1 “hũngũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 177. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[lsbl-4] Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, v. I, p. 465. →ISBN

[5] Muiru, David N. (2007). Wĩrute Gĩgĩkũyũ: Marĩtwa Ma Gĩgĩkũyũ Mataũrĩtwo Na Gĩthũngũ, pp. 10, 33.

[gb1960-6] Barra, G. (1960). 1,000 Kikuyu proverbs: with translations and English equivalents.

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