mũtembei

Kikuyu

Etymology

From Swahili kutembea (“to walk”).^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mò.tɛ̀.ᵐbɛ́.ì(ꜜ)/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 3 with a trisyllabic stem, together with kĩgokora, mbarĩki, thimiti, and so on.

(Kiambu)

(Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including gĩcũhĩ, gĩkorora, kĩgokora, mũceere, mũgathĩ, mũgogo (pl. mĩgogo), mũgoma, mũirĩtu, mbarĩki, ndagitari, ngirathi, njohero, njũi, rĩithori (pl. maithori), ũnyiinyi, and so on.^[3]

Noun

mũtembei class 3 (plural mĩtembei)

house rat^[1]
1. black rat^[1] (Rattus rattus)
2. Norwegian rat^[1] (Rattus norvegicus)

Synonyms

ndembei

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 “ndembei” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 291. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Dawson, Marc Harry (1977). The History of Plague in Kenya: The Changing Epidemiology of the Disease Prior to 1920, p. 41. Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
^ 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.

[tgb1964-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 “ndembei” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 291. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[2] Dawson, Marc Harry (1977). The History of Plague in Kenya: The Changing Epidemiology of the Disease Prior to 1920, p. 41. Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.

[yy1981-3] 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.

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