mũthũa

See also: muthua

Kikuyu

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records muthua as an equivalent of English ant (white) in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also Swahili mchwa as its equivalent.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mòðò(w)á/

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) As for tonal class, Yukawa (1981, 1985) classifies this term into a group including kĩng'ang'i, mũrũarũ, nyenje, icembe, mũhikania, and so on.^[2]^[3]

Noun

mũthũa class 3 (plural mĩthũa)

termite, white ant^[4]
Hyponym: nguya

Derived terms

(Nouns)

mũrema-mũthũa class 3

Related terms

(Nouns)

gĩthũa class 7

References

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 4–5. 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.
^ Yukawa, Yasutoshi (1985). "A Second Tentative Tonal Analysis of Kikuyu Nouns." In Journal of Asian and African Studies, No. 29, 190–231.
^ Muiru, David N. (2007). Wĩrute Gĩgĩkũyũ: Marĩtwa ma Gĩgĩkũyũ Mataũrĩtwo Na Gĩthũngũ, p. 10.

“mũthũa” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 534. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 4–5. 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.

[yy1985-3] Yukawa, Yasutoshi (1985). "A Second Tentative Tonal Analysis of Kikuyu Nouns." In Journal of Asian and African Studies, No. 29, 190–231.

[4] Muiru, David N. (2007). Wĩrute Gĩgĩkũyũ: Marĩtwa ma Gĩgĩkũyũ Mataũrĩtwo Na Gĩthũngũ, p. 10.

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