ndũiga
Kikuyu
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Proto-Bantu *ntʊ̀ìgà (“giraffe”). Hinde (1904) records ndwiga as an equivalent of English giraffe in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also Kamba ndia and Swahili twiga as its equivalents.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]ndũiga class 9/10 (plural ndũiga)
Usage notes
[edit]Recently njirabu, a loanword of English origin, is more common and the native ndũiga is rarely used.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 26–27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Muiru, David N. (2007). Wĩrute Gĩgĩkũyũ: Marĩtwa Ma Gĩgĩkũyũ Mataũrĩtwo Na Gĩthũngũ, p. 10.
- ^ Njagi, James Kinyua. (2016). Lexical Borrowing and Semantic Change: A Case of English and Gĩkũyũ Contact, p. 50.