nyamũ ya thĩ

Kikuyu

Alternative forms

nyamũ-ya-thĩ

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records nyamayathi as an equivalent of English snake in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu,^[1] and McGregor (1905) nyamuyathi for viper.^[2]

Noun

nyamũ ya thĩ class 9 (plural nyamũ cia thĩ)

lit. animal of the ground
1. a certain species of snake; according to Hobley (1911:418) and Leakey (1977), it was the custom that the snake was treated with milk or fat poured out on the floor for drinking if the animal entered a hut and the snake was made to leave the hut lest the snake should be by any chance killed.^[3]^[4] Hobley also reports that Kikuyu people regarded the snake as incarnation of a spirit of the departed (ngoma).^[3]
2. (in general) snake^[5]

Trivia

Leakey (1977) translates this term as Brown House Snake,^[4] a common name for the species Boaedon capensis (syn. Lamprophis capensis). This species, however, is found today in Republic of South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana,^[6] not in Kenya, where Kikuyu people live. Spawls (1978) reports that B. fuliginosus fuliginosus, syn. L. fuliginosus (Eng. brown house-snake, common house-snake) is found common and widespread in southern, eastern, central and western Kenya.^[7]

References

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 54–55. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ McGregor, A. Wallace (1905). A Grammar of the Kikuyu Language (British East Africa), p. 27. Rechard Clay & Sons.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Hobley, C. W. (1911). "Further Researches into Kikuyu and Kamba Religious Beliefs and Customs," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 41, pp. 406–457.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, v. I, p. 461. →ISBN
^ “nyamũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 341. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Boaedon capensis (The Reptile Database). (Retrieved 25 March 2018)
^ Spawls, S. (1978). "A checklist of the snakes of Kenya." Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society and National Museum 31(167): 1–18.

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 54–55. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2] McGregor, A. Wallace (1905). A Grammar of the Kikuyu Language (British East Africa), p. 27. Rechard Clay & Sons.

[cwh1911-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Hobley, C. W. (1911). "Further Researches into Kikuyu and Kamba Religious Beliefs and Customs," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 41, pp. 406–457.

[lsbl-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, v. I, p. 461. →ISBN

[5] “nyamũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 341. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[6] Boaedon capensis (The Reptile Database). (Retrieved 25 March 2018)

[ss1978-7] Spawls, S. (1978). "A checklist of the snakes of Kenya." Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society and National Museum 31(167): 1–18.

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