handũ

Kikuyu

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records haandu as an equivalent of English place in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Ulu dialect” (spoken then from Machakos to coastal area) of Kamba paandu and “Nganyawa dialect” (spoken then in Kitui District) of Kamba vanduva as its equivalents.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /hàⁿdòꜜ/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 1 with a monosyllabic stem, together with mũri, ngo, and so on.

(Kiambu)

(Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including cindano, huko, iburi, igego, igoti, ini (pl. mani), inooro, irigũ, irũa, iturubarĩ (pl. maturubarĩ), kĩbaata, kĩmũrĩ, kũgũrũ, mũciĩ, mũgeni, mũgũrũki, mũmbirarũ, mũndũ, mũri, mũthuuri, mwaki (“fire”), mwario (“way of speaking”), mbogoro, nda, ndaka, ndigiri, ngo, njagathi, njogu, nyondo (“breast(s)”), and so on.^[2]

Noun

handũ class 16 (plural kũndũ)

place, spot, site^[3]

Derived terms

(Proverbs)

thĩna ndũtigaga handũ ũramenyera

Related terms

(Nouns)

kandũ class 12
kĩndũ class 7, indo class 8
mũndũ class 1, andũ class 2
ũndũ class 14, maũndũ class 6

References

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 46–47. 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.
^ “handũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 300. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 46–47. 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.

[3] “handũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 300. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[1]

[2]

[3]