kĩĩmbu

Kikuyu

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records kēēmbu as an equivalent of English chameleon in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also Kamba keembu as its equivalent.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /keè.ᵐbǔ/

As for Tonal Class, Armstrong (1940) classifies this term into mote class which includes mũtĩ, gĩkwa (pl. ikwa), gĩthaka, kĩnya, kĩrũũmi, mũcinga, mũgate, mũhaka, mũrũthi, njagĩ, njohi, nyũmba, etc.^[2] Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 2 with a disyllabic stem, together with kĩgunyũ, njagĩ, kiugũ, and so on.

(Kiambu)

(Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including gĩkwa (pl. ikwa), ithangũ (pl. mathangũ), kiugũ, kĩboko, kĩgunyũ, kĩnya, kĩroboto, kĩrũũmi, mbogo, mũcinga, mũgate, mũhaka, mũrangi, mũrũthi, ndaraca, ndirica, njohi, nyũmba, thĩ, and so on.^[3]

Noun

kĩĩmbu class 7 (plural ciĩmbu)

chameleon^[4]^[5]

References

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 12–13. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).
^ 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.
^ “kĩĩmbu” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 199. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, v. I, p. 460. →ISBN

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 12–13. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[lea1940-2] Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).

[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.

[4] “kĩĩmbu” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 199. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[lsbl-5] Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, v. I, p. 460. →ISBN

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