Kikuyu

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ndabibi (Oxalis latifolia)[1]
 
ndabibi (Trifolium semipilosum)[2]

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Benson (1964) suspects affinity with Maasai ol-dabibi.[2]

Pronunciation

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The second i is pronounced long.[2]
As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 7 with a trisyllabic stem, together with mũbariti, and so on.
  • (Kiambu)
  • (Limuru) As for Tonal Class, as ndabiibi (a kind of mushroom), Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including kĩgongona, njege, and so on.[3]

Noun

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ndabibi class 9/10 (plural ndabibi)

  1. wood sorrel (Oxalis sp.)[4]
  2. clover (Trifolium sp.)[5]

Hypernyms

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Terry, P.J. and R.W. Michieka (1987). Common weeds of East Africa/Magugu ya Afrika Mashariki, p. 122. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 “ndabibi” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 288. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  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. 4.0 4.1 Mugu, Muturi Anthony (2014). "Antonymy in Gĩkũyũ: a cognitive semantics approach," p. 32.
  5. ^ Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, v. II, p. lxvii. →ISBN