ngwacĩ

Kikuyu

Alternative forms

ngwaci

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records ngwashi as an equivalent of English potato in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Ulu dialect” (spoken then from Machakos to coastal area) of Kamba makwasi,“Nganyawa dialect” (spoken then in Kitui District) of Kamba makwatzi and Swahili kiazi (pl. viazi) as its equivalents.[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ᵑɡwàɕěꜜ/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 6 with a disyllabic stem, together with mũgwacĩ, nyamũ, and so on.

(Kiambu)
- (Limuru) IPA^(key): /ᵑɡoàɕěꜜ/
As for Tonal Class, as ngũacĩ, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including baba, guka, gũtũ, mũguĩ, mũtwe, nyamũ, ruo, rũhĩ (pl. hĩ), rũkũ (pl. ngũ), taata (“my aunt”), ũta (pl. mota), ũthiũ (pl. mothiũ), and so on.[2]

Noun

ngwacĩ class 9/10 (plural ngwacĩ)

sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
Meronym: mĩrĩyo

Derived terms

(Nominal Phrases)

ngwacĩ ya ngoma

(Proverbs)

ikai rĩa nyama ti rĩa ngwacĩ
ngwacĩ itigathagwo rĩenjero
ngwaci ya mwana wene noyo ihoragia mwaki

Related terms

(Nouns)

mũgwacĩ class 3

References

Hinde, Hildegarde (1904) Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa‎, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pages 46–7
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.

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904) Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa‎, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pages 46–7

[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.