kiniun

Yoruba

Kìnìún

Alternative forms

Etymology

Compare with Ifè kìnìwú. It is not related to almost any Volta-Niger roots for lion, and cognates do not exist in other Proto-Edekiri or Proto-Yoruba descended languages spoken east of the Yoruba homeland, such as Itsekiri, Olukumi, or Igala. Its relation to Fon kinikíní, Gun kinnikinni, Aja kinnikinni, as well as the significance of the "lion" in the cultures of Gbe-speaking peoples, but a lack of significance of the lion in Yorubaland (compared to the leopard) because of its absence in the tropical forests of most of Yorubaland (words for "lion" do not exist in many Niger-delta languages, as well as in Ayere or Ukaan), may explain why a native root did not persist. Thus, perhaps this comes from any of the various Gbe-roots, which was then borrowed and spread east across the forest among Yoruba-dialects, and then ending at the savanna (where native or locally derived terms for lion would exist).

See Proto-Yoruba *kɪ̃̀nɪ̃̀wṹ, while this term is shared between many Yoruba dialects, but a single form cannot be formally reconstructed to the level of Proto-Yoruboid because of linguistic considerations.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kì.nĩ̀.ṹ/

Noun

kìnìún

lion

Related terms

ẹkùn (“big cat, leopard”)