mũrũthi

Kikuyu

Alternative forms

mũrũũthi

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records muruthi and mulozi as equivalents of English lion in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mòɾòːðǐ/

The second ũ is pronounced long.^[2]

As for Tonal Class, Armstrong (1940) classifies this term into mote class which includes mũtĩ, gĩkwa (pl. ikwa), gĩthaka, kĩnya, kĩrũũmi, mũcinga, mũgate, mũhaka, njagĩ, njohi, nyũmba, etc.^[3] Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 2 with a disyllabic stem, together with kĩgunyũ, njagĩ, kiugũ, and so on. 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, ndaraca, ndirica, njohi, nyũmba, thĩ, and so on.^[4]

Noun

mũrũthi class 3 (plural mĩrũthi)

lion
gĩcuthĩ kĩa mũrũthi ― lion's tail^[3]

Synonyms

(Northern) ngatia^[5]

References

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 36–37. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ “mũrũthi” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 421. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 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.
^ Barlow, A. Ruffell (1960). Studies in Kikuyu Grammar and Idiom, p. 257

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 36–37. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2] “mũrũthi” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 421. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[lea1940-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).

[yy1981-4] 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.

[5] Barlow, A. Ruffell (1960). Studies in Kikuyu Grammar and Idiom, p. 257

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