mbwe

Kikuyu

Alternative forms

mbũe[1]

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records mbue as an equivalent of English jackal in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Ulu dialect” (spoken then from Machakos to coastal area) of Kamba mbiwa as its equivalent.[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ᵐbwɛ̌ꜜ/, /ᵐbòɛ́ꜜ/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 1 with a monosyllabic stem, together with mũri, ngo, and so on.

(Kiambu)

(Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including bũrũri (pl. mabũrũri), ikara, ikinya, itimũ, kanitha (pl. makanitha), kiugo, kĩhaato, maguta, mũgeka, mũkonyo, mũrata, mwana, mbembe, mbũri, nyaga, riitho, riũa, rũrĩmĩ (pl. nĩmĩ), ũhoro (pl. mohoro), and so on.[1]

Noun

mbwe class 9/10 (plural mbwe)

a certain canid
1. jackal
2. fox

Derived terms

(Proverbs)

hiti ciathiĩ mbwe ciegangara

References

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.
Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 34–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu, p. 49. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).
“mbwe” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 277. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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[yy1981-1] 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.

[hh1904-2] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 34–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.