ndegwa

Kikuyu

Alternative forms

ndeegwa

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records ndēgua as an equivalent of English bull in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu.[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ⁿdɛ̀(ː)ɣwàꜜ/, /ⁿdɛ̀(ː)ɣoàꜜ/

Barlow (1960) treats this e as short, while Benson (1964) as long.

As for Tonal Class, Armstrong (1940) classifies this term into moondo class which includes mũndũ, huko, igego, igoti, inooro, irigũ, irũa, kĩbaata, kĩmũrĩ, kũgũrũ, mũciĩ, mũgeni, mũri, mwaki (“fire”), ndaka, ndigiri, njagathi, njogu, Mũrĩmi (“man's name”), etc.[2] Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 1 with a disyllabic stem, together with ndaka, and so on.

(Kiambu)

(Limuru) As for Tonal Class, as ndeegũa, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including cindano, huko, iburi, igego, igoti, ini (pl. mani), inooro, irigũ, irũa, iturubarĩ (pl. maturubarĩ), kĩbaata, kĩmũrĩ, kũgũrũ, mũciĩ, mũgeni, mũgũrũki, mũmbirarũ, mũndũ, mũri, mũthuuri, mwaki (“fire”), mwario (“way of speaking”), mbogoro, nda, ndaka, ndigiri, ngo, njagathi, njogu, nyondo (“breast(s)”), and so on.[3]

Noun

ndegwa class 9/10 (plural ndegwa)

bull, ox[4]
Synonym: ndume

Hypernym: ng'ombe

Derived terms

(Proverbs)

ndegwa nyinyi ĩhaicaga ng'ombe na mũtwe

References

Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 10–11. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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. 68.

“ndegwa” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 10–11. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[lea1940-2] Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).

[yy1981-3] 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.

[arb1960-4] Barlow, A. Ruffell (1960). Studies in Kikuyu Grammar and Idiom, p. 68.