nyama

Chichewa

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *nɲàmà.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɲa.ma/

Noun

nyama class 9 (plural nyama class 10)

animal
meat

Fanagalo

Etymology

From Zulu inyama, from Proto-Bantu *nɲàmà.

Noun

nyama

meat

Kikuyu

FWOTD – 28 August 2022

Etymology 1

Hinde (1904) records nyama as an equivalent of English meat in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Ulu dialect” (spoken then from Machakos to coastal area) of Kamba nyamma and “Nganyawa dialect” (spoken then in Kitui District) of Kamba nama, and Swahili nyama as its equivalents.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɲàmàꜜ/

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, 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

nyama class 9

meat, flesh

Derived terms

(Proverbs)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɲàmáꜜ/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 3 with a disyllabic stem, together with kĩhaato, mbembe, kiugo, 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.^[3]

Noun

nyama class 9/10 (plural nyama)

aardvark^[4]^[5]

References

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 38–39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 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.
^ “nyama” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 340. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). The Southern Kikuyu before 1903], v. I, p. 455. →ISBN