ihiga

Kikuyu

Etymology

Hinde (1904) records ihiga (pl. mahiga) as an equivalent of English stone in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also Kamba ibia (pl. mavia) as its equivalent.[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ìhìɣáꜜ/

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.[2]

Noun

ihiga class 5 (plural mahiga)

stone
Mũremwo nĩ ndũũgo oigaga nja ĩrĩ mahiga.
He who fails to dance the jumping warrior dance says that there are stones on the field.

References

Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 56–57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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.

“ihiga” 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. 56–57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[yy1981-2] 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.