rĩĩtwa

Kikuyu

Alternative forms

• rĩĩtũa, rĩtwa

Etymology

From a verb gwĩta (“to call”).^[1]

Hinde (1904) records ritoa as an equivalent of English name in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Ulu dialect” (spoken then from Machakos to coastal area) of Kamba sietua and “Nganyawa dialect” (spoken then in Kitui District) of Kamba dzītwa as its equivalents.^[2]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɾeetwa/, /ɾeetoa/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 5 with a disyllabic stem, together with njege, and so on.

• (Kiambu) As rĩĩtũa, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including kĩohe, njege, gĩcicio, icungwa, igongona, etc.,^[3] which is incorporated into another group including mũthũ, mũcibi, gĩkabũ (pl. ikabũ), njata, mũthee, ihũa (pl. mahũa), ithanwa, kang'aurũ, mwatũka, ndarathini (“a certain kind of fruit”), Gĩgĩkũyũ, etc. in Yukawa (1985).^[4]

• (Nairobi) According to Yukawa (1985:194,198,200):^[4]

(in isolation) IPA^(key): [ɾèètóá]

(before rĩakwa (“my”)) IPA^(key): [ɾèétòà ɾéákóá]

(after nĩ) IPA^(key): [né ɾèètóá]

(after ti) IPA^(key): [tí ɾéètòà]

Noun

rĩĩtwa class 5 (plural marĩĩtwa)

1. name

   rĩĩtwa rĩakwa/rĩaku/rĩake - my/thy/his or her name

References

1. “rĩĩtwa” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 203. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
2. Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 42–43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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.
4. Yukawa, Yasutoshi (1985). "A Second Tentative Tonal Analysis of Kikuyu Nouns." In Journal of Asian and African Studies, No. 29, 190–231.