kĩiniĩ gĩtaita

Kikuyu

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /keíniěꜜ ɣetaita/

Idiom

kĩiniĩ gĩtaita

  1. Lit., “something upside down without leaking”; According to Benson (1964), kĩnya (“gourd”) precedes this phrase in some cases then entire meaning is “an upside-down gourd which does not leak.”
    1. A riddle whose solution is mũkamo wa ng'ombe[1] “cow's udder”; another solution is kĩnya.[1]
    2. A fool who does not make use of an obvious opportunity.[2]

References
  1. Njoroge, Hezekiel Njau (1994). "The Riddle." In Masheti Masinjila and Okoth Okombo (eds.), Teaching Oral Literature. Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Oral Literature Association, pp. 51, 62. →ISBN
  2. “-iniĩ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 187. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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