New (old) Words
Listed here are forgotten and newly acquired words discovered while reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o's novel Matigari.
... notes on other novels by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Petals of Blood Quotes: Out with foreign rule policed by colonized blackskins! Out with exploitation of our sweat! Spurs, stirrups, metal horseback, rider in a cloud of dust. The road was as treacherous as those hags and brats and cripples, he thought, riding through ruts and bumps and ditches. He became a daily feature in Ilmorog, a guardian knight of knowledge for part-time pupils. It was a solitary red beanflower in a field dominated by white,blue, and violet flowers. No matter how you looked at it, it gave you the impression of a flow of blood. To be made perfect, Munira started slowly, looking to the ground, absorbed in thoughts he did not know he had, speaking from a past he should have forgotten, crossing valleys and hills and ridges and plains of time to the beginning of his death, you must be able to scrub a dish to a shine brighter than the original, or as we would say in Siriana, out pray Jesus in prays of devotion. ... a lot of words is poison, a few words are
MARARANJA (Gikuyu): a festival of dance and song performed during circumcision.
ReplyDeleteMATIGARI MA NJIRUUNGI (Gikuyu): "the patriots who survived the bullets" - the patriots who survived the liberation war and their political offspring.
ReplyDeleteSHARUI YAKO (Kiswahili): that's your problem
ReplyDeleteWEWE MWENDA WAZIMU (Kiswahili): you are crazy
ReplyDeleteTRUNCHEON: a short, thick stick carried as a weapon by a police officer.
ReplyDeleteMZEE (Kiswahili): old man
ReplyDeleteHAKUNA NJIA (Kiswahili): no way
ReplyDeleteWAPI ULE MWIVI (kiswahili): where is that thief?
ReplyDeleteWEWE PUNDA MILIA (kiswahili): you zebra
ReplyDeleteGAOL: The old English word for jail.
ReplyDeleteMATATUS: originally unlicensed 'pirate' taxi. Matatus are now a recognized form of public transport, comprising cars or converted pick-ups, usually crammed with passengers, who often engage in lively debate, exchanging news, stories and gossip.
ReplyDeleteLAKINI WATONA CHA MTEMA KUNI (Kiswahili): they will be dealt with
ReplyDeleteULULATING: to howl, as a dog or a wolf; hoot, as an owl.
ReplyDeleteKIAMA KIRIA KIRATHANA (Gikuyu); the ruling party
ReplyDeleteSABABU (Kiswahilli): reason
ReplyDeleteNYINYI WENDA WAZIMU (Kiswahili): you must be mad
ReplyDeleteMBWA KALI (Kiswahili): Beware. Dogs Within ... literally "dangerous dogs."
ReplyDeleteSISAL: a Mexican agave with large fleshy leaves, cultivated for fiber production.
ReplyDeleteMAENDELEO YA MUAFIRIKA MAENDELEO YA WANAWAKE (Kiswahili): African people's progress, women's progress.
ReplyDeleteSISI MBWA KALI (Kiswahili): we are fierce dogs
ReplyDelete