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loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Sunday, December 22, 2013

words for the dog in the chewa language

The Chewa language, also called Nyanja, is the official language of Malawi and is also found in Zambia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.  Here's some vocabulary on dogs and cats from a dictionary of 1894:

Garu, a dog; Kagaru, a little dog; Tiagaru, little dogs
Barking, as of a dog, Kuua.
Bound, away, as a dog, Ku tamanga.
Gnaw, as a dog at a bone, Ku tafuna.
Lap, as a dog, Ku nyambita
Lick (and Taste). As a dog a dish, Ku nyambita.
Loll, As the tongue of a dog when heated with exertion, Ku turutsa lilume.
To move about quickly, as a dog or a kitten in play, Ku lumpa-lumpa.
Snarl, as a dog, Ku nyi-ndula.
To tear with violence, as a dog with his teeth, Ku ng'amba.
To wag the tail, as a dog, Ku gwedeza.
To creep along slowly and slyly, as a cat, Ku wenda. (I just saw Elizabeth try to ku wenda to the bird feeder this morning - curator)
To rub down, as a cat, Ku sisita.
Hiss, v. i. As a serpent, and as a kitten, Ku pepera
Kitten, re. Mwana wa mpaka, ana a mpaka.

-- from Laws, Robert. An English-Nyanja Dictionary of the Nyanja Language Spoken In British Central Africa. Edinburgh: published by James Thin, 1894. ("British Central Africa" is the outdated colonial name for the area.)

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