[nettle]

Originally Posted by dixxie1

mai mahiu - also from a maasai word meimayu meaning unpassable coz it
it was too bushy:

Funny! 'Cause Mai Mahiu means " hot water" in Kikuyu.
What a coincidence! it is also where the geo thermal springs start.
Wonder why the olmaa name did not stick - like the rest of the place names in the vicinity.

Veeeery curious!

[dixxie1]

thats wat my grandpa told me.he could be wrong;

[proudgusii]

this comes from a maa word for donkey droppings

[nettle]

Originally Posted by proudgusii

this comes from a maa word for donkey droppings

Heard it comes from the olmaa name "ilmorog" So is that what it means?
Ngugi wa Thiong'o uses it extensively in his works.

[Jaysmut76]

1. Buruburu- Named after Bulbul ( on Nairobi-Magadi road) where the builders of the estate used to get sand and mawe from.
2. Kabarnet- There was a mzungu couple the Barnetts living there. The people called it ka barnet

[Ayub Ikiara]

Nyeri from Maa "Nyir" which was the name of Nyeri Hill. The Maa thought it looked like an old woman hunched over. Odieros used to call the place Fort Metzenhagen at the turn of the century. Other people think that "Nyir" had something to do with white rhinos which dotted the area.

North of Nyeri there is "Ngobit" Maa for ropes

North still there is Naro Moru. I'm sure it means something in Samburu.

The complete name for Nairobi is of course Enkare Nairobi or Ngare Nairobi meaning cool waters. The exact spot called so was chiromo. Presently there is University of Nairobi College of Biochemistry, Geology, or some other science stuff.... and a mortuary.

If Limuru is Maa, then how come all the adjacent townships of Lari, Kimende, Kijabe, Kikuyu, Flyover all sound so unmasai?

[nettle]

Kijabe and Lari sound like olmaa!

The Kikuyu have no such combination of sounds like a //j// without pre-nasalisation there is no //l// sound in the Gikuyu alphabet.

The original name for Kikuyu was "chura" pronounced /shura/

[6279max]

anybody thought about KENYA what do it mean/OR WHAT IS IT?

About mai mahiu is actually a hot water lake or something around there
Kabete- is kikuyu for ring a white newlly engaged gul dropped her ring at the i think nairobi river she stayed there a whole day crying and everybody who asked why she crying ppl was like the ring {kabete }
gitaru- named after my boys grand-pa had a shop there and ppl would say am going to gitarus
karen- out the famous movie was named after a farm just like odiri

[Rumba]

Originally Posted by 6279max

anybody thought about KENYA what do it mean/OR WHAT IS IT?

About mai mahiu is actually a hot water lake or something around there
Kabete- is kikuyu for ring a white newlly engaged gul dropped her ring at the i think nairobi river she stayed there a whole day crying and everybody who asked why she crying ppl was like the ring {kabete }
gitaru- named after my boys grand-pa had a shop there and ppl would say am going to gitarus
karen- out the famous movie was named after a farm just like odiri

I read somewhere, Krapf had gone to kenya, and was looking for Mt. kenya..at that time it was called kirinyaga. Some say Kenya is from the inability of the white man to say Kirinyaga, but another source that I read claims that..when Krapf was exploring, he walked around with some kamba dude.. so when they reached somewhere near the mountain, the Kamba pointed and said "kiinya", which in Kamba means a mountain, or a hill...Krapf wrote down the name as he heard it pronounced..So Kenya was basically named after the mountain...

[oogg]

Originally Posted by Rumba

I read somewhere, Krapf had gone to kenya, and was looking for Mt. kenya..at that time it was called kirinyaga. Some say Kenya is from the inability of the white man to say Kirinyaga, but another source that I read claims that..when Krapf was exploring, he walked around with some kamba dude.. so when they reached somewhere near the mountain, the Kamba pointed and said "kiinya", which in Kamba means a mountain, or a hill...Krapf wrote down the name as he heard it pronounced..So Kenya was basically named after the mountain...

Rumba: Yeah, that's the version I have heard too.