Gethaka (Kikuyu): The portion of a ridge in Kikuyu owned by a particular family, the title to possession of this being obtained from the Dorobo, the original occupants of the forest. Some regard it as a freehold right, others maintain that the Kikuyu only acquired the right to cut the forest in order to make shambas, or gardens. The gethaka rights are, however, very real possessions in the eyes of the Kikuyu.
Huku (Kikuyu): A mole-like rodent—Tachyorctes sp.
Ichua (Kikuyu): A sacrificial fire.
Imu, singular; aiimu, plural (Kamba): Ancestral spirits.
Ithembo, singular; mathembo, plural (Kamba): Sacred place where sacrifices are carried out.
Ira (Kikuyu): White diatomaceous earth which is also used in ceremonial as a purifying agent.
Itwika (Kikuyu): A periodic ceremony which marks the termination of a generation or age in the tribe—it corresponds in some ways to the Masai Eunoto ceremony. [[306]]
Kikuyu: The missionaries now often spell it Gikuyu. A member of the Kikuyu tribe is called Mu-Kikuyu—plural, A-Kikuyu. In common parlance, however, if one drops the prefixes and refers to a man of this tribe as a Kikuyu (native)—the latter word being widely understood, it is simpler than attaching the appropriate prefix. An upland tribe in Kenya Colony extending from near Nairobi to Mount Kenya.
Kamba: Mu-Kamba is the singular; A-Kamba is plural and collective. In the same way as above, it has become more usual to simply refer to them as Kamba (native). Their country is termed Ukamba, and their language Ki-Kamba. A tribe in Kenya Colony, east of Nairobi. There are detached portions of the tribe near Mombasa, near Taveta, and in Tanganyika territory.
Kithangaona (Kikuyu): Sacred place.