irimũ

Some researchers have related this term with the following other Bantu terms:

Kamba eimu (“ogre”);^[1][2] Chaga irimu “ogre”,^[3][4][1][5]

Swahili kuzimu (“the place of spirits”),^[1][2] m(u)zimu (“the place for offerings”),^[1][5] zimwi (“ogre”)^[5]

Nyanga (Congo) kirimu (“dragon”)^[1]

Zulu izimu (“ogre, cannibal”);^[3][1][5] Sotho ledimo (“ogre, cannibal”)^[1][5]

Duala edimo (“spirit of the departed”)^[1][2]

Compare Proto-Bantu *-lîma (“spirit”) reconstructed by Kohl-Larsen (1963)^[4] and *-lîmu (“spirit”) reconstructed by Dammann (1970).^[6] See also Kikuyu mũrimũ (“disease (formerly thought to be caused by supernatural beings)”).

• IPA^(key): /ìɾímóꜜ/

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 7 with a disyllabic stem, together with njata, and so on.

• (Kiambu)

• (Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including biribiri, cibũ (“chief”), gĩkabũ (pl. ikabũ), gĩtara, ithanwa, ithandũkũ, kĩng'aurũ, mũthigari, mũthũ, mwatũka, mbũkũ, ndigithũ, njata, rũbutu (pl. mbutu), thaburia, and so on.^[7]

irimũ class 5 (plural marimũ)

1. ogre^[8] who appears in folktales and tends to eat human beings^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ìɾìmóꜜ/

irimũ class 8

1. plural of kĩrimũ

• Adagala, Kavetsa and Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira (eds.) (1985). Kenyan Oral Narratives: A Selection. Nairobi and Kampala and Dar es Salaam: East African Eductional Publishers. →ISBN