nyamũ ya thĩ

Etymology
Hinde (1904) records nyamayathi as an equivalent of English in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, and McGregor (1905) nyamuyathi for.

Noun

 * 1) lit. animal of the ground
 * 2) a certain species of snake; according to Hobley (1911:418) and Leakey (1977), it was the custom that the snake was treated with milk or fat poured out on the floor for drinking if the animal entered a hut and the snake was made to leave the hut lest the snake should be by any chance killed.  Hobley also reports that Kikuyu people regarded the snake as incarnation of a spirit of the departed.
 * 3)  snake

Trivia
Leakey (1977) translates this term as, a common name for the species (syn. ). This species, however, is found today in Republic of South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, not in Kenya, where Kikuyu people live. Spawls (1978) reports that, syn. (Eng., ) is found common and widespread in southern, eastern, central and western Kenya.