Slighty Off Topic..."Kenya" or " Keen-ya"...?

Which is it?!



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the_niner_nation wrote:

Which is it?!

In Kiswahili, the one but last syllable is stressed, and the 'e' is
pronounced like a short 'e' as in 'better'. So you pronounce it as:
'Ke-nja'.


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Johan W. Elzenga johanatjohanfoto.nl
Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.com

In message ,
the_niner_nation writes
Which is it?!



It can be both, the British pronounced it Keenya but after Independence
in 1963 it was then Kenya, I think after Jomo Kenyatta became the
first president or "father of the nation". I have heard older Kenyans
call it Keenya and of course the European settlers still use the old
name. I think either pronunciation is acceptable but out of respect I
have always said Kenya.
Pat.
--
Pat Anderson

In message
Pat Anderson wrote:

In message ,
the_niner_nation writes
Which is it?!

It can be both, the British pronounced it Keenya but after Independence
in 1963 it was then Kenya, I think after Jomo Kenyatta became the
first president or "father of the nation". I have heard older Kenyans
call it Keenya and of course the European settlers still use the old
name. I think either pronunciation is acceptable but out of respect I
have always said Kenya.

I asked a local guide last year, and he said that someone (a Brit) had
asked a Kikuyu the name of the mountain, to which the answer was Kii
nya (Keenya) meaning 'here is a (forget - guineafowl???)' referring to
the shape of the snow at the top. The explorer had reported back that
the mountain was called Mt Kenya (Keenya), and somehow when the
country was arbitrarily formed, it was named Kenya (Keenya) after the
mountainby the colonialists. On independence, the pronunciation was
changed to indicate a separation from the British although Keenya is
technically correct. Both seem to be used by Africans - I was
astonished since about the first person to speak to me at Nairobi
Airport on my first trip said "Welcome to Keenya".
There are probably several stories about the name and pronunciation.

Now: TanzanEEa, TanZANia, or TanZAYNia????

Slainte

Liz


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Tanzania is a combination of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, so I guess that
TanZANnia would be most correct. TanZAYnia sounds Americanised (Like
NA-mibia and Nigh-jir) :-)

On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:12:56 +0100, Liz Leyden
wrote:


Now: TanzanEEa, TanZANia, or TanZAYNia????

Slainte

Liz

In message , Liz Leyden
writes
In message
Pat Anderson wrote:

In message ,
the_niner_nation writes
Which is it?!

It can be both, the British pronounced it Keenya but after Independence
in 1963 it was then Kenya, I think after Jomo Kenyatta became the
first president or "father of the nation". I have heard older Kenyans
call it Keenya and of course the European settlers still use the old
name. I think either pronunciation is acceptable but out of respect I
have always said Kenya.

I asked a local guide last year, and he said that someone (a Brit) had
asked a Kikuyu the name of the mountain, to which the answer was Kii
nya (Keenya) meaning 'here is a (forget - guineafowl???)' referring to
the shape of the snow at the top. The explorer had reported back that
the mountain was called Mt Kenya (Keenya), and somehow when the
country was arbitrarily formed, it was named Kenya (Keenya) after the
mountainby the colonialists. On independence, the pronunciation was
changed to indicate a separation from the British although Keenya is
technically correct. Both seem to be used by Africans - I was
astonished since about the first person to speak to me at Nairobi
Airport on my first trip said "Welcome to Keenya".
There are probably several stories about the name and pronunciation.

Now: TanzanEEa, TanZANia, or TanZAYNia????

Slainte

Liz


An interesting topic Liz and Marc has also commented in another post.
The pronunciation varies as I`m sure you will have noticed Liz, with all
your safaris, my husband always says Keenya,
You are right about Mount Kenya, I`d forgotten that the mountain was
part of the story!
My experience was that the settlers still say Keenya and older Kenyans,
the younger people tend to say Kenya, as you said, to separate
themselves from the "old days" having said that we shouldn`t be
surprised at anybody using either pronunciation!
Tanzania: Africans do seem to say TanZania I`ve found.
By the way, have you been to Lewa Liz? I`m watching the repeats on
Weds. Of " Game Ranger Diaries" from Lewa.
Pat.

--
Pat Anderson

Liz Leyden wrote:

Now: TanzanEEa, TanZANia, or TanZAYNia????

Just follow the Kiswahili rule: stress the one but last syllable, so
pronounce it TanzaNEEEa.


--
Johan W. Elzenga johanatjohanfoto.nl
Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.com

In message
Pat Anderson wrote:


By the way, have you been to Lewa Liz? I`m watching the repeats on
Weds. Of " Game Ranger Diaries" from Lewa.
I haven't seen them at all (I'm glued to Springwatch!)

Lewa is a bit out of my budget, but we did drop in there once for a
very nice lunch, an interesting talk on their work and a bit of a
drive round, but for some reason our guide was uncomfortable there,
and we didn't spend long on the drive. Looked really nice.

I believe the Grants are related to Elspeth Huxley on her father's
side? At least, if my hazy memory serves me right, when we went to
Rusinga Island Camp, the then owner (it has since changed hands) was,
I think, a brother of the Lewa Grants and I'm sure his wife told me of
the Jos Grant connection.

Slainte

Liz

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Photo Gallery:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/g...emberID=165111

In message , Liz Leyden
writes
In message
Pat Anderson wrote:


By the way, have you been to Lewa Liz? I`m watching the repeats on
Weds. Of " Game Ranger Diaries" from Lewa.
I haven't seen them at all (I'm glued to Springwatch!)

Lewa is a bit out of my budget, but we did drop in there once for a
very nice lunch, an interesting talk on their work and a bit of a
drive round, but for some reason our guide was uncomfortable there,
and we didn't spend long on the drive. Looked really nice.

I believe the Grants are related to Elspeth Huxley on her father's
side? At least, if my hazy memory serves me right, when we went to
Rusinga Island Camp, the then owner (it has since changed hands) was,
I think, a brother of the Lewa Grants and I'm sure his wife told me of
the Jos Grant connection.

Slainte

Liz

We haven`t been, too expensive as you say. It`s the Craig family at
Lewa, the father is David and the two sons are Will and Ian, Ian is the
one seen on "Game Rangers". I`ve got a VHS recording of a programme
of David Craig taking some tourists out to see an elephant named
Gilbert, who was something of a character, in the film there is a clip
about the arrival of the family many years ago.
One other thing to do with "Game Rangers", the operations manager,
Richard Moller, after I wrote to say how much I`d enjoyed the series,
replied and it turns out he used to come fishing in Kamburu dam, where
we were, and fished with our son, Stuart, this was in the eighties...
small world!
You are right about Jos Grant, he was Elspeth`s father, her mother was
Nellie Grant.
Pat.
--
Pat Anderson

In message
Pat Anderson wrote:



We haven`t been, too expensive as you say. It`s the Craig family at
Lewa, the father is David and the two sons are Will and Ian, Ian is the
one seen on "Game Rangers". I`ve got a VHS recording of a programme
of David Craig taking some tourists out to see an elephant named
Gilbert, who was something of a character, in the film there is a clip
about the arrival of the family many years ago.
One other thing to do with "Game Rangers", the operations manager,
Richard Moller, after I wrote to say how much I`d enjoyed the series,
replied and it turns out he used to come fishing in Kamburu dam, where
we were, and fished with our son, Stuart, this was in the eighties...
small world!
You are right about Jos Grant, he was Elspeth`s father, her mother was
Nellie Grant.

Ah, yes.
I now think (grief, I went from 'blonde moments' to 'senior moments'
far too quickly!) that the former owner of Rusinga, Willie Grant was
the connection with Jos Grant, his wife is, I think, a sister of the
Craigs at Lewa. My memory is all over the place.

BRW - loved the Natural World prog tonight about Gabon's wildlife:
looks fantastic! Wonder if they'll be taking visitors by the time I
retire.

Slainte
Liz


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