ashu
noun
ten shillings.
Ashu names ten shillings and is also recorded for the ten-shilling coin among matatu crews in Nakuru.
Forms
- hashu
- spelling variant
Origins
Ashu developed from Arabic عَشَرَة (ʿashara, “ten”). In Sheng, its meaning narrowed to ten shillings.
Sources3
Fridah Erastus Kanana and Atemo Christine Ny’onga, Lexical restructuring processes in Sheng among the Matatu crew in Nakuru, Kenya (2019), Borrowing section; Table 8.
Ten shillings in Sheng.; Ashu specifically refers to ten shillings, rather than the general number ten.; Ashu comes from Arabic ashara, meaning ten. In Sheng, it took on the narrower meaning of ten shillings.; A ten-shilling coin, recorded among matatu crews in Nakuru, Kenya.
Chege Githiora, Sheng: Rise of a Kenyan Swahili Vernacular (James Currey, 2018), p. 193, glossary.
Records hashu for ten shillings.
Kais Dukes, Quranic Arabic Corpus: dictionary (University of Leeds), Noun forms.
Attests Arabic عَشَرَة, ten; supports the donor spelling, not the Sheng borrowing route.
Examples
Nina ashu.
I have ten shillings.
Una ashu?
Do you have ten shillings?
Nahitaji ashu.
I need ten shillings.
Bei ni ashu.
The price is ten shillings.
Nimelipa ashu.
I have paid ten shillings.
Nimetuma ashu.
I have sent ten shillings.
Nimepata ashu.
I have received ten shillings.
Nauli ni ashu.
The fare is ten shillings.
Chenji ni ashu.
The change is ten shillings.
