stylistic:style_transfer, linguistic:paraphrasing
Kikuyu

The Kikuyu people live on the southern and western sides of the mountain. They are agriculturalists, and make use of the highly fertile volcanic soil on the lower slopes. They believe that God, Ngai or Mwene Nyaga, lived on Mount Kenya when he came down from the sky. They believe that the mountain is Ngai's throne on earth. It is the place where Gĩkũyũ, the father of the tribe, used to meet with God. Thus according to the Kikuyu records, Gĩkũyũ is the first person on Earth to ascend the mountain. 'Mwene Nyaga' in the Kikuyu language can also translate as the "Owner of the Ostriches" or "Owner of the white patches (of snow)" where 'Mwene' translates to 'owner', and 'Nyaga' to Ostriches or white patches. The snow (in Kikuyu: Ira) caps of the mountain symbolically represent a crown on God's habitation.Kikuyu used to build their houses with doors facing the mountain. The Kikuyu name for Mount Kenya is Kirima Kĩrĩ Nyaga (Mt.Kirinyaga), which literally translates to the mountain that has the "Nyaga" – Ostriches. The mountain, therefore, is locally accepted as 'God's Resting Place' or 'Where God Lives'.

The Kikuyu name for Mt. Kenya is Kĩrĩnyaga which literally means 'the one with the ostrich'. The ostrich has black or brownish–grey feathers with patches of white. The Kikuyu attributed an ostrich's likeness to an object that was dark-coloured with white patches. The name Kĩrĩnyaga therefore figuratively means 'the one with white patches', referring to the glaciers among the peaks of the mountain.

Translated to the Kamba language, kĩrĩnyaga, would be ki nyaa. This is the name that Ludwig Krapf was given when he sighted the mountain from Kitui (in Kamba country). He recorded it as Kenya. It became the name of not only the mountain but also the country.