The Collaborative International Dictionary
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wikipedia
In Hawaiian mythology Kū or Kūkailimoku is one of the four great gods. The other three are Kanaloa, Kāne, and Lono. Feathered god images or 'aumakua hulu manu are considered to represent Kū. Kū is worshipped under many names, including Kū-ka-ili-moku (also written Kūkailimoku), the "Seizer of Land". Kūkailimoku rituals included human sacrifice, which was not part of the worship of other gods.
Ku is a fictional language appearing in the 2005 drama/ thriller film The Interpreter. In the film, Ku is a language spoken in the fictional African country of Matobo. The constructed language was created for the film by Said el-Gheithy, the director of the Centre for African Language Learning in Covent Garden, London.
Commissioned by The Interpreter's director, Sydney Pollack, and Working Title Films, el-Gheithy adapted aspects of Shona and Swahili, languages spoken in Eastern and Southern Africa, to devise the basis of this fictional language.
The language has its own internal dictionary and el-Gheithy created a whole culture and history in his mind.
In this context, the actual language spoken by the Tobosa people of the fictional Democratic Republic of Matobo, although known as 'Ku' to foreigners, is indigenously known as Chitob uk u which literally means 'the language of the Tobosa people'. Ch'itoboku, then, would be the only surviving ancient Bantu language, and the Tobosa oral traditions indicate that 'Ku' is the root of modern Bantu languages spoken in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. There is no gender distinction, hence the word for 'he' or 'she' is the same, 'a'. Verbosity is positively valued in Ch'itoboku, and ordinary speech should approximate the elegance of poetry.
As with most African cultures, Tobosa customs are based on age and gender. Drawing on the historical tradition, elders greet younger generations first, and women speak before men. Greetings are essentially verbal, but are followed by a touching of foreheads. The most common expression in greeting is 'sonna', meaning 'hello', but a more energised greeting is kwambu, and the response is kwamb uk uu, 'and how are you?'
There is not a single word for 'thanks,' but the word tenane is used to show appreciation and is expressed through the clapping of hands. Men clap with their palms and fingers together, while women clap with their hands across each other. During meetings and conversation, sneezing is an indication of disbelief. On leaving, one would say digai, which actually means 'you haven't gone for ever, we will see you again'. The person staying responds by saying digaidigai.
The language and cultures of the Tobosa have been influenced by links with the outside world through colonialism and more recently as a result of processes of globalisation. For example modern technology has become part of the modern 'Ku' vocabulary, and is now written and pronounced as Kompyutanga. Matoba is currently enjoying more prosperity, not from the usual gas and mineral resources, but rather from its special herbal tea, zingwe, drinking of which is believed to guarantee eternal youth.
Ku is a protein that binds to DNA double-strand break ends and is required for the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway of DNA repair. Ku is evolutionarily conserved from bacteria to humans. The ancestral bacterial Ku is a homodimer (two copies of the same protein bound to each other). Eukaryotic Ku is a heterodimer of two polypeptides, Ku70 (XRCC6) and Ku80 (XRCC5), so named because the molecular weight of the human Ku proteins is around 70 kDa and 80 kDa. The two Ku subunits form a basket-shaped structure that threads onto the DNA end. Once bound, Ku can slide down the DNA strand, allowing more Ku molecules to thread onto the end. In higher eukaryotes, Ku forms a complex with the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) to form the full DNA-dependent protein kinase, DNA-PK. Ku is thought to function as a molecular scaffold to which other proteins involved in NHEJ can bind, orienting the double-strand break for ligation.
The Ku70 and Ku80 proteins consist of three structural domains. The N-terminal domain is an alpha/beta domain. This domain only makes a small contribution to the dimer interface. The domain comprises a six stranded beta sheet of the Rossman fold. The central domain of Ku70 and Ku80 is a DNA-binding beta-barrel domain. Ku makes only a few contacts with the sugar-phosphate backbone, and none with the DNA bases, but it fits sterically to major and minor groove contours forming a ring that encircles duplex DNA, cradling two full turns of the DNA molecule. By forming a bridge between the broken DNA ends, Ku acts to structurally support and align the DNA ends, to protect them from degradation, and to prevent promiscuous binding to unbroken DNA. Ku effectively aligns the DNA, while still allowing access of polymerases, nucleases and ligases to the broken DNA ends to promote end joining. The C-terminal arm is an alpha helical region which embraces the central beta-barrel domain of the opposite subunit. In some cases a fourth domain is present at the C-terminus, which binds to DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit.
Both subunits of Ku have been experimentally knocked out in mice. These mice exhibit chromosomal instability, indicating that NHEJ is important for genome maintenance.
In many organisms, Ku has additional functions at telomeres in addition to its role in DNA repair.
Abundance of Ku80 seems to be related to species longevity.
く, in hiragana, or ク in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent , and their shapes come from the kanji 久.
This kana may have a dakuten added, transforming it into ぐ in hiragana, グ in katakana, and gu in Hepburn romanization. The dakuten's addition also changes the sound of the syllable represented, to in initial positions, and varying between and in the middle of words. A handakuten (゜) does not occur with ku in normal Japanese text, but it may be used by linguists to indicate a nasal pronunciation .
In the Ainu language, the katakana ク can be written as small ㇰ, representing a final k sound as in アイヌイタㇰ Ainu itak (Ainu language). This was developed along with other extended katakana to represent sounds in Ainu that are not found in standard Japanese katakana.
Forms
Rōmaji
Hiragana
Katakana
Normal k-
(か行 ka-gyō)
ku
く
ク
kuu
kū
くう, くぅ
くー
クウ, クゥ
クー
Addition dakuten g-
(が行 ga-gyō)
gu
ぐ
グ
guu
gū
ぐう, ぐぅ
ぐー
グウ, グゥ
グー
Other additional forms
Form A (kw-)Romaji
Hiragana
Katakana
kwa
くぁ/くゎ
クァ/クヮ
kwi
くぃ/くゐ
クィ/クヰ
kwu
くぅ
クゥ
kwe
くぇ
クェ
kwo
くぉ
クォ
Usage examples of "ku".
Cheng Lai Kuen and Amanda Luk, arrive, and in the bustle of morning preparations, the conversation is forgotten.
Cheung Lai Kuen, although an advertisement had been placed for a second full-time technician.
Cheung Lai Kuen was a thin, bespectacled woman who tended to murmur under her breath, and walked stiffly around as if she had lower back pain.
Cheung Lai Kuen happy by preparing a symbolic Cup from the Heavenly Pond to counteract the forces emanating from the Three Curses Position.
The drama all became too much for Amanda Luk, who also scampered outside to stand with Lai Kuen in the corridor.
Lai Kuen, grabbing her handbag and trotting stiffly out of the office on her high heels.
Lai Kuen waited in the corridor, trying to cram her fist in her mouth.
The route of their small caravan lay across the Kuen Lun and the Changthang.
Skyler sat next to Raisin and they stayed like that, awkward and silent for quite a while, until finally Kuta broke the silence.
Raisin visited Kuta about once every two weeks, whenever they could get together and whenever they dared to risk it, moving cautiously along the path to make sure they were unobserved and looking in his window to see if he was alone.
The Lab said sex was wrong, but Kuta preached a different doctrine, and what he said seemed to make sense.
It was not running, because the engine was out of commission, but Kuta could fix it, and he could negotiate the shoals to reach the mainland.
He also told about the Orderlies and about Kuta and his own special education in his shack and his growing doubts and fears.
And the song that he then played on the air was jazz, hot New Orleans jazz, and Skyler also could have sworn that the trumpet was being played by Kuta, too.
Gullah cook, who, it turned out, had been primed by Kuta to keep a watchful eye over Skyler.