An example search has returned 100 entries
ahlau se
v.n. go down
bookmarketti
v. to split leaves
bookmarkeucte
v. to begin to blossom
bookmarkheto
v. to grow again, as hair, feathers, plants; to come out, as teeth
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incacas
n. herb to 0. 75 m tall, flowers white (collection: Michael J. Balick #4953)
Example: The young leaves are edible; these should be collected, boiled for ca. 8 minutes and eaten with other foods such as cassava. This is one of the local leaves that is said to taste quite good when cooked and mixed with other foods. Both the ripe (red) and unripe (green) fruits are added to soup and other foods as a spice or eaten fresh. The fruit of this cultivar is very hot. The fruit is also fed to chickens who seem to love to eat it.
bookmarkincejev ataheñ
inhakli kwori
inhitilga
n. liana climbing up a Syzygium tree into the canopy, growing at edge of dense forest near garden area. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3637)
Example: Rope is made from the inner bark of this plant. Use the rope immediately after it is stripped from the bark, there is no need to treat it with heat as is the case with other plants. Alternatively, the coil of bark rope can be kept in fresh water where it will stay soft until needed. Medicine for women when sick with a headache from the spirit sea snake, or sea god, or sea spirit that makes people sick. Men use it to help with toochaches. Women use it to help with backpain, stomache pain, or any other pain. Must pound two leaves taken from the top of the plant and combine with incespiv. Rosalina Nijae said it was mostly used by men so did not know how to use it well. Walking in bush and become thirsty, cut vine on 1 side and drink. Seeds made into foot bracelets for men for Kastom dances and make all sorts of different sounds. In some places taboo to cut large one as the large ones embody the snake spirit.
bookmarkink
inmauwad imrig
n. a convolvulus with blue or reddish flowers
bookmarkinmejcop
inmenyau
inmowad
n. vine to 40 cm, flowers blue (collection: Michael J. Balick #4949)
Example: To heal cuts, select a piece of the larger part of the stem (woody) cut a 6 inch piece and blow on one end; the sap comes o ut on the other end and this can be used to cover the wound. As a pig feed, people collect the stems and leaves and feed these to the pigs.
bookmarkinmusji nupul
n. kind of tree
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inranwai
n. a brook that is dry in summer
bookmarkintaigana
n. kind of taro
bookmarkintate a nelgo waj
intop̃ hau
n. well branched tree, 6 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3202)
Example: 1. Young shoots are peeled and made into grass skirts. Scrape the stem and take the green part off, tie strips together and put under stones in the sea for retting, let sit 5 days in sea, but check these on a daily basis. When the fiber becomes soft, that is the time to take it from under the stones, clean off the excess materials, and hang it in the sun to dry for 3 days--this will bleach it and give it a whitish color, at which point it can be woven into a skirt. 2. The fiber can be used to make a small rope that is tied with shells and used for custom dances. 3. When the stems of this tree are older, the wood is very hard and it can be used to make the main frame that is arched for a cyclone house. According to Reuben these houses are not made much anymore on Aneityum Island. 4. To cook the intestines of fish that are eaten, take several leaves and put them in a small pile, making a wrapping, then use a local fiber to tie this together and cook on charcoal for as long as needed to prepare the fish parts. 5. In this area, sometimes knowledge of the plants and flowering are used as a calendar to indicate the time for planting of specific crops. Reuben will provide more details on a future trip. 6a. This species is an important "message plant." If a person is not home and you are visiting from the East--e.g. an Eastern part of the Island--that person can leave a 12 inch piece of stick in front of the door of the house so that the inhabitant knows that an eastern visitor (from Anawonjei district) has come by your home. The reason that person has come to visit is to pass an important message to you--good or bad "luck". The bad luck message might be a death, and is not told directly to the person. The good luck message might be a birth, or conflict that has been resolved. These messages are communicated using sticks--each district has a different species of plant. Reuben’s is the hibiscus. 6b. Message plant for Eastern people. If someone dies, use this plant, clip it in front of hem, in front of home, they ask “who” and you can tell them. In Eastern culture you cannot tell them directly. 7. When a person is too drunk with kava, take a branch of this and brush him with it to help make the effects go away. 8. Traditional plates for food.
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inyapwit
n. kind of tree
bookmarkjumasjuma
muri muri
nagai has
n. kind of sugarcane
bookmarknaligaj
n. herb to 10 cm, sterile (collection: Michael J. Balick #4985)
Example: This plant is a very important food during a famine. People dig up the roots and roast these on the embers of a fire for 25 minutes, then check the root to get out the starchy material, and spit out the fiber. There is said to be little taste; this is a bland food that a person eats to survive. People on Aneityum have harvested it for a very long time so there is not as much of a supply left as in the past.
bookmarknameleahpu
n. kind of breadfruit
bookmarknamlau
namou
napisinijvaig
n. kind of sugarcane
bookmarknapujatha
natereuc
n. kind of banana
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nattri
n. Canarium vulgare
Example: leaf--cold maceration in coconut milk and seawater, taken internally against diarrhea or ciguatera. Cold maceration of chewed leave, spat into a cup and mixed with coconut water: taken internally against ciguatera
bookmarknauras
n. kind of tree
bookmarknausakrai
n. thorn
bookmarknecemas moso
n. terrestrial plant on forest floor, growing in disturbed forest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3483)
Example: 1. This is a "message plant" that signifies that there has been a death. The person holds it or puts it on their head, goes to another person’s house and hands it to the person they wish to convey the message to, without saying anything and that person knows that someone has died. It can also be handed to that person. The person receiving the message then asks "who" and is told the deceased person’s name. 2. Use it to produce more fog on top of mountain – use w/ another plant, nap̃at (GMP 3268) – put these in a hole on the sacred stone to ferment as it fills with water. After it rots there will be a lot of fog. Name of stone = NAEMOSO. So the fog helps keep the plants moist and growing well.
bookmarknecjopdak
n. scrambling vine, growing in coastal strand vegetation. Flowers yellow. 1. Medicine: Smash leaves 1 handful, into cup and add a small amount of water to treat constipation—1 cup for children; 1.5 XX for adults. 2. Stomachache: same treatment, will clear bowel. 3. For leg sores, collect whole plant, put in water – a pool of water for 1 week, then use to dip sore as on leg into it for 10-15 minutes cure the sore. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3437)
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nedenc
n. stinging; the fruit of the kaleteug
bookmarknegaivaine
n. a bunch of grapes; also "nigaivaine"
bookmarknejecjec
n. epiphyte c. 1 m above forest floor, growing in secondary forest above river. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3650)
Example: The younger,soft leaves are used to wrap local foods, for example bananas. To prepare a type of "local cheese," made from fermented breadfruit and fermented banana, mix a bit of coconut milk and wrap these two fruits in the leaves and cook under ground. Not clear about the way the food is fermented.
bookmarknejev
nejev
n. tree, 8 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3214)
Example: This tree makes good wood for canoes as well as timbers that are cut for building houses. A decoration that is placed around the head, known as salu-salu is made from these leaves. If you wear it, people know you are from Aneityum. In the early 1950’s-1960’s, Aneityum was the main place for logging this species. Now it is rare and in need of replanting. A project from New Zealand planted pine trees in its place and they have thrived here. In the same way, the sandalwood tree was overharvested and is rare now. Timber, very resinous so good to start fire – branches good for fire. They are the ones that have the sap, if a person in in the bush and finds young tree – sapling – they will make headdress from the leaves to show they came from the bush. Also, this is a Kastom name.
bookmarknejoplec
nemered
nepñatimi
n. epiphyte on syzygium tree, growing in secondary forest along trail above river. old fruits. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3660)
Example: Put several leaves of this species together to wrap food, especially the fresh water eel, and to carry plants of taro, kava, holding the leaves over one’s shoulder to carry these crops.
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netit tidai
n. kind of plant, grass, or fern
bookmarknigie
n. shrub, 1-2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3555)
Example: This plant is an aphrodisiac. Eat with coconut meat to make the body strong. Take 1/2 handful of leaves and mix with coconut leaves, use as needed. Mostly men eat this combination. It is best to eat with dry coconut that has no water in it. Eat it any time you wish.
bookmarknigyi neto
n. the chewed fiber of sugarcane
bookmarknihivaeñ aeyec
n. tree, 3 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3213)
Example: 1. When a person has a headache from being out in the sun too long, scrape the outer bark off of the stem of this tree, take scrapings of the inner bark, wrap with a leaf of breadfruit and put in a fire for 15-20 minutes. Not a hot fire, but only in the flame. Squeeze the water out of the bark when it is warm and rub all over the forehead and face to help the headache go away. 2. Use the stems of this tree as a stick to carry taro from the field, as the stick is strong but not too heavy. The taro is tied to each end to balance on a person’s shoulders. 3. Leaf used for wrapping local medicines. This is the best leaf and put it on the charcoal to heat it. 4. Good firewood.
bookmarkniridunumu
n. terrestrial fern, growing along ridge in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4121)
Example: 1. The name means "fish gill". When one acquires a culture-bound illness, caused by possesion of the sea devil, this plant is used to prepare a remedy. Further information about the illness and remedy withheld.
bookmarknirinat erefera ran
nispev
n sea snake
bookmarknititan cei
nobot
n. a sago palm
bookmarknohor
[nohor] n. Woodford’s Rail
Example: Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans / Wikimedia Commons, License: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
bookmarknomodej wow
n. vine to 2 m, aerial tubers and lobed leaves. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4946)
Example: This is a root crop. It is harvested in April-June. The leaves turn yellow and indicate that the crop is ready to harvest. If planted in the old days the root would get much larger. It is a good cyclone disaster food. Grows wild now. Boil the tuber in fresh water, when it is cooked add a bit of sea water to give it a salty taste. Chew the starchy root and spit out the fiber. Another variety is like sweet potato and a person can eat the entire root without spitting out the fiber. Can mix with coconut milk as well to eat.
bookmarknomrop̃om̃
nouras
nowat
n. Convict surgeonfish, convict tang
Example: Photo by Philippe Bourjon / Fishbase, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarknowyeyang
n. shrub to 2 m tall, flowers pink (collection: Michael J. Balick #4955)
Example: The tubers of this variety are sweet, not bitter and are eaten after cooking. The young leaves are eaten after boiling in water until they are soft, either plain or cooked in soup. It is important to only harvest and prepare the young leaves in this way, as the older leaves will not get soft even after cooking. The young leaves are used to cover the top layer of the earth oven, on top of the stones that comprise the upper layer of the earth oven.
bookmarknuhujcei
numta
n. shoots of taro for planting
bookmarknumu yehec
pudvel
tedtedwaleg
n. kind of plant, grass, or fern
bookmarkucsalad tiklai cai
v.a. to lop off small branches
bookmarkThere are currently 2431 entries, 1543 audio files, and 860 images.
All content copyright © Aneityum community. (2015)
Talking Dictionary produced by K. David Harrison, Gregory D. S. Anderson and Jeremy Fahringer. Botanical consultants: Michael J. Balick, Gregory M. Plunkett and Sean Thackurdeen. (2015-2018)
Aneityum language contributors include Kirk Keitadi, Tony Keith, Titiya Lalep, David Nasauman, Osiani Nerian, Ruben Nerian, Chris Nevehev, Romario Yaufati and others as credited within the dictionary entries. Based in part on materials from Inglis, John (1882) A Dictionary of the Aneityumese Language: In Two Parts. I. Aneityumese and English. II. English.
The Aneityum-English Talking Dictionary was made possible by award no. 1555675 from National Science Foundation for “Collaborative Research: Plant, Fungal and Linguistic Diversity of Tafea Province, Vanuatu.” This support is gratefully acknowledged.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
All rights reserved. Do not distribute or reproduce without permission.
how to cite:
K. David Harrison. 2015.
Aneityum Talking Dictionary.
Swarthmore College.
http://www.talkingdictionary.org/aneityum
Interface and database design under the direction of Jeremy Fahringer and Swarthmore College ITS.
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