Aneityum

v.n. go past

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 154

n. white (color)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.a. to come up, or come east

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[akro te haŋaiŋ] v. share food together

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. Futunas (bad)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. made of branches

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 130

v. go down; go down into something

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

adj. bad, wicked; eheshas, very bad

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 81

n. red (color)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. tree, 10 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4033)

Scientific name: Planchonella, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. vegetables; herbs, as taro, bananas; every vegetable planted for food

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 85

n. type of seashell

Example: Photo by K. David Harrison, Dec. 2018, Aneityum island.

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. tree, 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3573)

Example: 1. This plant is used as firewood, but also the heartwood is sold. 2. In 2016, the first grade wood was 2500 VT per kilo, the second grade wood was 2000 VT per kilo. 3. The ancestors used to take the oil or wood chips from this tree and bathe with it to keep away evil spirits of the forest. It is currently planted on Aneityum for commerce. Scrape bark of sandalwood into coconut oil in same wat as GMP 3513 (gardenia) boil and take out the bark. 4. The leaves can be fed to pigs to make them strong and heavy.

Scientific name: Santalum austrocaledonicum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. tree. Growing in village garden. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #19)

Example: 1. To cure the sea snake (nispev) curse that causes missed periods. First the husband must combine 4 young leaves of incispev and 4 young leaves of nafanu and mash and squeeze the juice into a small bamboo (1-1.5 inch diameter) The nafanu is important because it is a plant that connects to the sea. Use wildcane leaves cover the bamboo closed. Go to the sick person and unwrap the snake from her. Start from the top and let the woman drink a small part of the potion then wash her with the mixture, making sure to wash head, elbows, knees, feet, and belly. Then take a leaf of naha and break it over the woman’s belly button to break the snake off. Smash the bamboo vessel to pieces. Leave the woman there until the wash dries on her. This takes one whole day and the ceremony in the evening so she can sleep and she must not eat. This ritual is performed by men.

Scientific name: Sophora tomentosa, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. herb, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3676)

Scientific name: Hedychium coronarium, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. tree, 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3647)

Example: 1. The straight poles of this plant are sharpened and used to plant kava, and only for kava. Not used for planting other crops. 2. Special for catching eels in fresh water, poke stick with leaves into hole where eel lives and they don’t like it so they come out and you catch them, by cutting with knife.

Scientific name: Maoutia diversifolia, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. the name of a native plant

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 86

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. the stem of a bunch of bananas, coconuts, etc.

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 86

[inʤupuram] n. nearly dark

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. a bolt of pandanus leaf

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 86

n. shrub. Found in the village Unames. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #32)

Example: 1. To cure when the anus falls out - Pound together 1 braches worth of inpalcapnesgin leaves and of both inloptiri (2-4 leaves, any age), also take the inner bark of nekeaitimi and nakhe. Put this into your hand, or another leaf and give it to the person to use it. This should be applied to the anus whenever the anus comes out. USed to use a clam shell to extract the bark but not anymore.

Scientific name: Codiaeum variegatum, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[inmerahi] n. kind of breadfruit (white)

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of palm

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. Redface Squirrrelfish

Example: Photo by Jeffrey T. Williams / Smithsonian Institution, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Sargocentron violaceum via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

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.

Scientific name: Hibiscus tiliaceus, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. tree to 7 m, dbh 20 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4968)

Example: The fruits are edible when they are red. If a person has been drinking kava and the next morning feels hung over, they can take a handful of the leaves of this plant, crush them in cool water, and wash their face with this. This treatment will help the kava feeling to disappear. At the same time, if a person eats the fruit of this tree a few hours in advance of planning to drink kava, they cannot drink kava as it will reduce the effects of the kava. The trunk of this tree can be used to build temporary houses and also it is good for firewood. When the plant is in flower, flying foxes and birds come to drink the nectar and hunters know this so they hunt near this tree.

Scientific name: Syzygium, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. back of canoe

Example: Photo by K. David Harrison, Dec. 2018, Aneityum island.

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of bird

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of bird

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. low tide

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

[maʊ ipiŋ] n. night of spirits; "left night"

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of turtle

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. epiphyte on main trunk of large mango tree, growing in secondary forest above river. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3657)

Scientific name: Ophioderma pendula, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. well branched tree, 10 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4083)

Example: 1. The ripe fruits (yellow) are eaten. It is considered very sweet. 2. Young saplings are used to fashion a digging stick to plant kava and taro.

Scientific name: Garcinia pseudoguttifera, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. scrambling vine, growing in coastal strand vegetation. Flowers purple. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3436)

Scientific name: Canavalia rosea, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. half-tide when ebbing

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 94

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of bush

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nakro] v. chief shares a large amount of food with another district

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. shrub to 1. 5 m, dbh 4 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #5005)

Example: In areas such as this, where more traditional leaves used to wrap lap-lap are scarce, this leaf can be used as it is quite large.

Scientific name: Cyrtandra, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4107)

Scientific name: Cyrtandra cf. aneiteensis, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. preserved breadfruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 95

n. epiphytic liana climbing up main trunk of garcinia pseudoguttifera, growing in primary forest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4014)

Scientific name: Freycinetia impavida, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. large scandent herb, to 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3453)

Example: The leaves of this plant are used to wrap manihot, fish, banana and other vegetables when cooking them in an earth oven or open fire.

Scientific name: Joinvillea plicata, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. tree to 10 m, dbh 30 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4900)

Example: Before there was soap, people took the young leaves and crushed them on a stone to make suds for washing clothes in the river. This tree has a very hard wood and can be used for house posts. The sap is reddish and the bark boiled in water until it is red, consumed 2-3 times daily (1 cup each time) until the person feels well. The condition treated is that when a menstruating woman has sex with a man, and he feels tired and lethargic, drinking this tonic makes him feel stronger.

Scientific name: Alphitonia zizyphoides, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. a calm, a smooth sea

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

n. bark

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 127

n. vine climbing on trees, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4090)

Example: 1. The rachis of an old plant is braided as a rope to tie sugar cane, house posts, and fences. The rachis is used when green, and as it dries in form, it remains functional and lasts for a long time (10-12 years).

Scientific name: Lygodium reticulatum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. hedge

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 156

n. the poison of the inhac

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 96

n. hedge

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 156

n a plant, with upright clumping. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #25)

Example: 1. To cure the sea snake (nispev) curse that causes missed periods. First the husband must combine 4 young leaves of incispev and 4young leaves of nafanu and mash and squueze the juice into a small bamboo (1-1.5 inch diameter) The nafanu is important because it is a plant that connects to the sea. Use wildcane leaves cover the bamboo closed. Go to the sick person and unwrap the snake from her. Start from the top and let the woman drink a small part of the potion then wash her with the mixture, making sure to wash head, elbows, knees, feet, and belly. Then take a leaf of naha and break it over

Scientific name: Bambusa vulgaris

n. bamboo; a mountain

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 97

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. quicksands

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 176

n. a species of thorn

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 97

n. shrub to 2 m, flowers white. Red clay soil (collection: Michael J. Balick #4887)

Example: The stem makes a good digging stick to plant taro. Also branches of this tree are cut to tie the canoe to the outrigger. Used for the small sticks that sit at the base of the larger sticks that hold the outrigger (see photos).

Scientific name: Halfordia kendack, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. understory tree, 2-3 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4050)

Scientific name: Schefflera neoebudica, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. tree, 10 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3531)

Example: 1. For a child around 1 year of age, take the inside bark, mash it, boil in hot warter and then use it to wash the child. This will ensure that the child will grow strong and make them able to crawl fast. 2. If a woman who is one month pregnant would like to have a baby, she is given 4 of the tips of the branches to chew and swallow everything before breakfast 1x only. 3. For fishing, take 4 leaves, hold top side up, tear right half of leaves off, keep left side, roll it up and put with fishing gear to have good luck when fishing in the deep sea beyond the reef.

Scientific name: Ficus glandifera, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. Humpnose big-eye bream

Example: Photo by Mark Rosenstein / iNaturalist.org, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Monotaxis grandoculis via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

[nefitan mokom] n. kind of breadfruit

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. the canoe (constellation), or Orion

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. tree, 3 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3273)

Scientific name: Astronidium aneityense, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. herb to 1 m, flowers yellow. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4892)

Example: If a person is coming to a "new" village, e.g. not their own, and they have a branch in their hand, it means that they are coming in peace and not trying to harm anyone else in the new village. Or if they are asking for something that might be found in the new village, they hold the branch of this species and pass it to a person from that village so they will accept you.

Scientific name: Sida cordifolia, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

[nepiŋ sepahaj] n. night, the moon has not come up yet, "the moon is down"

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. a fresh coconut

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 100

n. terrestrial fern, growing at edge of marsh (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3592)

Example: The root is used as a survival food, during famine, cook roots on fire and eat. Roast on charcoal.

Scientific name: Pteridium esculentum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

[nija] n. cup for bait

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

[niʧinɛθoʊn] n. knee

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. Spanish flag, stripey

Example: Photo by Ian Shaw / iNaturalist.org, License: CC BY-NC 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Lutjanus carponotatus via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

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.

Scientific name: Schizaea dichotoma, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[nirinɣat erefera ran] n. pandanus leaf rolled for the preparation of mats and baskets

Example: Photo by K. David Harrison, April 2016.

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. tree, 8 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3627)

Scientific name: Polyalthia nitidissima, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. tree, 6 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3574)

Example: 1. The inner bark of this plant is used as a dye or paint to provide a brown color. Boil the inner bark in a pot with a shirt and the color of the shirt will be changed to brown. 2. For toothache, people take the inner bark and mix it with sea water, and then rinse the tooth with this mixture to remove the pain. 3a. People macerate the leaves and the bark and when the tide is low, spread this in a pool of water to poison the sea shells that are edible. When they die, the eyes of this organism comes above the sand, indicating where they are, and people harvest and eat them. 3b. To attract and collect clam – NIPJINUMU – scrape bark in a pool of sea water where the clams are attracted immediately and can be collected, coming up from the sand. 4. Firewood, unspecified medical use.

Scientific name: Acacia simplex, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. Cordyline fruticosa L.

Example: Leaf: chew (leprosy in mouth). Whole plant: planted for several Kastom purposes; many important Kastom-bound uses as magical or ornamental plant throughout Melanesia.

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 442

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. the duck (constellation), the Southern Cross

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. fruit; also "nohwan"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

n. a banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. small basket

Example: Photo by K. David Harrison, Dec. 2018, Aneityum island.

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. large epiphyte on dead tree, growing in open forest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3478)

Example: The wood of this plant is very hard and can be used for house posts. Because the wood is somewhat heavy, younger stems can be sharpened at one end and the pole can be used to plant dryland taro, to make holes for the tubers. For planting swamp taro, the leaves can be used to line the pit that the taro is planted in; it is a local fertilizer for the taro, and as it rots the soil becomes soft while the taro is growing. The flowers are placed behind one’s ear to enjoy the fragrance or can also be used to make a floral necklace (Intañ).

Scientific name: Fagraea berteroana, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. cliff

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 135

n. kind of breadfruit (biggest one)

Speaker: David Nasauman

adj. rough, applied to sugarcane-leaf thatch

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 107

adv. down here; also "sime"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 108

n. herb. Found along intra village path. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #34)

Example: 1. To make baby grow strong - Take 16 tops of the plant, no flowers, and squeeze them into baby’s bath water. Bath baby in the water and let it dry on the baby. Don’t towel dry. 2. Medicine – take a large leaf, crush and rub it but don’t break it – just soften it and open it and cover the fresh cut with it – leave it there to heal the wound. Keep changing it until the wound gets healed. 3. For headache and fever – flu – take branches with no flowers or seeds, boil it 15 minutes to extract brownish juice, drink 1 cup hot 2, per day – morning and evening for 5 days. 4. The fruits – 7 – chew and swallow for stomachache. 5. Tie stems for broom.

Scientific name: Sida rhombifolia, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119