An example search has returned 100 entries
ae
cauwan
n. tendrils; small branches
bookmarkehlili
v. to burn ground for planting
bookmarkehmehma
adj. healed, applied to wounds; ripe; yellow
bookmarkehpai
v. to peel off bark
bookmarkeriseris
v.a. to climb
bookmarkianiv
n. yesterday
bookmarkincei franse
incet edwa
incetevak
n. Sabre squirrelfish
Example: Photo by Andy A. Lewis / Lizard Island Research Station, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkinhamesei
n. the name of a native plant
bookmarkinmeranauunse
n. kind of breadfruit
bookmarkinmereijcil
n. kind of breadfruit
bookmarkinmoijeuv an nofomot
inpa
n. shrub. Growing in the village. Cultivated. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #26)
Example: 1a. To stay healthy while pregnant - grate 1 coconut with nekei leaves, about a handfull (8). And 8 inpa leaves and 8 niditau leaves. Pound all of this together and squeeze juice out and bath in this then jump into a clear river to wash it off. 1b. Handful of leaves mashed with grated coconut and put in a shell, heat stones and put in shell, then take hot liquid to rub on body of woman who have just delivered to make their bodies healthy again, back to normal – when they deliver they are in huts, then wash with this and then come out of the huts and rejoin family. 2. Symbolic plant for peace (name means peace). 3. Message plant – put small tips of leaves in hair or make hat out of it and people know you come in peace. 4. When giving a gift, put this leaf on the gift, as in a basket – people wear them they are happy and peaceful – it is symbolic of Aneityumese people – so even when the people leave the island they will grow this plant. 5. People bathe with this leaf, mixed with grated coconut and cover body and hair to smell good and be strong. 6. Mosquito repellant, build fire, put green leaves on top, smoke and aroma chases mosquito away. 7. Take top of leaf with 3 young leaves and put in hair as there is the belief that this plant symbolizes the trinity. So it protects people. If a person from the island goes elsewhere and is faced with black magic they bathe with a handful of leaves, boil them and bathe with the liquid to remove the spell. 8. Decorate people with this leaf day feasts, weddings, and other events – very sacred.
bookmarkinteses
n. parasite on branches of Geissois denhamii tree, growing in dense rainforest. Flowers orange-red. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4028)
Example: 1. This plant is known to kill other trees and is regarded as a parasite. 2. The plant is related to kastom use regarding the separation of two lovers--more information witheld.
bookmarkintiklancai
n. sprig
bookmarkintopasyejitohou
n. herb to 50 cm tall, flowers yellow. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4947)
Example: To treat toothache, collect the uppermost young leaves, rub them in your hand, put mass of crushed leaves into the area of toothache to lessen the pain. Do this as needed until the pain goes away. Keep it in your mouth for 10 minutes then spit out, then add a new one, keep going as needed.
bookmarkintop̃asiej ura
n. stoloniferous herb, 15 cm tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3561)
Example: In the past the ancestors learned to cook the leaves of this species with fish in an earth over and then eat the leaves as well as the fish. Today, fish are wrapped with small leaves and then covered with lap-lap leaf (Polyscias) and cooked in an earth oven.
bookmarkinwouse
inyecelcoli
n. vine to 1 m, flowers purple. (kudzu plant). (collection: Michael J. Balick #4920)
Example: Roast the tuber of this vine on an open fire for 20-40 minutes, peel off the skin and eat like cassava or taro. Chew it and drink the "juice" while spitting out the fiber. It grows wild, season of harvesting is in May. Very tasty food for people, considered "numba wan" food for this island.
bookmarkinyehec
n. mandrake
bookmarkisgeig pan
adj. adjacent
bookmarkkaru uwaruwa
n. wind-related term; no definition provided
bookmarknagai has
n. kind of sugarcane
bookmarknahas alaig imi yin
n. p. taro for the dead
bookmarknahraren nepig
n. dawn of day
bookmarknairo
n. sapling, 3 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4106)
Example: 1. Sapling wood is used to make fishing spears. A straight sapling is first heated in the fire to render it pliable. The sapling is further straightened and then decorticated. Once cooled, wire can be added a prong to the end of the spear.
bookmarknalauba
[nalauba] n. Emerald Dove
Example: Photo by Dr. Raju Kasambe/Wikimedia Commons, License: CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
bookmarknapannopotan
napat
n. a cloud, blackness, darkness
bookmarknap̃at
nasanma
n. the juice of the breadfruit tree
bookmarknathat uwun jap
nauram aged
n. kind of banana
bookmarknausap
n. kind of tree
bookmarkneaig milmat
n. a green coconut
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.
bookmarknecñopod
necñopod cap
n. shrub to 2. 5 m tall, 1 cm dbh (collection: Michael J. Balick #4856)
Example: When a person gets burned by a fire, take the leaves, squeeze sap on the burn, and then rub a handful of leaves on the burn; use a larger amount of leaves if the person has a larger burn. Apply it directly after the person is burned. This treatment will stop the burn from blistering. Use once. When a 1 month to 2 year old baby has redness or sores on their tongue and cannot eat properly, and saliva is coming out from their mouth, take the sap of the crushed leaves in a spoon and give it to the baby. Take one teaspoon for a 1-5 month old child and a tablespoon for a 6-24 month old. Give the baby once a day for 2 days. This treatment cleanses out the reddish sores. If a person has a sore that is persistent and stays red and sore for a week or more, take 4 apices of this plant, chew and spit on the sore to help it heal. Use 1x in the morning, and next day in the afternoon. Use 2x only. If a person is walking in the bush and concerned about evil spirits, put a small branch behind the ear to be safe. To treat hot chest pain, dizziness, shortage of breath, and if a person has a hot pain that does not go away after taking panadol (aspirin), take 8 leaves and squeeze into a glass of water until it turns reddish, drink 1x a day for 3 days; this is said to make the pain go away.
bookmarknefelelicai has
n. tares
bookmarknefitan nedoon nedoon
n. kind of breadfruit
bookmarkneheptal
n. tree to 15 m tall, dbh 25 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4903)
Example: Wood is used to make canoe as it is very light and lasts in salt water. As a styptic to stop bleeding, when a person gets a cut in the bush, scrape off outer bark and use inner bark scrapings to put on cut. Stops bleeding, leave on for one day.
bookmarknehpan
n. a wing, a sheath, a covering of bananas
bookmarkneiang mesei
nepig u wara
n. wind-related term; no definition provided
bookmarknepjenepjen
n. epiphytic vine climbing on trees, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4091)
Example: 1. When a child is between 1 mos. and 1 yr. if the father persists too soon in resuming sexual relations with the mother, the child can become sick. In preparation for the sickness, green leaves are collected. When the sickness occurs, the leaves (now dry) are burned and the baby is washed with the charcoal. 2. After visitors leaves one’s house, one must not hurry to return to their gardens. One waits a few days, then swims with the rachis of this fern tied about their waist. If this practice is not followed, it is believed that the plants in one’s gardens will grow weak.
bookmarknepnai
n. tree to 5 m, flowers white. Growing in secondary forest with metroxylon palms and other large trees. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4954)
Example: The pear shaped fruits are eaten when ripe. Peel off the outer skin, eat inner part and discard the seed. The leaves are used to protect food as it is being cooked on an earth oven. To prepare the oven, pile hot stones, then put a layer of leaves on the stones, and then place hot stones on top of the leaves. To make a hot oven, the stones are lined in a pit, a fire lit, more stones placed on firewood and the top layer of stones gets very hot. Then, remove the stones from the top of the wood, and cook food o the bottom layer of stones, add a layer of leaves, place the food on top of this, then cover with a layer of leaves and then pile the rest of the hot stones on top of the leaves.
bookmarknerere
n. tree to 10 m, dbh 75 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4988)
Example: The young aerial roots are cut from the stems of the tree and used as a local rope, to tie things, help construct temporary shelters, as well as to make string for a hunting bow. Flying foxes like to eat this fruit so in the night when the fruit is mature hunters come by this tree to hunt flying foxes as well as hunting birds during the day. Hunters use bows and arrows for birds, and throwing sticks (natou) made from any plant to hunt flying foxes.
bookmarknihivaeñ aeyhec
nijomkan
n. shrub to 1 m, dby 2 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4999)
Example: It is said that if you chew these leaves or boil them in water and drink the tea from these leaves it will spoil your teeth. There is assumed to be something bad for the teeth in this plant. Local name "Nijom" =tooth and "Kan" = break.
bookmarknilamese
n. a species of orchid (there are three on the island)
bookmarkniri
n. grass to 1 m tall, florets brown (collection: Michael J. Balick #4973)
Example: This grass is used to thatch the roof of a traditional house. Tie bunches of the grass on a stick ca. 2 m long, using string from Pandanus or other vines. Lay these on the roof and tie these sticks with grass on crossbars to secure them. The flowers of this grass are harvested and put in bags to make pillows. The flowers are soft and easy to gather and make a nice pillow.
bookmarkniriñ neyaiñ
nisasin
n. ray of light in the morning
bookmarkniseuc
n. kind of taro
bookmarknitato naretou
nititidei
nomodej 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.
bookmarknucsei
n. kind of taro
bookmarknuhihialeg
n. the early morning
bookmarknuka
n. leaves for an oven
bookmarknälmaha
n. Ficus septica var. cauliflora
bookmarknässa
pakine
n. maize
bookmarkpassion fruit
n. liana climbing on broken mango tree, growing in forest at edge of wide tidal stream (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3515)
Example: 1. The ripe fruit of this plant is edible. It was introduced to the island and is considered a foreign vine. 2. 4 leaves of this and 4 leaves of Annona muricata and boil in water and let get warm and wash children when they have measles and fever. Edible fruit – very sweet.
bookmarkse
adv. downward
bookmarktatau
n. Bigeye barracuda
Example: Photo by Philippe Guillaume, License: CC BY-NC 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkucsalad tiklai cai
v.a. to lop off small branches
bookmarkuriicai
adj. made of branches
bookmarkweite
adj. perennial (applied to water); also "etweite", "inweite"
bookmark


