Aneityum

v. to weave, to plait

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v.a. to go up, or go east

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[ak] pro. him

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

conj. and

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

[anaforofata] n. ladder (archaic)

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

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

v. cover up

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

[asvintal] phr. break taro

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.n. to go ashore

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 66

v. to come out, as banana fruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 72

v. to teaze, as cotton; also "ehyeiyihi"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 76

v.n. expand as a leaf

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 148

n. last quarter of moon

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 78

n. forest trees

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 78

n. kind of bird

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. trees; fruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 81

n. Macaranga tanarius (RPV #42)

Scientific name: Macaranga tanarius, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[inhɛloŋ] n. your penis

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4754)

Scientific name: Passiflora suberosa, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. belt

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. pendent epiphyte, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4037)

Scientific name: Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. Tabernaemontana padacaqui

Example: leaf used for for wounds; cold maceration taken internally against "skin cancer" (severe wounds?). Stalk, chewed, influences sex of an embryo in favor of a girl.

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 440

n. a convolvulus

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. a foreign convolvulus

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

[inmeg inʤupʤupura] n. night, night before the moon comes out

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of breadfruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

[inmohoɣ onubiθoʊ] n. February (lit. moon belongs to Nubidou (village in east))

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. treelet or shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3204)

Example: To treat a headache, people traditionally would make a small cut ¼ inch long with a bamboo or piece of glass around the eyebrows where it is soft and then drip juice of the crushed leaves in the cut to take away the pain. Let the cut bleed first and then put the juice in it and it will stop the pain. The bleeding will stop the pain and the leaf juice will stop the bleeding – sometimes the pain will go away immediately and sometimes it takes a few minutes. So this technique is used to treat a very strong headache like a migraine.

Scientific name: Malvaviscus arboreus, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. grass to 3 m, flowers brown. Growing in degraded secondary forest along trail. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4969)

Example: The stem of this plant is used to make walls of houses. Collect the stem and remove the leaves, and then take one of the bush vines (any of them) and tie the stems into bundles for making house walls or fences for chicken pens. Children make a whistle from a hollow piece of stem from this plant.

Scientific name: Miscanthus sinensis, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. terrestrial orchid, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3708)

Scientific name: Calanthe chrysantha, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. Hound needlefish, crocodile long-tom

Example: Photo by Philippe Bourjon / Fishbase, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Tylosurus crocodilus crocodilus via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. a creeper, a vine

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 89

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4772)

Scientific name: Cerbera manghas, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[kidibop] n. Grey fantail

Example: Photo by Bernard Spragg, License: Public Domain via Flickr

Scientific name: Rhipidura fuliginosa, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. grass to 1 m, flowers purplish (collection: Michael J. Balick #4935)

Example: This grass is planted to protect a person’s farm from being affected by evil spirits.

Scientific name: Chrysopogon aciculatus, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. coconut spathes

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 136

[nagag ~ naɣag] n. Sandpiper

Example: Photo by Frans Vandewalle, License: CC BY-NC 2.0 via Flickr

Scientific name: Tringa hypoleucos, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. treelet 2. 0-2. 5 m tall, dbh 3 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4858)

Example: If a chief passes away, they are burred in a sacred place. After burial, the people wash their hands with these leaves, mixed with water. The chiefs have a spiritual power and this is used to cleanse the people attending the funeral so that they do not get large sores on their leg or elsewhere on their body. This is part of the ritual for burying the chief.

Scientific name: Euodia hortensis, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. a plant, the fruit of which is prepared like arrowroot, and used as a food for sick people

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 94

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nakajaŋ] n. palm of hand

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. epiphytic fern on fallen log, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4097)

Example: 1. The name means "wood cover", alluding to the habit of this plant. It grows only on the bark of trees.

Scientific name: Davallia pusilla, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. a cloud, blackness, darkness

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

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. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. terrestrial fern, growing in dwarf cloud-forest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3268)

Example: For performing a weather magic ritual to produce fog, this plant is fermented along with another plant (nirid u numu) in a hole in a sacred stone (called "Naemoso") at a secret location on Aneityum.

Scientific name: Trichomanes, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. a gathering of inmops or horse-chestnuts

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 96

n. bean

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 127

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4769)

Scientific name: Breynia disticha, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. a bamboo flute

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 151

n. dawn of day

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 141

n. terrestrial fern, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4095)

Example: 1. The name means "cranky person". If someone fastens this plant around his head as a deocrative lei, it means that this person is not happy. He does not want to talk or communicate with anybody. The use is no longer common, and now many people do not know the signficance.

Scientific name: Lindsaea harveyi, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

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

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 440

n. a kind of bamboo (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 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. 2. To make house walls cut to length desired break stems into straps and weave ??. 3. Use stem to cook foods. 4. Container for carrying water. 5. Take tips and tie together and make a torch to go fishing on the reef, walk with the torch – this is a current practice in the East side. 6. Can cut a piece about 1’ long and sharpen edge and use to skin a green banana. 7. Traditional medicine – can use a small segment as a sort of container to carry the traditional medicine to the patient – for example when prepare a sea snake for remedy, or any medicine – to carry it. 8. Used as a container to preserve seeds such as corn, cucumber, beans and is covered with coconut fiber and put near (above?) the fire where it is dry, and the smoke from the fire will keep insects from attacking the seeds.

Scientific name: Bambusa vulgaris, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

v. to fish (with a net)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. partly fallen tree, 5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4055)

Example: 1. The wood of this tree is used to make rafters of traditional homes.

Scientific name: Melicope bonwickii, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[nɛθoʊn] n. mountain

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. terrestrial, rare (collection: Tom A. Ranker #2486)

Scientific name: Histiopteris incisa

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

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

Scientific name: Astronidium aneityense, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. liana, on Polyscias cissodendron (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3457)

Example: 1. Macerate the young stems, remove the outer "skin" to release the odor of the stem and weave into a head garland for decoration. 2. People use it as a headdress. This is a male plant, ancestors used both male and female wrapped together for the headdress. Man would put this on head to attract a woman that he liked. Be careful when you are passing other women who will be attracted to the wearer – so the person can’t speak to them so he can focus on the one he is attracted to.

Scientific name: Alyxia stellata, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

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

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. tender shoots

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 183

n. herb to 4 m tall, male flowers white (collection: Michael J. Balick #4977)

Example: The fruits are edible and eaten when ripe. To soften beef or octopus, or other meat that is tough, chop green fruit and put in a bowl with meat/fish and then add some water. Allow to sit for 30 minutes or if the food needs to be softer, then leave it in longer. The leaves are used to feed lobsters that are being kept in cages underwater, following their harvest. The leaves are used to cover stones on the earth oven. To treat a person with Ciguatera illness, wash many very gren fruits of papaya, the smallest ones that form at the top, and eat these to help relieve symptoms.

Scientific name: Carica papaya, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. shrub to 2 m, flowers white. forest near house. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4871)

Example: A handful of flower buds are collected and put into water with 1-2 pieces of papaya roots. Heat the water and drink it hot for the treatment of hypertension or vein problems, or to promote circulation in overweight people. Do this treatment 1x a month. The white sap is collected and used to soften octopus flesh for eating. Put sap, fruits and chopped leaves in a bowl and add the octopus, allowing it to remain in the bowl for 1 hour--this will soften the flesh of the animal. The sap can be used to wash the skin of tough beef or wild pig--it helps to "burn" off (remove) the skin. When cooking tough meat, take young fruits of this tree and cut them up and put them in the pot with the meat, boil it to soften the meat which can then be cooked.

Scientific name: Carica papaya, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

[netoʊhas] n. May (lit. bad sugar cane, not ready yet)

Speaker: David Nasauman

[nilin] n. shoulder

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. Honeycomb grouper

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

Scientific name: Epinephelus merra via FishBase, Speaker: Chris Nevehev

n. blossoms on breadfruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

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. Hornstedtia sp.

Example: Subterranean part: cold maceration, taken internally against "cancer", diabetes, or as tonic

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 445

[nohoɪjam] n. fan of woven pandanus leaf

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

[nohos anu ziland opuah] n. kind of banana (gray sp. from New Zealand)

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. a dried or withered breadfruit tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 104

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4762)

Scientific name: Melodinus glaber, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

[nʊpsiʤman] n. finger (gen.)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. type of seashell

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

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. kind of fish (folk name)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. Macaranga dioca

Example: Inner bark: bathe in cold infusion, wounds. Mix heated over fire and taken out during sunset. Healer clenches the package in his fist, then gently punches the patients left, then right knee, then his forehead and finally squeezes over his head, migraine a

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 441

n. kind of fish (folk name)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

adj. rough, applied to sugarcane-leaf thatch

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 107

[talpos] adj. very big

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. sprouts

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 188

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

adj. beginning to be ripe, as fruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 112

v.n. to go down

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 109