Aneityum

v. to weave, to plait

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. to open, as leaf; to expand

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. chew

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v. to fish (with a net)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v.n. to go seaward

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. made of branches

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 130

[et alk͡puas an] phr. he is big

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. Barringtonia edulis

Example: not used in Aneityum

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 442

n. seaward

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 82

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. wild kava (RPV #133)

Scientific name: Macropiper latifolium, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. "good" (domesticated) kava (RPV #133)

Scientific name: Macropiper latifolium, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. firewood

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. shrub, 0. 7 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3445)

Example: Remedy new cuts – rub leaves together or chew them and put on cut, cover with leaf or cloth.

Scientific name: Lantana camara, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. broken tree, 6 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3462)

Example: 1. The wood of this species is strong and used as house posts. 2. Spear as other – fishing.

Scientific name: Dysoxylum bijugum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. scandent shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3277)

Scientific name: Neuburgia corynocarpa, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. wild ginger (RPV #180)

Scientific name: Hornstedtia scottiana, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. the name of a native plant

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 86

n. type of seashell

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

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. the pandanus leaf

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 170

n. herb to 1. 5 m tall, sterile. Growing in weedy patch behind buildings on edge of trail. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4986)

Example: People use the leaves of this plant to wrap lap-lap for cooking on the earth oven or when boiling foods. The leaves can also be used as serving plates and to cover the stones on the earth oven.

Scientific name: Heliconia indica, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. kind of breadfruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

[intas] language

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. terrestrial plant and epiphyte at base of trees, growing in cloud forest in valley between inrerow and adjacent summit. Inflorescences pale yellow. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3278)

Scientific name: Collospermum montanum, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

[intiʧ ɲaŋ] n. ear

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

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. kind of breadfruit

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. the day before yesterday

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 89

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. creeping and decumbent vine, growing at edge of strand (near airstrip terminal). (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3575)

Scientific name: Stictocardia campanulata, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. parasitic vine scrambling over Scaevola taccada, at edge of strand. Fruits green. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3545)

Example: 1. Take a handful of vine, pound it and wash hair, like shampoo – makes hair curly and like rasta. 2a. This is a "message plant." If a person is walking through a village that is not his, people know that they come in peace. 2b. Message plant - if a group is discussing something and one person goes out and makes a head les of this vine, it means that there can’t be an agreement. 2.) If you are angry at a person, drop the vine at their door, in the case of a visitor or land dispute and they need to leave.

Scientific name: Cassytha filiformis, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

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. Elattostachys falcata (RPV #112)

Scientific name: Elattostachys falcata, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. Homalium aneityense (RPV #105)

Scientific name: Homalium aneityense, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. low tide

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nadimi deroʊ] phr. two men (there are)

Speaker: David Nasauman

[nadimi dowaŋ] phr. six men (there are)

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. tree, 5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4069)

Scientific name: Delarbrea paradoxa, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. lily. Cultivated grows in village. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #3)

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. Wrap leaf around fish to cook it on fire, tie with pandanus or any bush, vine. Also used to bake Cyrtosperma merkusii in same way as AAM 1 because it has thick watery leaves. 3. For a person who has been burned by the fire, cut the leaf and drip the sap on the burn to cool it – stops burning feeling. 4. If your joints – elbow, wrist, knee, ankle – feel so cold that they are painful, then heat the leaf on both sides and lay it on painful area. It will take the cold and pain away.

Scientific name: Furcraea gigantea, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[nahanemek] n. kind of breadfruit, old name for "naho"

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. small treelet, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3682)

Example: Can be used to stop pain from toothache. Break of the top growth of a branch and remove all leaves. Chew on the green stem at the site where there is a toothache. Keep the juice from chewing in your mouth for 2-5 minutes then spit the juice out. Leave the stem fibers in your mouth at the site of pain for about 20 minutes then remove. Then repeat 2 more times. This makes the tooth thinner so it breaks more easily.

Scientific name: Cyrtandra aneiteensis, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. isle, island

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 160

n. preserved breadfruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 95

n. epiphytic liana climbing up several canopy trees, growing on slope in primary forest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4023)

Example: 1. The roots of this plant are used to make "Nopoy"--a traditional trap used to catch fish and lobster. The outer bark of the roots are removed and sun-dried. The roots are then split into several pieces and they are woven in an open fashion similar to a "noporapora"--a type of market basket fashioned from coconut leaflets.

Scientific name: Freycinetia impavida, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. tree, 7-8 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3582)

Example: Firewood, timber good for bush houses. Calendar plant – when it is in flower, the old people know it is time to harvest root crops, like yam and other vine crops, in the wild, as yet unspecified. Local names = INYAC, NOMODEJ TAL, NOMODEJ WOU, NOU LELCEI… etc.

Scientific name: Weinmannia denhamii, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. shrub to treelet, 3 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3266)

Scientific name: Syzygium aneityense, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. herb to 0. 75 m, fruits brown. Growing in cultivated area near village. (collection: Michael J. Balick #5011)

Example: People use this for an uspecified medicine.

Scientific name: Achyranthes aspera, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. fence-forming shrub, 1. 5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3206)

Example: 1a. Cultivated in gardens. Cook seeds of this species or eat them raw before they are fully ripened. The green pods can also be cooked in a fire and eaten. 1b. Cultivated plant for its edible seeds, can be prepared in a pot of bamboo. OR could take branches w/ seeds and put directly on the earth oven for cooking. 2. Planting this species adds nitrogen to the soil--grow it on soil that is said to be "tired."

Scientific name: Cajanus cajan, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. chief

Example: Origin story of Aneityum chiefs on see more on Youtube

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. the north-west wind

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. a sweet-smelling plant

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 97

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. shield aralia (RPV #11)

Scientific name: Polyscias scutellaria, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. sparsely branched understory tree, 4-5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4030)

Example: 1. It is considered "tabu" to cover laplap with the leaf of this species. It is said to spoil the laplap.

Scientific name: Delarbrea paradoxa, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. Bluespot mullet

Example: Photo by Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Moolgarda seheli via FishBase, Speaker: Chris Nevehev

[nɛjsindiɛn] n. fish anus

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

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.

Scientific name: Asplenium australasicum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. tree, 16-18 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3722)

Example: The small stems of this plant are used to hold the outrigger to the canoe. The larger wood is good for sawn timber.

Scientific name: Agathis macrophylla, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. Group of fish including triggerfish, wrasses, chubs, mullets, jacks, and sweetlips

Speaker: Chris Nevehev

[nelɣo] n. canoe

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

[nelgoʊ waj] n. toy float, lit. "flying ship", "fast ship"

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3724)

Scientific name: Acanthus ilicifolius, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of bush

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. leaves; grass

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 100

n. herb, growing in weedy area at end of airstrip runway. Flowers yellow. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3568)

Scientific name: Youngia japonica, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. Pacific litchee (RPV #114)

Scientific name: Pometia pinnata, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. the castor-oil plant

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 102

n. the stump of a tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 101

n. tree, 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3623)

Example: People use the leaf of this plant to layer on the bottom of the earth oven, and then pile food such as manioc or taro on it, then pile leaves of this species on top of that. This will help insulate the food from the high heat of the earth oven and allow it to cook better. Used especailly in feasts like weddings. Women usually collect this leaf and is used to cover very large earth ovens.

Scientific name: Cleidion javanicum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

[nijom] n. house

Example: Photo by K. David Harrison, April 2016. see more on Youtube

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. type of seashell

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

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

[nipʧin ɲelas] n. crab

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. Wahoo

Example: Photo by ANFC, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Acanthocybium solandri via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. breadfruit leaf

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. ladder fern, fishbone fern (RPV #221)

Scientific name: Nephrolepis cordifolia, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. grass to 1. 5-2. 0 m tall, inflorescence white. Red clay soil (collection: Michael J. Balick #4885)

Example: Cut this grass in the morning, let dry for 2 days, and then use to weave the roof of a house. This is thicker and heavier than a coconut leaf. Also, use for cyclone house. (see photos of house) When indicating something is Tabu, tie the leaf and put it in an object like ripe bananas and people know it is Tabu and will not take it away.

Scientific name: Miscanthus sinensis, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. a bunch of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

n. beach

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 127

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

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.

Scientific name: Dioscorea pentaphylla, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. cycas (RPV #33)

Scientific name: Cycas seemannii, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

[nowanavin] n. sand

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. wind-related term; no definition provided

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

[oŋmraŋ] n. old (man)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. kind of breadfruit (biggest one)

Speaker: David Nasauman

adv. downward

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 108

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. blossom (open)

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 129

v.n. to fall, as unripe fruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 111