Aneityum

v. to weave, to plait

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. walk fast; share greetings

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.n. to come up, or come east

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. forecast

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 152

v. to prepare pandanus leaves for making mats or baskets

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. to plant taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 62

[asvii naret̚o] phr. break bread

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.n. get off the reef

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 154

adj. a second growth as of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 72

pre. far; long; applied to distance or time

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 77

v. swim

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.a. to climb

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 78

v. to fish (with a net)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[itij] num. one

Speaker: Chris Nevehev

v. to split leaves

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 80

n. tree, 7 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3723)

Example: The fruits of this species are cracked open and the seeds eaten. The leaves are mixed with other leaves to make an unspecified traditional medicine. The plant is also used for firewood.

Scientific name: Barringtonia edulis, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

v. to grow again, as hair, feathers, plants; to come out, as teeth

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 81

n. tree. Acting as a fence post. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #24)

Example: 1. For vomiting/uneasyness - remove the bark of a stem and take the inner bark (this should be white). Smash the white bark with about 150ml of cold water and drink. The bark can also be boiled and cooled down to drink cold. Believes when you vomit a lot this will restore your body and give you energy again. Take after vomiting but can use even when not sick. 2. For stomache ache - Can also be prepare and taken as in part 1. 3. For painful urination, also prepared as in part 1. 4. The fruits are sticky and used as a type of local “glue.” Collect the fruits when ripe, hold the outside of the fruit in the hand, and put the end of the fruit that has the sticky sap on paper or anything else needing to be glued. In ancient times, this sticky glue helped join the strings together that were used to make a long fishing line. 5. In ancient times this sticky glue helped join the strings together when making a long one for fishing. 6. During the heat of the day, in the hot season, take inner bark from 1 stick, scrape bark into 1 liter water and drink all day to help prevent a person from getting urinary infection, resulting in painful urination from being in the sun too much. 7. If you put the leaves of this plant in a bag with your fishing gear – it will help catch a lot of fish – magic. 8. Cut a 1-2 m long branch in each of 4 corners of the garden which is a rectangle, place it in an “X” at each corner, this will cleanse people who have not been cleansed who come in the garden. 9. If a person is not cleansed e.g. has not fasted from certain foods, the crops will not bear good fruits. So when gardening, people believe it is best not to eat coconut, shellfish, fish, stay away from sex, and no fermented food like breadfruit and bananas, OR if you have a visitor overnight and then you heal to cleanse yourself before going to the garden. After a woman finishes her period, she will stay out of garden for 10 days, this is specifically for kava, water taro, sugarcane and yam in the garden. Other crops – cassava, sweet potato, and taro Fiji are okay. Different Kastom for N, S, W, E people – so this Kastom is for South and Eastern people.

Scientific name: Cordia dichotoma, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. the white wood of a tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 85

n. large tree, 15 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4073)

Example: 1. Flying foxes are known to eat the fruit. Accordingly, when hunters desire the flying fox, they gather near this species.

Scientific name: Dysoxylum aneityense, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. shrub, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3548)

Example: The forked stick of this plant is used as a pole to hold the outrigger on a canoe. Children blow the small fruits of this plant through the hollow petioles of the papaya leaf or a hollowed bamboo stem as a game. As an aphrodisiac, two handfuls of the leaves of this species are boiled in fresh water and men drink these for 7 days. The next week they will be "strong." People cannot have sex while they are drinking this remedy, but then the next week when they have finished the treatment, they will be "very strong."

Scientific name: Vitex trifolia, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. taro patch

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. epiphyte, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4104)

Example: 1. This plant is considered bad luck when hunting or fishing. When doing these activities, do not decorate your hair with them. 2. This plant is used to weave the sheath portion of "nambas". First the stems are retted, then the inner portion of the plant removed. Once removed, the sheath is woven with the blanched fiber. 3. This is considered the male version of this plant. See GMP #4105, Phlegmarius sp. for the female version.

Scientific name: Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of breadfruit

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. tree, 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3579)

Example: The fruits of this plant is edible and tastes like a guava. The wood is used for house posts, and the smaller stems used to make rafters to hold thatch. Firewood.

Scientific name: Eugenia rariflora, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. well branched tree, 12 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4022)

Example: 1. A durable hardwood that is used for house posts. 2. The wood is used to fashion cross members that affix outriggers to the body of the canoe. 3. 4-5 inch diameter saplings are used to create a track in the forest that larger logs can roll down.

Scientific name: Geissois denhamii, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

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. a crop, but not the first ripe

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 89

n. shrub, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3486)

Scientific name: Psychotria

n. liana climbing on large Dillenia tree, growing in primary forest at edge of river. flower white. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3677)

Example: If a person is building a temporary house and has no other way of attaching the poles, collect the vine of this species, roll it a bit to break the fiber, heat it in a figure 8 form and then use for tying poles while warm.

Scientific name: Jasminum didymum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. Malay rose apple (RPV #82)

Scientific name: Syzygium malaccense, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. to chip off small branches

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 90

n. fishing line

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

adj. smooth, applied to sugarcane-leaf thatch

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 107

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 fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

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

Scientific name: Delarbrea paradoxa, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[nafirama] n. a kind of basket

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

[naŋeseŋa] n. sun

Speaker: Chris Nevehev

[naŋɛsɛŋa ratha] n. sun god

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. Crinum asiaticum L.

Example: subterranean part used as mouthwash for toothache (Crinum asiaticum)

Speaker: Bradacs, Gesine, Jörg Heilmann, & Caroline S. Weckerle (2011). Medical plant use in Vanuatu: A compa

n. big turtle

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nalak ŋaɣeseɣa] n. kind of plantain ("red like the sun")

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. epiphyte on tree trunks, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4103)

Scientific name: Spiridens sp., Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. shrub, 1. 5-2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3606)

Example: A type of roselle that is a weed growing in swampy areas.

Scientific name: Hibiscus sabdariffa, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. tree to 15 m tall, dbh 40 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4859)

Example: The wood of this tree is good for carving. The fibers go in one direction so it is easier to carve, for example, to make a kava bowl. In general, this is the species used to make kava bowls. If your kava is not strong, then making it in this bowl will make it stronger. The kind of bowl made from this tree has a handle on each side of the bowl and it is held with 2 hands. The place name Anumwmamlau is named after this tree. There are said to be two types of this tree--one with all green leaves (this specimen) and one with white and green leaves. If a person is going to a Tabu place and is concerned about spirits, they should take a handful of these leaves and wash the body all over with it--take a swim (bath) with it. Then the person can go to the Tabu place without risk. There are other unspecified spiritual uses of this tree. The second part of this local name "elwa" refers to the variegation of the leaves.

Scientific name: Phyllanthus ciccoides, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. grass; also "namutmut"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 95

n. tree, 7 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3633)

Example: To cook Alocasia (wild taro), use the dry wood of this plant as firewood. The leaves of this plant are also used to line the earth oven on top of the food and on bottom of the food to insulate it from the high heat of cooking.

Scientific name: Canthium odoratum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

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. current in the sea

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 140

n. hedge

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 156

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

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. wind-related term; no definition provided

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. a bulrush; a flag

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 97

n. a red coconut

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. herb to 20 cm, flowers blue. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4922)

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.

Scientific name: Plectranthus scutellarioides, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. yellow and black fish

Speaker: David Nasauman

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

Scientific name: Schefflera neoebudica, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. a mat of coconut leaf

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 99

n. Sailfin tang

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

Scientific name: Zebrasoma velifer, Speaker: Chris Nevehev

n. Metrosideros collina (RPV #81)

Scientific name: Metrosideros collina, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. spiny holy mangrove (RPV #118)

Scientific name: Acanthus ilicifolius, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. night

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

n. tree, 6 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3513)

Example: 1. The flower is used to make a necklace and the wood used as poles for a house roof. The flower is very fragrant and people put it behind their ear to enjoy the aroma. The leaf is used to bake taro in the earth oven. Use a fire to heat stones, then when the fire burns down and the stones are hot, pile these leaves on top of the hot stones and then place the food being cooked--taro, fish, pig, cassava, banana or other foods--on top of the leaves. Then pile more of these leaves on top of the food and then place additional hot stones on top of that pile of leaves. While the food is cooking--each type of food takes a different amount of time--the leaves give off a very nice smell and help flavor the food. 2. Firewood, flower smells good, put in coconut oil to give it aroma. Grate coconut, add small amount of water, put in bowl, heat until water is evaporated, the oil is on top, take all the coconut cream on bottom save oil in another pot. Drop 2-3 flowers into coconut oil and boil, or more flowers. Try not to burn the oil. Take out flowers and use pure oil. Also used for final covering of large earth oven during feast along with GMP 3503 – esp. wedding feast. Planting pole and hard and heavy wood – sharp end. 3. This is a "calendar plant." When it flowers, people know that the taro is ready to harvest.

Scientific name: Gardenia tannaensis, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. a meteor; also "nidil"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. herb to 50 cm, flowers yellow. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4944)

Example: As a tonic medicine, collect a full handful of leaves, boil in one liter of water until fully cooked, then drink 1 cup 3x daily, warm, to treat a person who has worked too much, who is tired, to help their stomach and to help make them strong. For children and adults. Child’s dose is 1/2 cup, 3x daily until the child feels stronger.

Scientific name: Bidens pilosa, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. wooden dish

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. coconut leaves, plaited for covering ridge of roof

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

n. berry

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 128

n. orchard

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 169

n. tree, 8 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3703)

Scientific name: Syzygium nomoa, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. Thumbprint emperor, blackspot emperor

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

Scientific name: Lethrinus harak via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3274)

Scientific name: Cyrtandra obovata

n. vine, growing in open disturbed area. Flowers white. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3589)

Example: To build a cyclone house, take the vine of this species to tie pieces of the house. To prepare the vine for use as rope, collect many feet of it, put it in a fire, roll it in a figure 8, wait until it softens and then use for tying. This vine is hard and needs to be heated to a high temperature in the fire to make it soft; the person preparing this must use gloves to tie it to the posts and rafters while it is still warm. When it cools, it is very strong. Rope made from this vine will last a long time--perhaps 10-15 years. It can also be used to make a regular house.

Scientific name: Jasminum didymum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. non-fish creatures in the sea

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. tree fern to 5 m tall, fronds 2. 5 m long (collection: Michael J. Balick #5014)

Example: Trunk of this plant is used to make food. Cut the stem in 2-3 foot pieces, peel the outer stem, put the peeled stems in an earth oven to cook for the afternoon through the night--about 12 hours. It will be ready the next day. Peel off any remaining fibrous tissue, slice the stems and eat. They are said to taste like sweet potato. The young fronds are boiled for 5 minutes and coconut milk is added, this mixture is then eaten. It is important to collect only the inrolled fronds that have not yet fully opened. The fronds are used to make temporary houses when camping in the bush. They are used to make a roof. To make a cassava grater, take 2-3 pieces of the frond stype, connect them together by piercing them on the sides with a piece of bamboo or any stick such that they are held together in parallel fashion, and use this to grate uncooked cassava to make lap-lap and to grate banana or any food that needs to be processed in this way. The thorny part of the stipe grates the food.

Scientific name: Sphaeropteris lunulata, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. type of seashell

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

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

prep. up there

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. a small red berry used as beads

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 107

n. vine to 1 m, fruits black. Secondary forest. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4906)

Scientific name: Geitonoplesium cymosum, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

v.n. to fall, as unripe fruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 111

n. a sweet potato

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 111