An example search has returned 100 entries
dapanan ja jai et lok sto em̃ikope stoi lok
ehgin
adj. afar
bookmarkehlek
v. to seek food, as taro; to gather, to reap
bookmarkehnat aiek
v.n. go before
bookmarkereinmerei
n. the clear part of the moon when first seen
bookmarkesei cai
n. forest trees
bookmarkimehei
n. pandanus leaf
bookmarkincat
n. flax
bookmarkincatyatou
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.
bookmarkincispev
n. tree, 3 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3547)
Example: This plant is for medicine to treat a spiritual condition related to the coral snake that is the seawater spirit. When a woman is pregnant, some times she gets sick, so use this leaf with 2-3 other unspecified leaves and mash them together, squeeze the juice into a small cup (bamboo), wave around the woman’s body, and then put a few drops onto her head and body, then she drinks the rest. This will help heal her sickness. This treatment can be used for men who have a toothache from eating too much fish--the seawater spirit of the coral snake makes the tooth hurt. It is used in the same way as for a pregnant woman. If the pain from the toothache is really from the seawater spirit, then this will cure it; if not, it will not help.
bookmarkincopau
n. a coconut with a sweet husk
bookmarkinhau amai
n. moderately branched treelet, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3203)
Example: 1a. This type of hibiscus has young leaves that are reddish in color and it is an edible type. The stems are eaten during April-July. Harvest the stems, beat them and cut off the outer bark. Collect inner bark, slicing it off the stem and wrapping it in a banana type leaf with coconut milk added. Bake all night at least 8 hours, then it is eaten. Said to taste like a root vegetable. Used during the dry season when there are not many crops available. 1b. Take young shoot of the tree then pound the base to separate the base of the bark from the stem but leave it on the stem, say pound 4-5 inches around the base, then come back 3-4 months and the rest of the bark would be thicker. Then cut where it was pounded, cut stem in 1.5-foot pieces, bake on an earth oven, leaves on bottom layer (on top of charcoal) then sticks, then leaves on top, then hot stones, and then more leaves. Bake for 1.5 hours, then remove a stick at a time and use shell to scrape away outer bark, cut into 6 inch pieces, put on log, pound to make softer, put in lap lap leaves leaf wrapping, add coconut milk, put in stone oven, cook for one hour then open lap lap leaves and eat. 2. This variety is for this purpose just like Pohnpei. 3. This variety is not used for grass skirt.
bookmarkinjuki
n. the afternoon
bookmarkinmehei ipciv
n. kind of banana
bookmarkinmerimri
n. kind of breadfruit
bookmarkinrosi
n. a clearing of bush or reeds
bookmarkinrowodamya
n. shrub to 1. 5 m tall, leaves green with red stripes (collection: Michael J. Balick #4978)
Example: The leaves are used to wrap fish, lap-lap for cooking in the earth oven. Boil the leaves as a medicine for women with excessive menstrual bleeding. Cut 2 leaves and boil in 2 liters of water, cool and drink 1 cup daily for 3 days. This is said to slow the menstrual bleeding. Local name "Amya" means menstruation.
bookmarkintinan mese
n. dry land planted
bookmarkintoutau
n. tree, 14 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3586)
Example: To make a fire, take a 1-2 cm diameter stick, sharpen it and rub it against a larger piece, ca. 6 cm in diameter. As a person rubs, the stick will start smoking and then start a fire, especially if there are a few small slivers of stem on the stick that can catch fire. People use other types of sticks to rub against the larger piece as well, and this will make a fire.
bookmarkintoutau
n. tree, 7-8 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3635)
Example: The wood from this tree is used for house posts. Used to heal bad spirits, headaches, fever, or any other kind of illness that modern medicine cannot fix. Must be taken and performed in the evening before the sun sets. Take four leaves from the top of the intoutau, netethae, nelmaha, inrowod plants. Combine them with 1/4 cup of water and squeeze the juice out of the leaves and pour into a piece of bamboo. Give the mixture to the sick person to drink. The woman must drink half of the mixture and use the other half of the mixture to wash their body with. The woman then has to stay away from other people except for those who helped wash her. Then you must smash the bamboo that contained the mixture where the sun sets.
bookmarkinvid
n. two days ago or two days hence
bookmarkinwae
n. tree, 3-4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3563)
Example: Children like to eat the fruit of this plant. It is said to taste like pineapple/mango. It must be very ripe to be eaten. Peel and discard the skin. The fruit is most sweet when it is on the ground for a few days. Some children eat the seeds of this fruit but it has a strong oily taste--too many cause vomiting and if a person eats 1-2 seeds it can cause diarrhea.
bookmarkinwaimeteuc
n. sweet potato
bookmarkinwau
n. a creeper, a vine
bookmarkinyacelcou
n. vine running many meters long over clay soil and grassy area on hillside where the triangular wooden signs are that used to be a landmark for ships coming to the island. Sterile. (collection: Michael J. Balick #5008)
Example: This plant is the focus of an important legend on Aneityum. When the missionary John Geddie and colleaguse first arrived on the island in July of 1848, the Chiefs welcomed them but some of the people did not like the idea. So these people sent a basket containing a peeled coconut and a fish (nopom) to the Chief in Umej to ask him to support the idea of getting rid of the missionary that the Chief of Analcahuat had welcomed. If the Chief of Umej were to eat the fish and coconut meat, it would mean that he agreed with the opposition. The Chief refused to eat the food in the basket and he told the people a parable involving this plant. A person cannot find the tip of the stem or the end of the root in the ground. So if they were to eliminate the missionary, his activity would continue because of God’s power. As it is with this plant, it will continue to grow and flourish if you cut it or try to dig up the root. So he sent a message about this plant to the people in Analcahuat who objected to the presence of the missionary stating this parable. Those people in Analcauhat held a secret meeting and they chose a powerful and strong person to kill the missionary. During the night the person went to the missionary’s house while he was in the toilet. Returning to the house, the missionary found the person in his doorway, and that person lifted his club to strike the missionary. But at that point the attacker’s hands suddenly had no power and the club fell from his hands, and he fell over. The missionary told him to get up, and not come back. After that experience, the people of Umej realized that God’s power was great and they could not go against it. The Chief took the peeled coconut that was sent him and covered it with the skin of another coconut and planted it instead of eating it. This coconut grew and the missionary’s work continued to grow on the island. So this vine played an important role in communicating the power of God to the people of Aneityum.
bookmarkinyapwit
n. kind of tree
bookmarkmasoa
n. sterile herb, juvenile form (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3438)
Example: This plant is used as a starchy food. To prepare it, grarte it into a dish, wash with water, the starch settles to the bottom, pour off the water, dry the starch in the sun and make it into a powder. The starch can be cooked with coconut milk and eaten.
bookmarknadiat meto
n. the middle of the forenoon
bookmarknahrin nij
n. kind of taro
bookmarknai
n. a plant with red leaves
bookmarknaipumnyu
n. kind of plant, grass, or fern
bookmarknala
nalad iran
n. seed of a fig
bookmarknamaka
n. herb to 1 m,flowers yellow. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4893)
Example: To make rope, cut the stems, tie together in a bundle and place in the sea. Cover the bundle with rocks for about a week, then take it out, wash it, dry in the sun until the fibers bleach white and use to make grass skirts. This is the process of retting. When the cyclone season is finished, the plant has flowers and fruits--in May through July--this means no danger of cyclones.
bookmarknamarere
n. kind of sugarcane
bookmarknametreyeñ
napijelcau
n. kind of banana
bookmarknapjau
n. grass. Found along intra village path. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #35)
Example: 1. Bath for babies to make them healthy and walk faster, mix with plants WAKAS (AAB 34), NITIDEI (GMP 3658 or 4043), and a grass NATUTAHUT (MJB 4945). Put all in a kettle filled of water and wash them with it – use 1 handful of each leaf.
bookmarknarasitai
n. chaff
bookmarknarecheno
n. kind of plant, grass, or fern
bookmarknarutu umlai
n. wind-related term; no definition provided
bookmarknasieij
n. kind of tree
bookmark
natarau
n. a bamboo flute
bookmarknatereuc
n. kind of banana
bookmark
nauras
n. kind of tree
bookmarknausakrai
n. thorn
bookmarknausap
n. kind of tree
bookmark
necñanjaa
n. shrub to 2 m, dbh 3 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4862)
Example: The common name of this plant refers to the footprint of a chicken. Mix the dried leaves of this plant with pieces of coconut and feed to chickens. They are said to really like it. Plant the shrub near the place that chickens are kept. This feed will make the chickens produce more eggs and also increase the number of healthy chickens.
bookmarknehgan
n. a stock; a bunch, as of fruit; also "negan" or "nigan"
bookmarknepig sepahai
nepjenepjen
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.
bookmarkneteng
n. Barringtonia asiatica L.
Example: inner bark: ground, added to dug pools in the sea as fish poison
bookmarknidincai
n. balsam; resin
bookmarknimtac
n. kind of tree
bookmarknipjinecei vanteigin
niri atga
nisil
n. the center rib of the coconut leaflet; wire
bookmark
nuei
n. vine, growing up trees in primary forest at edge of river. flower white. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3675)
Example: This vine is collected, rolled in a figure 8 and put on a fire to soften it and used to tie posts. It is tied when warm, because when it cools it is very strong, "like wire." It does not burn on the fire, only become soft. It is said to be excellent for the construction of cyclone houses, it shrinks after heating to make a very strong rope.
bookmarknugnyiobod
n. kind of plant, grass, or fern
bookmarknuhialeg
n. the morning
bookmarknumlah
n. kind of tree
bookmarkohod
n. bundle of leaves, as of nasiaij
bookmarkugnyiv
adj. rich; good, as applied to fruits
bookmarkwakas
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.
bookmarkThere are currently 2431 entries, 1543 audio files, and 860 images.
All content copyright © Aneityum community. (2015)
Talking Dictionary produced by K. David Harrison, Gregory D. S. Anderson and Jeremy Fahringer. Botanical consultants: Michael J. Balick, Gregory M. Plunkett and Sean Thackurdeen. (2015-2018)
Aneityum language contributors include Kirk Keitadi, Tony Keith, Titiya Lalep, David Nasauman, Osiani Nerian, Ruben Nerian, Chris Nevehev, Romario Yaufati and others as credited within the dictionary entries. Based in part on materials from Inglis, John (1882) A Dictionary of the Aneityumese Language: In Two Parts. I. Aneityumese and English. II. English.
The Aneityum-English Talking Dictionary was made possible by award no. 1555675 from National Science Foundation for “Collaborative Research: Plant, Fungal and Linguistic Diversity of Tafea Province, Vanuatu.” This support is gratefully acknowledged.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
All rights reserved. Do not distribute or reproduce without permission.
how to cite:
K. David Harrison. 2015.
Aneityum Talking Dictionary.
Swarthmore College.
http://www.talkingdictionary.org/aneityum
Interface and database design under the direction of Jeremy Fahringer and Swarthmore College ITS.
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