Aneityum

v. climb

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.n. go down

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 154

v.n. to cross over or through a river, as by wading, or in a boat.

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. chew

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. black (color)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.n. to steer, as a boat or a ship

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[apuat pam] n. just dark now, black

Speaker: David Nasauman

adj. made of branches

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v. to emit sound from a bottle or coconut

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 66

n. without branches

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 130

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. herb, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3676)

Scientific name: Hedychium coronarium, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. twig, branch

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. herb, growing in partially drained marsh. Flowers purple. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3596)

Scientific name: Ipomoea aquatica, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3441)

Example: Flowers put in hear as an ornament that has power because it is so beautiful. Leaves are burned and added to a bamboo pipe and mix with a foam that forms in fresh water, when people go to a traditional dance, men paint part of their face eyebrows and beard to attract attention, hence the name, pone part of which "am̃a" means "staring", because it will cause people to stare at the one wearing it.

Scientific name: Abutilon indicum, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. first fruits

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 86

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[inʤa anʤia] n. chicken blood (lit. blood chicken)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

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

Scientific name: Passiflora suberosa, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. vine, growing in coastal forest. Fruits purple. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3556)

Example: A man named Johnnie (Reuben’s grandfather) brought this vine to Aneityum to use it as a rope to tie objects. The ripe fruits are used to paint the face and hands and children make drawings from this dye.

Scientific name: Passiflora suberosa, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[inmenyau] n. Brown Goshawk

Example: Brown Goshawk juvenile. Photo by Graham Winterflood, License: CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr

Scientific name: Accipiter fasciatus, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. Garcinia sp.

Example: leaf chewed against liver pain

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 441

n. Tahitian chestnut (RPV #47)

Scientific name: Inocarpus fagifer, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. today

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 88

n. good luck plant (RPV #14)

Scientific name: Cordyline fruticosa, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

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.

Scientific name: Aceratium oppositifolium, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. two days ago or two days hence

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 141

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.

Scientific name: Ximenia americana, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

[inwerijweɪ] n. boards (pl)

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4758)

Scientific name: Pyrostegia venusta, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. tree, 10 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3645)

Example: The ripe fruits of this plant are edible and said to be delicious as well as smell very good. When the fruits turn brown and soft you can open it and there will be a shell like an upsidedown turtle shell. You can eat the fruit out. As the fruit smells good, people put a basket of ripe fruits in their homes to give it a good smell. The unripe fruits can be eaten, but only when cooked in an earth oven so it is not sticky. The tree can be used for sawn timber. Can be used for building house, specifically the house posts. Number one timber.

Scientific name: Burckella obovata, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. the center rib of the coconut leaf

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 90

n. large tree, 15 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4051)

Example: 1. When in flower (yellow), taro is said to be ready in the garden.

Scientific name: Metrosideros collina, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

v. to chip off small branches

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 90

n. terrestrial fern, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4086)

Example: 1. The name describes a sea bird, whose long legs are similar in shape to the stipe of this fern.

Scientific name: Diplazium oblongifolium, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[naθran ɣap] n. smoke

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of turtle

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. vine to 3-4 m, aerial tubers brown (collection: Michael J. Balick #4872)

Example: Normally these fruits are considered poisonous. But, people have learned to peel off the skin of the fruits, put the peeled fruits in a conical basked and place a bamboo tube that is dripping water over it to wash the basket of fruits for 3-5 days. This is said to leach out the poison and the end result is similar in consistency to cheese. Wrap this up with leaves and put it in an earth oven to cook. This plant is eaten as a "starvation food" only, consumed in times of drought and famine.

Scientific name: Dioscorea bulbifera, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. thorn

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 193

n. shrub to 2 m, dbh 5 com (collection: Michael J. Balick #4875)

Example: To make a local broom, gather a group of branches of this plant, tie together, burn off the leaves when they are dry and then use to sweep (photo with Wopa).

Scientific name: Leucopogon cymbulae, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. tree, 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3508)

Example: 1. The stems of this plant are sharpened and used to plant swamp taro or dry land taro. 2. Break small branch top put behind ear if you go to an unknown place and keep behind ear and sleep with it. If the place is safe you will sleep if it is not you will not sleep well – only behind ear when you sleep.

Scientific name: Phyllanthus ciccoides, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. shrub, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3456)

Example: 1. The leaves of this plant are used as a fertilizer when a person plants taro "to help to feed the ground for next year." 2. Sapwood of this tree, and one more [GMP 3591], in old days take from west side and cross mountain to the east, and on red clay mountain, burn it to make spirits to give more sun instead of rain so that gardens will grow well.

Scientific name: Scaevola cylindrica, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

[napʊlaoʊ] n. shin

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. tree, 12 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4128)

Example: 1. The wood of this tree can be used to make posts for traditional houses.

Scientific name: Alphitonia zizyphoides, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. wind-related term; no definition provided

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. tree to 6 m, dbh 25 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4873)

Example: This tree is a good source of timber, it is a hard wood and makes good posts for houses, fences, and furniture. 4’ x 4’ and 8’ x 1’ planks can be cut from this wood. Great for construction.

Scientific name: Intsia bijuga, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. firmament (astronomical)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. dawn of day

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 141

[nawuraniŋ upni] phr. thank you very much

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[neθwonomo] n. fish bones

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. herb, growing in partially drained marsh and along weedy areas of road. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3600)

Example: This plant is used as an ornament in the hair.

Scientific name: Palhinhaea cernua, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. stage of coconut

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. a bundle of reeds for a torch; a torch

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 99

n. tree, 5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3652)

Scientific name: Leucosyke australis, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. the canoe (constellation), or Orion

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. tree. Growing near village. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #21)

Example: 1. To cure spirit sickness of the niteitau. Use plants that also end with "au" : niditau, intoutau, naoyerop. Go to the top of the plant to get the soft leaves of the plants niditau, intoutau, naoyerop, also take the bark. The person making the medicine should be holding the these leaves with a piece of nelmaha. Nelmaha means go away. The sick person chews the leaves and bark and swallows the juice spitting out the fiber into the nelmaha the medicine maker is holding. The medicine person then takes the spit out fiber in the nalmaha leaf and throws it into the sea in front of the village. 2. To cure headaches casued by bad spirit - Take one top from Nelmaha and one from inrowod (white stripe variety) Combine and chew these then spit them out and apply to the sick persons forehead. 3. To cure headaches - Someone other than the woman must prepare this. Break the top branch of netethae and remove leaves for use. Combine with the top leaves of the top branch of nelmaha. Chew the leaves and drink the juice. Do this when the sun is setting on the horizon. The woman gives the leftover fibers to the person who prepared the medicine and that person goes and throws the fibers in the direction of the setting sun. 4. To cure toothache when pregnant - Take the inner bark from Intejed and boil it in a pot of seawater (about 1 liter) along with 2 leaves from each of inpounatmas, narayag, nahayag, and nelmaha. Boil until juice is visibly leaving the plants. Put this water into your mouth and hold it there for 2-3 minutes. Do this this with one cup in the morning, 1 cup in the afternoon, and 1 cup in the evening. 5. Used to fight against black magic in an unspecified way. 6. Roll leaf and put in pocket for protection when walk in a new area. 7. Message plant if a land dispute – if a person puts this stem or leaf in another’s garden whom they are angry with it means go away!! 8. To treat sick people, especially who fall ill from black magic to save their life. Symptoms vary, for example a person with small boils over body,* a person chews the leaf and spits it on the sick person, 1x and then puts the branch with leaves near the sick person when they sleep – 3x (1x day) branch is ca. 25cm long. (*headache, severe)

Scientific name: Ficus littoralis, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. small tree. Found in the village, but not cultivated. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #17)

Example: 1. Ancestors used this plant to make fish line – cut young branches, remove outer bark and tie together, put in salt water or fresh water for a week, it is now strong, dry in sun, take fibers and twist them together to make a very long fishing line. 2. Leaves are used to feed pigs. 3. Take inner bark, scrape it and put on boils. Attach with any leaf and it takes out the boil. 4. Trunk for temporary bush house.

Scientific name: Pipturus argenteus, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. tree to 4 m tall, dbh 8 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #5004)

Example: This plant is used to make fishing line, perhaps moreso in the past than today. Collect young shoots form the sides of the tree, peel off the bark, soak the stem in salt water or fresh water for 1-2 weeks to ret the stems then separate the fibers, dry in the sun and use to make string for fishing. The leaves are used for feeding pigs.

Scientific name: Nothocnide (?) repanda, Speaker: Tony Keith

[nɛlop] n. back fin (of fish)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. north-north-west wind

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 100

n. night

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

[neplaroʊ] n. April (lit. between good and bad weather month)

Speaker: David Nasauman

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.

Scientific name: Ficus kajewskii, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. leaf

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. a hollow place in taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 100

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. the center sprout of a coconut tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 100

[niʧɛn jaoʊ] n. butt

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. Bidens pilosa L.

Example: shoot -- cold maceration taken internally against cough

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 440

n. the castor-oil plant

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

[niɲja] n. shell (small)

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

Speaker: Chris Nevehev

n. terrestrial fern growing in rain forest on the mountain slope. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3284)

Scientific name: Schizaea dichotoma, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

[niseuɣ] n. walking stick, staff

Speaker: David Nasauman

[niseuɣ inmohoɣ] n. lit. "the moon’s walking stick"

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of banana

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. large well branched tree, 18-20 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3216)

Example: 1. The trunk of this plant is used to make canoes. 2. It is also a good timber for the inside part of houses. 3. Mix the sap from the stem with other unspecified leaves and rub them into dreadlocks. 4. To attract shells in the sea, scrape a branch and drop in the sea where shells are attracted to the branches and they can be collected for sale to the Island’s visitors. 5. Seeds are used to make beautiful black necklaces. Said to be a lot of work as it is difficult to remove the seed. Rub with sandpaper or soak in water and then make the hole in the seed. 6. Fruit is a children’s toy – used as a whistle to make a nice sound.

Scientific name: Hernandia nymphaeifolia, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[noweɪ yaŋ] n. July (lit. a kind of wood when it’s leaves become yellow)

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. vine to 2 m, flowers white (collection: Michael J. Balick #4939)

Example: Use this to make rope. Cut the vine, heat over a low fire, when it is still warm, tie posts of the house--the heat makes the cord very strong and tying it while in that condition makes it really strong.

Scientific name: Melodinus neoebudicus, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

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

Scientific name: Melodinus glaber, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[numu] n. fish (general)

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. fish; life

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. alstonia vitiensis var. neo ebudica

Example: young leaf--cold maceration used as contraceptive in mixture with Apulda mutica, Cyclosorus truncatus, and Dioscorea bulbifera or alone.

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 439

adv. seaward yonder

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 107

adv. seaward here

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 107

n. Yellowtail barracuda

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

Scientific name: Sphyraena obtusata via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

adv. over (?)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.a. to lop off small branches

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 110

adj. perennial (applied to water); also "etweite", "inweite"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 171