Aneityum

[amŋi inɣaɣen] phr. drink kava (traditional)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v. to fish (with a net)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v.n. go over, as a hill

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[ak͡pok anʤap̚] phr. we go out into the sea

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v.n. sail from shore

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 180

n. tree, 5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3520)

Example: Children sometimes eat this fruit but it smells bad. Adults do not eat it. An introduced species so there is no local name.

Scientific name: Annona glabra

[ditij nadimi] phr. one man (there is)

Speaker: David Nasauman

adj. adjacent

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 121

n. tide flowing a little, begun to flow

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 72

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

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 76

n. last quarter of moon

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 78

n. the clear part of the moon when first seen

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 166

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

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 81

phr. on that side

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 82

adj. outside

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. pandanus leaf

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 170

n. native rose; rosa chinensis; the hibiscus; also "inpul"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 85, 88

n. a tree for food; a fruit tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 85

n. screwpine (RPV #85)

Scientific name: Pandanus tectorius, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. tree to 8 m, dbh 5 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4896)

Example: The young stems of this tree are used to make spears, either by sharpening the end or attaching several wires to the tip.

Scientific name: Alangium vitiense, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. vegetables; herbs, as taro, bananas; every vegetable planted for food

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 85

n. type of seashell

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

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

[indawoɣ] n. Long-tailed jaeger

Example: Photo by jacksnipe1990/Flickr, License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr

Scientific name: Stercorarius longicaudus, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

[inŋa] n. Purple Swamphen

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

Scientific name: Porphyrio porphyrio, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

[inʤupuram] n. nearly dark

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. a plantation

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 86

n. a stringy bark tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. shrub, 0. 7 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3616)

Example: 1. Many plants resemble this species, and are called by this name. 2. Babies who always cry – rub leaves, put them in bath where baby will bathe and this will help stop crying. 3. Ornament for around the house.

Scientific name: Pseuderanthemum longifolium, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[intaʧi] n. notches carved into a tree, used as footholds for climbing tree to harvest coconut

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

[intiʧ ɲaŋ] n. ear

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

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. herb. Grows on the coast. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #18)

Example: 1. For painful urination - The first way to prepare this it to take four big leaves and pound them with some water to get out the juices and squeeze this into a cup and drink. This can also be given to babies and children. The second way is to take two small leaf tops and two that are slightly larger tops. Chew these leaves and try to swallow all of it, if you can’t swallow the leaves then spit out the fibers and only drink the juice. 2. Calendar plant – when it flowers, turtle has fat in them, hang turtle to dry, fat melts, and can collect and eat it. Past practice – not eaten now. 3. Young parts of leaves can be cooked as a cabbage with coconut milk. 4. Wrap fish, especially those from the sea, with this leaf – first take lap lap leaf, then layer with this leaf, then wrap fish tie with pandanus for cooking on charcoals. Also with reef fish can wrap and cook directly on charcoal. Then eat leaf with the fish. 5. Medicine – top unrolled leaf tips, – new baby put this in his mouth and then take it out again – believe that it will make the baby talkative – 1x only when 1-2 days old. Put tip on tongue – shut mouth for a few seconds then pull it out. 6. Tips of leaves for diarrhea – remove old leaves, take 1 tip for baby, adults 2-3 tips, chew it, swallow juice and spit out fiber. 1x day, 3 days.

Scientific name: Wollastonia biflora, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of breadfruit

Speaker: David Nasauman

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

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. yellow colored vine to 1 m tall, flower buds white (collection: Michael J. Balick #4879)

Scientific name: Cassytha filiformis, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. Malay rose apple (RPV #82)

Scientific name: Syzygium malaccense, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[inʧatamaɪjn] n. rooster

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. Oriental sweetlips

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

Scientific name: Plectorhinchus vittatus via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[naɣiŋaɣas] n. Mystery Island (eastern part) (lit. chiefly basket for fish or fish will always want to get your bait)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. day

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

[naθran ɣap] n. smoke

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. canarium nut (RPV #25)

Scientific name: Canarium indicum, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of breadfruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. p. taro for the dead

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 94

n. kind of turtle

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. plant

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 172

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4771)

Scientific name: Dianella ensifolia, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. herb, growing along garden area. Flowers yellow. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3595)

Example: 1. As a medicine for dengue fever, take a handful of stem apices of this plant, boil in 1-2 cups of water and drink this amount 3x daily, cold, until the fever goes away. This treatment is said to give a person strength during the course of the illness. 2. Take top branch – 2 leaves and put under baby’s pillow, baby will fall into a deep sleep.

Scientific name: Physalis angulata, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. liana climbing on Syzygium, growing along ridge in dense rainforest. Bracts pale to deep red. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4078)

Scientific name: Freycinetia tannaensis, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4764)

Scientific name: Tarenna, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

[narasɛn natimi] n. skin (human)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. bean

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 127

n. epiphytic orchid, growing in dense rainforest. Flowers orange. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4113)

Example: 1. Children often take the leaves of this plant and blow across the surface of a taut leaf to make a whistle sound. Older folks say this blowing invited rain.

Scientific name: Liparis condylobulbon, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. the juice of the breadfruit tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 96

n. a reed

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 97

n. tree, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3487)

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. Edible fruits, when ripe or green, does not taste when green, but sweet when ripe. 3a. Leaves (young) are edible, for example wrap around coconut meat and eat or cook with island cabbage and other leaves, boil and add coconut milk and eat. 3b. The young leaves are edible, after boiling for 5 minutes. A piece of coconut and a pinch of salt is wrapped in the leaves and eaten. The mature leaves are used to wrap food such as pig or cow meat and cooked in an earth oven. Tie this bundle with a piece of Pandanus fiber to secure it before putting in the earth oven. 4. During big feast, use this a lot – circumcison or wedding feast, harvest leaves and wrap around meat and bake on earth oven – sometimes we cut down a whole tree to gather leaves. 5. To make men’s custom belt – split stem, peel outer bark off to take inner bark and peel it, tear end to make strap that can be tied. Dry in sun but not direct sunlight. 6. Older large trunks were burned by ancestors to keep fire going – did not need matches (lefre(?) matches) because embers would stay for days and when make a fire add smaller branches to make a flame.

Scientific name: Ficus scabra, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. treelet, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4067)

Example: 1. When pig is cooked in an earth oven, branches of this speces are used to cover the pig, before hot rocks are heaped on top.

Scientific name: Ficus kajewskii, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. a green coconut

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4783)

Scientific name: Acalypha grandis, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. grass; weeds; thistle

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 98

n. tares

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 192

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. land newly planted with taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 99

[nɛjsindiɛn] n. fish anus

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. terrestrial fern, growing on rocky area in secondary forest above the river. Leaves c. 3 m long. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3654)

Example: The leaf is wrapped around the head as an adornment by both men and women. If a person gets burned by a fire, scrape the petiole of this plant and squeeze juice on the wound to cool and heal it. Use as long as needed. The ancestors are said to have cooked the stump of this plant in an earth oven, over 2-3 nights, and then ate it. It is said to have no taste but was more of a famine food during periods of drought.

Scientific name: Angiopteris evecta, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. the canoe (constellation), or Orion

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. the name of a poisonous plant

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 99

n. lithophyte, growing on rock in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4038)

Scientific name: Antrophyum plantagineum, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. type of fruit

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. a poisonous plant used to stupefy fish; also "netokin"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 100

n. terrestrial fern, growing at edge of marsh (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3592)

Example: The root is used as a survival food, during famine, cook roots on fire and eat. Roast on charcoal.

Scientific name: Pteridium esculentum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

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

n. hysteranthous geophyte in flowering stage, growing in primary rainforest. Flowers white tinged with pink. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3625)

Scientific name: Dipodium pictum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4775)

Scientific name: Commersonia bartramia, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. small tree-fern, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3269)

Scientific name: Cyathea, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. moss

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 166

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. a species of seaweed

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

[nohoɪjam] n. fan of woven pandanus leaf

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. a banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. a dried or withered breadfruit tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 104

[nuhialeɣ upni] phr. Good morning. (greeting in early morning, 6 o’clock to 9:30-10 o’clock)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. the early morning

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 104

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. corn

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 138

n. type of seashell

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

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

adv. down here

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 108

adj. adjacent

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 121