Aneityum

[aθ tasvi] v. break strong things (like a branch, etc.)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v. run

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

v. to fish (by torchlight)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. forest trees

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 78

v. to swell, as reeds when near blossoming

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 80

n. kind of bird

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. Barringtonia edulis

Example: not used in Aneityum

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 442

[iɲara] n. Honeyeater, grey and orange (Vanuatu Honeyeater)

Example: Photo by Olivier Boissier, IBC973343. Photo of Vanuatu Honeyeater Gliciphila notabilis at Sola, Vanuatu. License: All rights reserved. Accessible on Internet Bird Collection

Scientific name: Gliciphila notabilis, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

[inɣaɣen] n. kava (traditional)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. a bundle of wood for fire

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4759)

Scientific name: Gahnia aspera, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. sedge to 1 m, flowers brown (collection: Michael J. Balick #4883)

Example: Children pull up the new young shoots and eat them. You eat the white soft part at the base of the part that comes off when you pull it. See photo.

Scientific name: Gahnia aspera, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. wild ginger (RPV #180)

Scientific name: Hornstedtia scottiana, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. wind-related term; no definition provided. Possibly referring to "inhalav" ’child’.

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

n. Ribbontail stingray

Example: Photo by zsispeo, License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 via Flickr

Scientific name: Taeniura lymma, Speaker: Chris Nevehev

n. type of seashell

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

Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. a rainbow

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. Common dolphinfish, mahi mahi

Example: Photo by Alex Kerstitch / Shorefishes of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Coryphaena hippurus via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. a plantation

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 86

n. old coconut leaves

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 87

n. a stringy bark tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. false star

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

[inpak] n. clouds that divide like a banyan tree

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. top posts of house under construction

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. boards for people to sit on

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. tree, 12-14 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3640)

Example: The seeds of this species are eaten, the fruits are cracked open and the seeds removed. However, perhaps of 10 fruits, maybe only 3 have seeds for eating. The flowers are known to have a very pleasant fragrance.

Scientific name: Terminalia sepicana, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. Whitespotted surgeonfish, northern dialect

Example: Photo by Jeffrey T. Williams / Smithsonian Institution, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Acanthurus guttatus via FishBase, Speaker: Chris Nevehev

n. shrub to 2 m tall, dbh 2 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4996)

Example: This is an ornamental plant, grown around the home. People crush the leaves to enjoy the fragrance released. When bathing, grate coconut meat and crush the leaves of this plant and rub all over the body, before bathing and afterwards your body will smell very nice. To repel mosquitoes, crush these leaves and put them in the house.

Scientific name: Melicope bonwickii, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. shrub, 0. 7 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3562)

Example: In the past the ancestors learned to cook the leaves of this species with fish in an earth over and then eat the leaves as well as the fish. Today, fish are wrapped with small leaves and then covered with lap-lap leaf (Polyscias) and cooked in an earth oven. This plant is also a "calendar plant." When you see this plant flower you know that sea turtles are getting fat and ready to harvest. As a "message plant", if a person puts this flower behind their ear or in their hat, and looks at another person, it is an invitation to that person to go with you to the nakamal for kava

Scientific name: Wollastonia biflora, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

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. terrestrial orchid, growing along river at edge of dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4120)

Scientific name: indet, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. the evening star

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[inwerijweɪ] n. boards (pl)

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

adj. behind

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3602)

Example: This plant produces an edible fruit, but it is smaller than the cultivated guava, and is considered the wild type. Firewood. Pinch 4 tops and chew and swallow for stomach ache and diarrhea.

Scientific name: Psidium guajava, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

[kuretemain] n. dog (male)

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

adj. unripe

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 196

n. a giant

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[mataʊ] n. older brother

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

adj. ripe, as arrowroot; also "murre"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 93

adv. (already?)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. Vittaria lineata

Example: Frond: cold maceration taken internally against ciguatera

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 443

n. the name of a prickly shrub

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 93

n. day

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

n. the middle of the forenoon

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

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

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. the name of a species of seaweed

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 94

n. species of pine

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. mimosa (plant)

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 94

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. large palm, 20 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4080)

Example: 1. Children eat the nut of the ripe fruits. 2. The leaf bases can be used, when tied together, two at a time, to create a bowl from which to drink. 3. In the past, the trunks were used to fashion a hunting spear used in tribal warfare. Further context withheld.

Scientific name: Veitchia spiralis, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of plantain

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of plantain (strong one)

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. shrub, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3490)

Example: 1. The larger stems of this plant can be used to build houses, for rafters. 2. It is also a good source of firewood. 3. Ancestors, before go to chief’s canal and want to talk about a complicated issue – a person would cut a branch and bring it to the sea and tap the water surface and would say what he wants, ask that he would want that issue to be solved and that others would follow his ideas and then go back to the meeting place and take stick, keep wind at his back, moving stick in all directions and then he will convince the people of his ideas. This is done by the chief’s spokesman. Helps convince the opposition. Helps keep power in hands of parent(??) chief rather than subchiefs who might have other ideas.

Scientific name: Glochidion ramiflorum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. shrub to 3 m, flowers yellow with red outer coverings (appearing red when closed) (collection: Michael J. Balick #4957)

Example: This plant is used to fertilize fields, especially by growing it in fields that have been used for other crops for a very long time. The seeds can be cooked when dry and hard, boiled in water, or eaten directly without preparation when green and soft.

Scientific name: Cajanus cajun, Speaker: Tony Keith

[narisin nɛpʧinoʊɣsin] n. lips

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. the north wind

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. the juice of the breadfruit tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 96

n. kind of cabbage

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 118

n. a kind of bamboo (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 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. To make house walls cut to length desired break stems into straps and weave ??. 3. Use stem to cook foods. 4. Container for carrying water. 5. Take tips and tie together and make a torch to go fishing on the reef, walk with the torch – this is a current practice in the East side. 6. Can cut a piece about 1’ long and sharpen edge and use to skin a green banana. 7. Traditional medicine – can use a small segment as a sort of container to carry the traditional medicine to the patient – for example when prepare a sea snake for remedy, or any medicine – to carry it. 8. Used as a container to preserve seeds such as corn, cucumber, beans and is covered with coconut fiber and put near (above?) the fire where it is dry, and the smoke from the fire will keep insects from attacking the seeds.

Scientific name: Bambusa vulgaris, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. lightning

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

n. sedge, 0. 5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3610)

Scientific name: Cyperus involucratus, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. shrub, somewhat scandent (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3443)

Scientific name: Acalypha grandis, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. fir; pine

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 150, 172

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4795)

Scientific name: Pipturus argenteus, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of bush

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nepiŋ θoʊ] n. night, moon has just gone down but enough light to see

Speaker: David Nasauman

[nɛpʧinoʊɣsin] n. mouth

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. tree to 5 m, dbh 12 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4917)

Example: Flowers are used to decorate the house and other areas as they are very fragrant. The leaves are used to cover taro cooked in an earth oven.

Scientific name: Gardenia tannaensis, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

[ɲɛsŋa nɛmtan] n. eye

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. grass to 70 cm tall, sterile. Cultivated at the side of a field. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4958)

Example: The leaves and stems are boiled in water to make tea. The base of the leaves (the whitish part) is used to cook foods that have a strong odor, such as goat or shark. The base is sliced and put in the soup and this helps to keep the smell of the goat or shark from infusing through the rest of the food and making it less palatable. In some areas of Aneityum, such as in cassava fields, there is a fungus that kills the crops. This species is interplanted with the crops to kill that fungus and protect the crop plants.

Scientific name: Cymbopogon citratus, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. tree. Found in the village. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #14)

Example: The young leaves and fruits are edible; the fruits are eaten ripe. This species is used for firewood as well as house posts, but they don’t last as long as other types of wood so they are used in temporary structures. A sacred plant on Aneityum. Name means linkage between this world and the spirit world. Agriculture – you find this tree growing, it means that the land is fertile. Birds eat fruits; people burn the tree to release ash and fertilizer and grow their taro around it – it will give more food. Message plant – if someone puts a long brown on your door or in your garden, it means “why are you here?” Implies that you should go back to where you belong. You don’t belong in this place. For example instead of quarreling over land dispute, put the branch and it means that you should leave this place.

Scientific name: Ficus adenosperma, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. brook

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 131

[nirinɟat erefera ran] n. tail (of a fish)

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

[nijom araheθ] n. lit. "round house"

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

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. sparsely branched tree, 12 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3208)

Example: The flying fox eats the fruit of this tree. When the fruits are ripe, the seeds are edible and children cut off the outside of the fruit and eat the nut. Wrap fish with this leaf and cook it on top of a fire--it tastes good. House posts are made from the trunk of the tree. It grows in the coastal area.

Scientific name: Cerbera manghas, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

[ninɛhɛn nʊmʊ] n. fish scales

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

[nipʧinɛtŋaŋ] n. belly

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. blossoms on breadfruit

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

[nitaʔtel] n. stool

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

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. knots where rope is tying pieces of canoe together

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. seed (general term)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nok͡pa] adj. grey ash (color)

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

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

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. shrub to 2 m tall, flowers pink (collection: Michael J. Balick #4955)

Example: The tubers of this variety are sweet, not bitter and are eaten after cooking. The young leaves are eaten after boiling in water until they are soft, either plain or cooked in soup. It is important to only harvest and prepare the young leaves in this way, as the older leaves will not get soft even after cooking. The young leaves are used to cover the top layer of the earth oven, on top of the stones that comprise the upper layer of the earth oven.

Scientific name: Manihot esculenta, Speaker: Tony Keith

[rabaθ] n. Peregrine Falcon

Example: Photo by Teddy Llovet, License: CC BY-NC 2.0 see more on Flickr See how this bird is featured in the origin story of Aneityum chiefs at see more on Youtube

Scientific name: Falco peregrinus, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

[tarinʤipnan] adj. very strong (has a lot of muscles)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. sweet potato

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of banana

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119