Aneityum

v. to weed

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 68

[aj] v. fly

v. chew

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

v.n. sail from deep water

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[deseiʧ nadimi] phr. three men (there are)

Speaker: David Nasauman

adj. afar

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 121

conj. conjunction to join sentences together (used with "par")

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

[et elel] phr. is dripping

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

[itij] num. one

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. light winds

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 80

n. the white wood of a tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 85

n. shrub, 2. 5 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3471)

Example: 1. The fruit of this species are poisonous. In ancient times the ancestors used the "fork" (branch growing out of main stem) of this wood to catch lobsters between the two parts of the stem. 2. Fertilizer for taro, in case you are not cleansed, it is ok as this plant as fertilizer will cleanse you.

Scientific name: Geniostoma rupestre, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. tree, 6-8 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3618)

Example: The wood is good for house posts, as it is straight and strong.

Scientific name: Dysoxylum bijugum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of turtle

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. plant used to make ceremonial head wreath and neck garland

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. Pink whipray

Example: Photo by zsispeo, License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 via Flickr

Scientific name: Himantura fai, Speaker: Chris Nevehev

n. a breadfruit tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. tree to 10 m, dbh 1 m (collection: Michael J. Balick #4991)

Example: The young trees are a good source of lumber as they are straight and can be used as poles or sawn timber. This tree is also a source of firewood and is known to be easy to light and burns well. The fruits are a source of oil. Collect the ripe fruits, remove the seeds from the shell, macerate the seeds to release the white endosperm inside, place this in a pot without water and heat it. The brown-yellow oil will come out from the crushed fruits. It is good for using on the body but not edible. It is a good massage oil, or to lubricate the skin or to heal small wounds. For the latter, drop some oil on the wound once daily until the wound heals.

Scientific name: Aleurites moluccanus, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

[inmeg inʤupʤupura] n. night, night before the moon comes out

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. kind of fish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. a brook that is dry in summer

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 131

n. unbranched treelet, 1. 25 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3526)

Example: People use the leaves for cooking any ground up food that is cooked on a fire such as manioc or bananas, roasted or boiled in water. Fish can be cooked this way. The roots of this plant can be cooked in an earth oven. These need to be cooked for 2 days or 2 nights, lke a yam. The plant has large roots that are good to eat. Chew like a piece of surgarcane, the taste is sweet like honey. Swallow the juice and spit out the fiber. The roots, once cooked, can be stored for 6 months. In ancient times they were eaten during times when there was no food. This food is said to be able to sustain a person for one day, if eaten in the morning, the person not be hungry until sunset. Today, people eat this plant at festivals, as it is no longer a famine food.

Scientific name: Cordyline fruticosa, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. rudder for back of canoe

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. Spathoglottis petri (RPV #166)

Scientific name: Spathoglottis petri, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. high tide

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

n. Melastoma malabathricum (RPV #132)

Scientific name: Melastoma malabathricum, Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. tree, 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3497)

Example: The milky sap of this plant is poisonous. Fruit is very poisonous! If a child accidentally consumes this sap it causes them to vomit and they must drink water. Leaves are part of an unspecified spirit medicine.

Scientific name: Cerbera manghas, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. low-growing, creeping vine growing in grassy area just inland from coastal strand. Flowers yellow. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3223)

Example: A "calendar plant". When the flowers open, the birds are said to be fat and good for hunting.

Scientific name: Dendrobium mohlianum, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

[naθi aθiat upni] phr. Good morning. (greeting in mid-morning, after 10 o’clock)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. flax

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 151

n. dwarf (North dialect)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nalauba] n. Emerald Dove

Example: Photo by Dr. Raju Kasambe/Wikimedia Commons, License: CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Scientific name: Chalcophaps indica, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. shrub to 1. 5 m, dbh 4 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #5005)

Example: In areas such as this, where more traditional leaves used to wrap lap-lap are scarce, this leaf can be used as it is quite large.

Scientific name: Cyrtandra, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

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. kind of sugarcane

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. herb to 30 cm, fruits green. (collection: Michael J. Balick #4934)

Example: Take the leaves, squeeze out the juice in a cup of water, drink 3x daily for 3 days to treat dengue fever--use one handful of leaves in a cup of water and drink cool. The fruits are edible. Peel the outer part off and eat like a tomato.

Scientific name: Physalis angulata, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

n. epiphyte on fallen tree branch with abundant mosses, growing in rain forest on the mountain slope. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3291)

Scientific name: Davallia pusilla, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. a cloud, blackness, darkness

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 114

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4765)

Scientific name: Adenanthera pavonina, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. tree. Growing in village garden. (collection: Ashley A McGuigan #20)

Example: 1. 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. 2. Plant used to check with fish has ciguatera, in same way as other collection – GMP #4768. Stick white – OK to eat. Stick black or brown – not good.

Scientific name: Erythrina variegata, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of crab

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. epiphytic fern on tree trunk, growing in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4087)

Example: 1. The name refers to a crustacean and also to the spines of bamboo.

Scientific name: Prosaptia contigua, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. wind-related term; no definition provided

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. the juice of the breadfruit tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 96

n. Squaretail mullet

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

Scientific name: Liza vaigiensis via FishBase, Speaker: Jack Keitadi

n. the north-east-east wind

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 113

n. withered banana leaves

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 97

n. treelet, 2 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4065)

Example: 1. When a sea shell pricks you "Inlac", a person can be lifted by magic using these leaves. Further information about this use withheld.

Scientific name: Macropiper latifolium, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

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. shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3512)

Example: This plant is used as fertilzer to place on bottom of the taro patch in the same way as GMP #3456 to help "feed the ground" for next year. The leaves are used to wrap food. When a person is chewing kava, pile the chewed kava roots on the young leaves of this species. Also, an unspecified medicinal use.

Scientific name: Acalypha grandis, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of tree

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 117

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. bunch of bananas; also "nigainohos"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 98

[nɛjsindiɛn] n. fish anus

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. kind of bird

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

[nɛlop] n. back fin (of fish)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. shrub, 1 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3724)

Scientific name: Acanthus ilicifolius, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of bush

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of shellfish

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. epiphyte on syzygium tree, growing in secondary forest along trail above river. old fruits. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3660)

Example: Put several leaves of this species together to wrap food, especially the fresh water eel, and to carry plants of taro, kava, holding the leaves over one’s shoulder to carry these crops.

Scientific name: Procris pedunculata, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. herb to 4 m tall, male flowers white (collection: Michael J. Balick #4977)

Example: The fruits are edible and eaten when ripe. To soften beef or octopus, or other meat that is tough, chop green fruit and put in a bowl with meat/fish and then add some water. Allow to sit for 30 minutes or if the food needs to be softer, then leave it in longer. The leaves are used to feed lobsters that are being kept in cages underwater, following their harvest. The leaves are used to cover stones on the earth oven. To treat a person with Ciguatera illness, wash many very gren fruits of papaya, the smallest ones that form at the top, and eat these to help relieve symptoms.

Scientific name: Carica papaya, Speaker: Tony Keith

n. Barringtonia asiatica L.

Example: inner bark: ground, added to dug pools in the sea as fish poison

Speaker: Bradacs 2011, p. 442

[niaŋa ra ʊpsiʤman] n. fingernails (many)

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. Humpback unicornfish

Example: Photo by Ross D. Robertson / Shorefishes of the Neotropics, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia

Scientific name: Naso brachycentron via FishBase, Speaker: Chris Nevehev

[niθin neaiɣ] n. coconut milk

Speaker: David Nasauman

n. tree to 4 m tall, dbh 8 cm (collection: Michael J. Balick #4942)

Example: Wood is strong and light so used to build houses.

Scientific name: Melicope latifolia, Speaker: Natu Kenneth

[niʧinɛθoʊn] n. knee

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

n. fallen tree, growing in canopy gap in primary forest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3465)

Example: When the flowers of this plant are green, it is an indication that the cool season is approaching; when the flowers are brown, the dry season is coming. The wood is used to make rafters for the roof of houses, on which to tie thatch.

Scientific name: Commersonia bartramia, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

[ninɛhɛn] n. scales

Speaker: Ruben Nerian

[nipatunanin] n. goat horns

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. turtle shell

Speaker: Chris Nevehev

[nipʧin ɲelas] n. crab

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

Speaker: Osiani Nerian

n. stick for coconuts

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. grass to 1 m tall, florets brown (collection: Michael J. Balick #4973)

Example: This grass is used to thatch the roof of a traditional house. Tie bunches of the grass on a stick ca. 2 m long, using string from Pandanus or other vines. Lay these on the roof and tie these sticks with grass on crossbars to secure them. The flowers of this grass are harvested and put in bags to make pillows. The flowers are soft and easy to gather and make a nice pillow.

Speaker: Tony Keith

n. terrestrial fern, growing along ridge in dense rainforest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4121)

Example: 1. The name means "fish gill". When one acquires a culture-bound illness, caused by possesion of the sea devil, this plant is used to prepare a remedy. Further information about the illness and remedy withheld.

Scientific name: Schizaea dichotoma, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. kind of flowering plant (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4760)

Scientific name: Polyalthia nitidissima, Speaker: Wina Nasauman

n. a tree, the leaves of which have no center rib

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

n. tree from which petticoats or skirts are made

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 103

n. breadfruit; also "nohwanma"

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 104

n. kind of banana

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. kind of banana

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. ripe bananas

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

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. berry

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 128

n. kind of taro

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 119

n. kind of plant, grass, or fern

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 120

n. tree, growing in disturbed forest. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3458)

Example: The stems of this plant are used to hold thatch on a roof, especially for round houses as this wood can bend easily.

Scientific name: Dysoxylum bijugum, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. kind of fish (folk name)

Speaker: Romario Yaufati

n. epiphyte on Syzygium tree, growing in secondary forest along trail above river. old fruits. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3660)

Example: Put several leaves of this species together to wrap food, especially the fresh water eel, and to carry plants of taro, kava, holding the leaves over one’s shoulder to carry these crops. Used as a baby’s remedy for when the baby is crying too much because the parents are having to much sex. The baby will also be slow to grow and be thin. To remedy this, must wash the baby with the following mixture: nekei atimi (bark), nohos atimi (green skin of the stem), nepnatimi ataman (part not specified). Scrap about 1 inch cubed of the nekei atimi into your hand along with 1in x 4in of the first layer of the green skin of the banana stem (nohos atimi), and the top 8 leaves from about two separate branches of the nepnatimi ataman. Bind all ingredients together and pound them and put everything in the baby’s water for bathing. Wash the baby in water made with this mixture. Do not wipe the baby dry but let it air dry. The next day when you wash the baby with soap, you must re-wash them with the mixture again. Do this for 5 days with the same water mixture. It may small bad but that is okay. Finally on day 5, take the juice from the outter layer of skin on the stem of the banana, nohos atimi, and give a full spoonful of the juice to the baby to drink. Other plants can be added to the bathing water but these are the three primary ingredients.

Scientific name: Procris pedunculata, Speaker: Titiya Lalep

n. a brook that is dry in dry weather

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 131

adv. seaward

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 107

[rak͡pad] n. black hawk

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi

adv. downwards or westwards

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 108

adj. sour, applied to the water in coconuts

Speaker: Inglis 1882, p. 110

v. live

Speaker: Kirk Keitadi