An example search has returned 100 entries
kaepaepae kequahu
n. type of flowering plant (collection: Michael J. Balick #5108)
Example: When woman does not have period for 2-3 months and is pregnant, people say the lizard could eat the baby. To avoid this, boil a handful of stem shavings in 1/2 L water, for 6 minutes and give this drink to the woman twice a day for 5 days. Then the bleeding will stop. There are also dietary restrictions: no coconut, oil, salt, curry. The woman can also not swim in sea for 5 days. But the baby will be healthy if these instructions are followed.
bookmark-scaled.jpg)
kareng reng
Whipfin silver-biddy
Example: Photo by ANFC, License: CC BY-NC 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkkarwase
n. type of flowering plant (collection: Michael J. Balick #5120)
Example: When parents go away to a feast or garden, children take a pile of soil 12 in. diameter, put this flower on top, surround wth some ashes and then hide in the house to wait to see if the dwarf spirit appears (Karwase Haruase). Sometimes the spirit will come and then scare the children. Ancestors used these spirits and games to teach children to stay together and not wander alone. As the dwarf spirit will take you.
bookmarkkepia
kuankiriage
n. large, well branched tree (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #4245)
Example: 1. The fruits are chewed for their juice and the remainder spit out. Locals refer to this as drinking the fruit. 2. The wood of the tree can be used as a post or rafter in either western-style or traditional style homes. 3. When in flower it is considered an appropriate time to clear a garden path for planting. When in fruit, it is time to plant yams in one’s garden.
bookmarkkwanaruru
makhum
Redbreasted wrasse
Example: Photo by BBM Explorer, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmark
nafeiruan
nauropag
[naropaŋ] n. well branched tree, 3-4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3037)
Example: Hunting: Flying foxes are known to eat the fruit of this tree. When the bats are desired, hunters will gather near this tree. Ceremonial: During kava preparation, chewed kava roots are placed on the green leaves of this plant before extracting. Many leaves are used for this purpose. Fuel: To make a fire, dried sticks are rubbed together on a plane of wood. The friction creates smoldering ash over time, useful for igniting dried material.
bookmarknawes
n. type of flowering plant (collection: Michael J. Balick #5091)
Example: When the fruit is ripe, it is put in a pot with water. Fill half of a large bag (2 liters) with fruit, add this to 2 liters of water and macerate the fruit in the water. Drink 2 cups/day of this extract, morning and afternoon, for one week to make skin oily when it is too dry. This is necessary, for example, when a person drinks too much kava and thir skin dries out. Eat young fruits as a protection from someone who wants to do you harm. It is said that the fruit has 10 eyes, and can watch after you. Cover fish with leaves to cook in a fire. Crush and boil pieces of the stem and leaves and dri
bookmarknepeka
kind of coconut, has the largest fruit of any coconut and the fruit is more oblong in shape
Example: The fiber from this variety (from the sheath base) is used for kastom ceremonies to cover kava when the young boys are coming out from their circumcision houses. This fiber is also wrapped around the middle of a bow to give it strength and help prevent it from cracking. The fiber can also be used to make a sleeping hammock as it is strong and clean
bookmarknerer
nevau
n. type of flowering plant (collection: Michael J. Balick #5114)
Example: Weave bark fiber to make slings, grass skirt for ladies, hats and baskets. To do this, rett outer bark in sea for 1 week to rot everything but the fiber, take remaining fiber, dry in sun and use as a fiber for weaving.
bookmarknikariteng
n. type of flowering plant (collection: Michael J. Balick #5029)
Example: Used to make a bird trap. Bleed sap from cut on stem of this tree onto fibers of the Pneumatopteris sp. (MB 5018). The fern fibers are then rolled into a ball and used to soak up the sap from the tree. Remove the fern fibers once you have a ball of sap. These fibers are then discarded. Then wrap the sap around the forked section of a Y-shaped stick (MB 5019, Tabernaemontana) followed by heating near a small fire (heat is blown from the fire to the part of the stick covered in sap). The sap then turns brown and gets stickier. Then the handle of the forked stick is put into a papaya that has alr
bookmarknisei
n. type of flowering plant (collection: Michael J. Balick #5031)
Example: For Kastom ceremonies, use this plant to decorate the roots of Kava that is given to a chief. Also used in women’s grass skirt for kastom dance. When young girls are getting their first period (menustration), they wear a grass skirt from this plant to be fragrant (in order to cover any blood smell).
bookmarknkhaourakou
n. shrub, 6 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3160)
Example: When a person is growing watermelons, you put a knife in the roots of the watermelon plants, and then cut a stick from this tree and drive it into the roots as well, to ensure greater numbers of watermelons will be grown.
bookmarknukuarangfam
n. type of flowering plant (collection: Michael J. Balick #5133)
Example: Stem for house building. Young leaves are very strong and used as plates during large kastom ceremonies. Sap can be used to cover sores from flies in order to protect it. Stem good for firewood as does not give much smoke--does not bother eyes as much as other wood.
bookmarknɨsori
penesu
Bridled Parrotfish
Example: Photo by John Turnbull, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkpenesu
Greensnout parrotfish
Example: Photo by Mark Rosenstein / iNaturalist.org, License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkpenesu
peragi
Orange-Socket Surgeonfish, Ringtail Surgeonfish
Example: Photo by ANFC, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkriuwiru
tapatou
Bigeye barracuda
Example: Photo by Philippe Guillaume, License: CC BY-NC 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmark
tauparsiur
n. large herb, growing at edge of garden. bracts red. (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3071)
Example: People use this to cover or wrap banana and cassava prior to cooking in a boiling pot; when the food is cooked the leaf is discarded. Flowers used for decoration. This is an imported cultivated plant.
bookmarktesereng
kind of yam, produces a tuber with white flesh and is said to be the original yam from this place on Tanna. It is harder to grow than many yams
Example: There is a story that an evil spirit stole this yam during the time of the ancestors, taking it from this area to the other side of the volcano. Because the spirit took the best part of the yam, leaving the worst part, this one became hard to grow
bookmarktukros ~ tukraus
n. once-branched tree, 4 m tall (collection: Gregory M. Plunkett #3139)
Example: Stem used to plant kava (use it like a spade) but even when you have a spade, you should still use this to dig the hole. The leaf is used to make laplap, a food made from taro or yam with coconut and other foods added. Take the leaf and wrap the laplap and then roast the package on the fire or cook the leaf in a pot of water.
bookmarkume tasiapen
Sleek unicornfish (deep sea)
Example: Photo by ANFC, License: CC BY-NC 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkwipin sarapiran
Common ponyfish (female)
Example: Photo by John E. Randall / FishBase EOL, License: CC BY 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmarkyanar
Flathead grey mullet, sea mullet, grey mullet
Example: Photo by ANFC, License: CC BY-NC 3.0 via Fishes of Australia
bookmark
There are currently 3233 entries, 3212 audio files, and 1236 images.
All content copyright © Nafe (Kwamera) community. (2015)
Nafe (Kwamera) Talking Dictionary produced by Martial Wahe, K. David Harrison, and Jeremy Fahringer (2015-2020).
Botanical consultants: Michael J. Balick, Gregory M. Plunkett, Laurence Ramon, Tom A. Ranker, Sean Thackurdeen, and Calvin Heiman. Field data transcribed by Isabella Mandis.
Nafe language contributors include Martial Wahe, Jean Pascal Wahe, Chief Johnson Noar, Emmanuel Maasi, Marie Emmanuel Maasi and others as credited within the dictionary entries. Based in part on materials from Lindstrom, Lamont (1986) Kwamera Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics. Series C, No. 95. Canberra: Australian National University.
The Nafe-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 and Martial Wahe. 2015-2020.
Nafe (Kwamera) Talking Dictionary.
Swarthmore College.
http://www.talkingdictionary.org/kwamera
Interface and database design under the direction of Jeremy Fahringer and Swarthmore College ITS.
Supported by
