snake
| Abilo pon i-ovei pe i-somoli mwaliko.This kind of snake can be harmful. |
| Abilo i-tataele ne tanoe.There’s a snake crawling on the ground. |
1sabo ne ene2sabo ne eo3sabo ne ini
Anatomy
1 – blood
| Men' one i-tabau i-woi visibaele ini ne touro, abo i-ke.My son fell down and hurt his knee on the reef; he was bleeding. |
| Abo peini ma i-udu.His blood was dripping from his hand. |
| Abo na, (abo) ne ngele?Whose blood is this? |
| I-ko i-la abo ne kaipa i-ko i-romo abo i-ko pi-tavie we tae.He wants to draw your blood and examine it to see if you are sick. |
poss. classifierne ① ⓑ▻①
1 – before hortative‘all right’, ‘let's’
| Abu ne-kila Puma!teleradioLet me try and ring the guys in Puma. |
| Abu le-romo kape i-ka we tae?Let's see if she'll come or not. |
2 – before imperative verbmarks polite order: ‘please’
| Abu bai-aiu ba-vio me ne-rom!Could you please stand up and let me have a look there? |
| Ab' u-leng' i-ka.Listen to me for a second. |
📘 Cognate with the conative prefix bu- ③.
Averb, intransitive
go down
1 – physical motiongo down
| Kape idi abia ponu na Aneve na, li-abu li-le li-vio n’ ole.Let everyone in the village go down and stand on the beach. |
2 – figsubside, slow down
| Pana iawo i-abu mijaka.The flames (of the fire) have died down a little. |
| O, tae, la-wañaka iada ka i-abu i-wene.That's all right, their dispute has gone down now. |
Bsecond verb, intransitive
1 – after intransitive verb(move+) down
| I-sabu i-abu ne ero.He fell down in the river. |
| Kuo pine ponu i-atili i-abu i-le.The huge canoe was sliding down (on the rollers). |
| Ero i-pu i-abu i-vagasi revo.The river flows down to the sea. |
2 – after transitive verb(take, move s.th.) down
| Li-toe dero i-abu.They cut down the cauri tree. |
| Ni-tabulu voko i-abu i-le ne gilita.I rolled a rock down into the valley. |
3 – geocentric meaningdownwind, towards north or west
| Ngiro Tangake i-aka i-abu i-kamai tev' iu ne.The Tangake wind blows down from the east. |
seetev’ tawo
Words for hitting and striking ✧ li-abu
| ~abu | hit w. hands; kill |
| ~ago | spear; shoot w. arrow |
| ~apini | kill, destroy |
| ~arevo | shatter, destroy |
| ~bei | squash, crush |
| ~la ~mini | strike hard |
| ~makoe ; ~mamakoe | broken, shattered |
| ~panade | split |
| ~pidi | strike w. supple object; lash, whip |
| ~tobo | poke; pierce |
| ~viane | hit w. foot, trample, stomp |
| ~vo ① | beat, pound w. long stick; crush |
| ~vokoiu | break; crush, destroy |
| ~wate | bang on ‹s.th.› |
| ~wete | spear; shoot; pound; grind |
| ~woi | stab; plant; erect, thrust; bang |
1 – hit, strike ‹s.th., s.o.›, typic. with o.'s hands
| Ka vitoko kape i-abu tanoma ini, ia i-abu i-kovi.He nearly hit her face; but he missed. |
| Dapa kula li-abu revo, me le-labu namuko.The others slap the water, in order to (scare and) catch the fish. |
| Vilisao i-abu toñaki pon.The ships were struck by a tornado. |
see~wete
2 – play ‹musical instrument› using hands
| Li-abu ukalele ka gita.They play the ukulele and the guitar. |
| Ngele i-abu?musicWho's playing? |
3 – kill, slay, murder ‹s.o.›
| Nga po idi le-sune ngele kape i-te, pon kape l-abu.If they found somebody around, they would kill him. |
| Tadoe tae: i-abu idi tae.He's not a monster, he doesn't kill people. |
synonym~apini
wash ‹clothes+› with water, esp. vigorously
| Kape n-abu lusa ene ne iaero.I'm gonna wash my shirt in the river. |
~abui (i·)aᵐbui verb, transitive
Caus. of ~abu ② ‘go down’
take ‹s.th.› down
| Pi-ka pi-abui ngatene upa pi-ko me p-ajau toñaki iote.We took our tools down (from the ship) so as to build another boat. |
see lexical list at~lui
abwa aᵐbʷa noun
Cf. (?) abo ② ‘blood’
1 – sap ‹of tree›: natural liquid coming out of a plant's trunk or stem
| Li-toe bale, abwa i-pu i-ke.When you cut at a breadfruit, sap will come out. |
| Abwa dero i-ke mina oie basavono po li-toe, i-ka i-beiu ka li-kila li-ko “tepulu peini dero”.The sap of the kauri tree runs out of the trunk when you cut it; then it solidifies, and we call it tepulu, “kauri gum”. |
2 – liquid characterized by its specific colour; hence colour
abwa nabene noun
tobacco colourred-brown colour
| Li-kanu ra ra li-ra abwa nabene.As they chew betelnut, what they spit out is red. |
abwa nga toloto
nga toloto
adjective
colour like the lagoonturquoise blue, blue-green
| Dapa ka li-romo i-katau kiñe tamate, lusa ini, temaka ene pe moloe, ene po koro, ene po nga toloto, ene ka ene nga toloto –They would observe the grass skirts, the dancing gear; which part was red, which part was white, which part was green, here and here… |
abwa bale aᵐbʷa ᵐbale noun
breadfruit gumresin of the breadfruit tree (bale), used as glue; hence glue
| Dapa Niteni li-loko viavia mamdeuko pe moloe, li-la abwa bale li-lateli ne mengela vilo, li-ejau viko iadapa ñei.The people of Santa Cruz collect the red feathers of the Cardinal honeyeater, then use breadfruit sap to glue them to a piece of wood: that's how they make their traditional money. |
abwaro aᵐbʷaro noun
Food
coconutcoconut ‘milk’, obtained by squeezing coconut flesh
| abwaro peini lurococonut milk |
see lexical list atluro
Grammar
their (food+): form of the possessive classifier used for food, tools, customary possessions etc. (enaka*), with a 3 plural possessor (see dapa)
| avtebe me vongoro adapatheir taro and almonds |
| Li-ejau none pine adapa ne kulumoe.They are preparing a huge meal for the villagers. |
| monone adapatheir (wooden) chest |
| ngaten' adapatheir food or their belongings |
| piene adapa Teanuthe language of (the people of) Teanu |
see lexical list atenaka
adie aⁿdie
Anoun, relational
2 – rear part of ‹s.th.›
| La-koie Teanu la-koie ne Adie Vono.They came on shore on Teanu via the rear side of the island. |
| Li-vio li-dai adie nuduro.They are standing behind the fishing vine. |
synonymviri
1 – what?
| A-vete a-ko ae?What did you say? |
| Na, piene adapa Teanu a-ko ae?How is this called in Teanu? [lit. this, in Teanu language, you say what?] |
| Na toñaki ae na?What sort of ship is this? |
📘 Sometimes longer form nganae*, from ngaten' ae.
2 – between pauseshesitation marker used when looking for one's words, esp. before a noun
| Enga ini iote li-ko, ae, Takole.It also had another name, (what is it?) Takole. |
seevele
1 – hollow out; remove stuff from ‹wood+›
| Tano ponu, li-ae mijaka me kava i-pu i-katau.This kava bowl has been hollowed out a little, to allow kava to flow along. |
| I-bo kuo awoiu, i-ae lema.Once he had cut out the canoe, he began to hollow out its inner part. |
POc*qaqe (?)
POc*qaRa
aero2 aero noun
POc*kaRi
Sea
1 – genseashell of any form
| Le-le ne touro li-odo aero?Shall we go to the reef shore and look for seashells? |
2 – espbivalve shell, traditionally used as an instrument to grate (~lu) coconut flesh or scrape the skin of tubers
aero we anive aero we anive noun
Sea
shellfish for dugongsmall cone shell used as traditional money (viko) in Vanikoro, and other parts of MelanesiaConus musicus ceylanensis.| Li-ia aero.scrape cone shells to make cowries |
| Li-loko aero we anive, li-si kangele i-ke mina.They collect cone shells, and cut off the mollusc part. |
1 – the sun
| Aeve pana!The sun's hot! |
| Li-tabe i-le i-wene ne aeve me kokoro.They bring it out to lie in the sun so it dries up. |
2 – espthe sun in its daily course, as a reference for indicating the time of the day
| Aeve ka i-vene labiou awoiu.The sun has long risen already. |
| Aeve ka i-le.[the sun has gone away] It is early afternoon. |
| Aeve ka i-tavali.[the sun has gone down] it is late afternoon. |
see lexical list atmoro ①
~ago (i·)aᵑgo
Bverb, indirect transitive
strike (s.o., s.th.: ñe) using a long object
| U-la tepao u-ago ñe namuko pon.You spear the fish with a harpoon. |
| Besungale ini emele ero me ini biouro, i-ago ñe eo kape u-bu.mythologyBesungale is a woman with long breasts, with which she can strike you to death. |
ai- ai· subject prefix
Grammar
you: variant of a- (2sg Realis prefix) before a vowel or certain monosyllabic roots
| Ai-ovei Cindy?Do you know Cindy? |
| Ka ai-ve?Have you given birth? |
Anoun, kinship
2 – classificatory father: any male member of the parental generation (F, FB, FZH, MZH…) except the maternal uncle (MB = gea)
~aiae (i·)aiae verb, intransitive
s.th.be difficult
| Piene adapa i-wen' moli, i-aiae tae!Their language is easy, it's not difficult. |
| Li-vete piene ñi i-aiae, ia li-lengi wako.They speak it with difficulty, but they understand it well. |
| Ni-romo viko i-aiae teve ene.Money is an issue for me. |
Ai’ akapa ajakapa noun
Christianity
our FatherGod
| Ai’ akapa i-tabe ma ini boso eo ka uña damiliko iono.blessingLet our Father raise his hand above you and your children. |
Grammar
form of the possessive classifier used for food, tools, customary possessions etc. (enaka*), with an impersonal possessor (idi ‘people’)
| Na tanoe aidi abia.This land belongs to everyone. |
| Noma li-lanasu idi ne kula none aidi, we viñe buioe aidi.In the olden days, black sorcery would make use of someone's leftover food, or of their leftover betel nut. |