Mostly comments on existing entries
Thomas H. Slone
THSlone at yahoo.com
Sun Jun 30 21:34:19 EST 2002
Note: the "*" below is used to indicate a reconstructed word in a
proto-language
New, perhaps localized noun phrases with "haus":
haus misin, haus kona: a Western-style house (used in the Gimi area
of Eastern Highlands Province (Gillison, 2002: 22)
Mami: the proto-oceanic word for one type of yam is "*mamis" (Osmond,
1998: 127)
Taro: the proto-oceanic word for taro is "*talo(s)" (Osmond, 1998:
127), so the attribution of Fijian origin by Mihalic may be too
specific. E.g., the Police Motu word for taro is "talo" (Wurm and
Harris, 1963: 78)
Satu: Possible etymology: satu means "one" in Indonesian, Malay and
many Austronesian languages. Dadu means die/dice in Indonesian
(Echols and Shadily, 1975: 180). Dahu means die/dice in Malay
(Hairul, 1987: 85).
Turnim Man: a pseudohermaphrodite (usage probably restricted to the
Sambia People, an Anga tribe in the Eastern Highlands) "In recent
years the Sambia have adopted from the Pidgin trade language the term
'turnim man,' to refer to their own hermaphrodites. The notion is
apt because it emphasizes (i) the "process-of-becoming" quality, and
(ii) the feeling that these ambiguous anatomical beings are driven
biologically to be more male-like persons." (Herdt and Davidson,
1988: 41)
Kebis: add noun form "wara kebis": watercress (Nasturium officinale)
(http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/Rainforest/frp-website/Publications/worksheets/SHEET3/biopidg_1.html)
References:
Echols, John M. and Shadily, Hassan (1975). Kamus Inggris-Indonesia.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University / Jakarta: P. T. Gramedia.
Gillison, David (2002). New Guinea Ceremonies. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
Hairul, Awang Sudjai (1987). Kamus Times: English-Bahasa Malaysia /
Bahasa Malaysia-English. Singapore: Times Educational, 2nd edition.
Herdt, Gilbert H. and Davidson, Julian (1988). The Sambia
"Turnim-Man": Sociocultural and clinical aspects of gender formation
in male pseudohermaphrodites with 5-alpha-reductase deficiency in
Papua New Guinea. Archives of Sexual Behavior 17: 33-56.
Osmond, Meredith (1998). "Horticultural practices." In: The Lexicon
of Proto Oceanic: The Culture and Environment of Ancestral Oceanic
Society. 1. Material Culture. Ross, Malcolm; Pawley, Andrew; and
Osmond, Meredith, eds., Pacific Linguistics C-152. Canberra:
Australian National University, pp. 115-142.
Wurm, S. A. and Harris, J. B. (1963). Police Motu: An Introduction to
the Trade Language of Papua (New Guinea) for Anthropologists and
Other Fieldworkers. Linguistic Circle of Canberra Series B-1.
Canberra: Australian National University.
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