[Mihalic] New terms from Harvesting Development
Ngawae Mitio
nmitio at lcs.unitech.ac.pg
Thu Nov 10 18:23:02 EST 2005
Re: [Mihalic] New terms from Harvesting DevelopmentI have heard all other terms, but definitely not
a.. nuspes: "customary payment by husband's kin to wife's kin" and
b.. beksaitbun: "customary payment by husband's kin to wife's kin"
This is my first time to hear these terms. I think their usage are specific to those locations and more as metaphorical so care should be taken in using them as if they were common terms understood by a majority of TP speaking people. It maybe that those people in Goroka have equivalent terms in their vernacular. If I had heard or seem them in written form, I would not have had a clue. In fact, I might had that they should be used since these terms already have their own meanings.
Ngawae Mitio
University of Technology
Lae
PNG
----- Original Message -----
From: Lise Dobrin
To: Mihalic
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 8:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Mihalic] New terms from Harvesting Development
For what it's worth, I am familiar with most of these from the Sepik coast: boskru with that meaning (generously extended to anyone sitting up front), kaibar with that meaning, and bata or batafrut, "butterfruit", with that meaning. I know my Orokaiva speaking (American) husband also had batafrut in Oro Province where he worked.
The only uses of nuspes I heard were much more general, referring to the physical features or appearance of people and especially game: "nose-face". One can hypothesize a metaphorical shift from that to a customary payment recognizing the contribution of something, like blood, from the mother's lain. But I guess we'd have to speak to the ethnographer to know more.
Lise
Here are some new terms from a book passing through my hands: "Harvesting Development: The Construction of Fresh Food Markets in Papua New Guinea" by Karl Benediktsson (University of Michigan Press, 2002). Phrases taken from glossary on pp. 277-280
beksaitbun: "customary payment by husband's kin to wife's kin" (Is this specific to Eastern Highlands Province, where Benediktsson did his research? What is the significance of this word?)
boskru: meaning broadened from standard to include truck or PMV driver's assistant
kaibar: "food bar"
kopimasin: coffee pulping machine
maket raun: "mobile market"
nuspes: "customary payment by husband's kin to wife's kin" (Is this specific to EHP? What is the etymology?)
bata: avocado
wel karuka: Pandanus brosimos
--
Dr. Lise M. Dobrin
University of Virginia
Department of Anthropology
Brooks Hall-PO Box 400120
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4120
434-924-3536
dobrin at virginia.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Mihalic mailing list
Mihalic at anu.edu.au
http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/mihalic
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/mihalic/attachments/20051110/b0ff04b6/attachment.html
More information about the Mihalic
mailing list