puripuri

[Ross Clark (FOA LING)]

 Since a fully supported local etymology for this word has not yet emerged,
I can no longer refrain from mentioning Maori /putiputi/ "flower". This word
has no Polynesian source; Williams' dictionary explains it as being from
English "pretty-pretty". (It's probably best known from a popular song "He
putiputi pai koe".) I note that Mihalic gives flowers as decoration as one
of the senses of this word. Any chance of a widespread but little-noticed
Pacific pidginism? (I must admit I can't recall coming across any early
attestations of such a word.)

Ross Clark

-----Original Message-----
From: John Burton
To: Multiple recipients of list
Sent: 10/12/2001 8:57 p.m.
Subject: Re: puripuri

I wrote a medium lengthy reply the day before
yesterday to show why a Motuan origin is preferred,
but this disappeared into thin air when I pressed
'send'. Anyway, informants I have asked recently -
Motu, Koiari, Moveave - agree on this. Strangely,
though, it is not the ?Lister-Turner (Chatterton 2nd
ed) dictionary of Motu.

Assuming a Motu origin is correct despite this, some
or all of Chalmers, Lawes and MacFarlane, together
with their Pacific Islander teachers and crewmen,
would have been commuting between Elevala, Daru and
Thursday Island during the 1870s and this would easily
account for an introduction to the Torres Strait,
thence to Cape York, where it is also use, thence to
Katherine.

Any further clues?
John Burton


> Where does "puripuri" originate? In the Torres
> Strait they swear it's from
> their western language Kala Lagaw Ya. Mihalic
> doesn't list it and I can't
> find it in Muhlhausler's work.
> 
> [My response is:]
> Don't know about the origin, but I know it's used as
> far as Katherine in the
> Northern Territory, as well as PNG.
> Craig Volker


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