Saksak & Sanguma

[Thomas H. Slone]

1. John Burton asked for additional entries for saksak.  Quotes are 
from Wantok's Stori Tumbuna

nil bilong saksak: sago thorn, sometimes used to kill pigs by stealth
"Na tupela i kisim sampela nil bilong saksak na sutim long pikinini 
bilong kwambi, na tupela i tromoi i go daun long dispela tupela pik 
long kaikai." [Kwambi is an Abelam word.]

bun bilong saksak: the thorny sheath of the sago palm
"Long dispela tupela i pasim tok pinis, na long moning long narapela 
de, tupela i go wantaim bilong katim saksak pinis, na tupela i rausim 
bun bilong saksak, na man bilong em i paitim saksak i stap long akis 
tumbuna."

meme bilong saksak: inedible sago pith
"Em i go na i lukim meme bilong saksak na i subim susa aninit long 
meme bilong saksak."

skrapim saksak: to scrape sago pith as part of its preparation as food
"Em i tokim ol pinis na em i go skrapim saksak."

wasim saksak: to rinse sago pith so as to remove toxins
"Long wanpela taim tupela susa i go wasim saksak."

wokim saksak: to process sago so as to make it edible
"Na i no longtaim pikinini i go long ples we papa bilong em i save 
wokim saksak."

basket saksak: basket made of sago leaves
"Em kisim basket saksak wantaim na umben bilong painim pis na em i 
bihainim ol marit meri i go."

saksak tru: cultivated sago (as opposed to wail saksak)

Unitech has a slide show on the Web on traditional sago production 
(but it's slow loading):
http://www.unitech.ac.pg/Unitech_General/Departments/Applied_Science/SagoWebPage/sago/index.htm

and traditional products:
http://www.unitech.ac.pg/Unitech_General/Departments/Applied_Science/SagoWebPage/uses/index.htm


2. John asked for other variants on the definition of sanguma. 
Murphy (1985: 100) defines sanguma rather specifically: "The term 
originally comes from Madang where it was used to describe a species 
of malign sorcery and also the person gifted with the power of 
performing it.  It was performed by bringing about an apparent 
mesmerism of the victim by the sorcerer who then led him to his 
assistants and then the thorns were pushed into parts of the body 
where it was desired pain or illness would manifest itself and 
eventually cause the death  of the victim.  A short thorn was pushed 
into the tongue causing it to swell so that the victim could not talk 
and tell the name of the sorcerers.  The thorns were dipped in a 
special secret brew which apparently rendered them poisonous.  The 
victim invariably died.  The term has spread to other parts of the 
Territory to describe similar sorcery where the victim first 
undergoes mesmerism or is frozen with fright."

-- 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/private/mihalic/attachments/20020902/b6df3602/attachment.htm