[Mihalic] words from Fijian

[Ross Clark (FOA DALSL)]

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas H. Slone [mailto:THSlone at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Monday, 15 September 2003 11:38 a.m.
To: mihalic at anu.edu.au
Subject: [Mihalic] words from Fijian


Here is some information on words in TP from Fijian.  Source of information
is:
Capell, A. (1968). A New Fijian Dictionary. Second Edition. Suva, Fiji:
Government Printer.
The dictionary is based on the Bau dialect of Fijian.

dinau: Fijian meanings: "a bargain", "money promised", debt (Capell, 1968:
51)

lotu: Fijian meaning: the Christian religion (Capell, 1968:  126) 
 
Yes, but it has the same meaning in Samoan, which is a known source for TP.
The word appears at least as early as 1840 in Fiji/West Polynesia and areas
missionized from there, meaning to pray, to worship, to be a Christian. We
can see the outlines of a pre-Christian meaning of this word in some
Polynesian languages, but it tends to be obscured by the new meaning. I
would say Samoan as the immediate source for TP, though the word may be
ultimately Tongan (as Pratt says).
 
Ross Clark
 

talatala: Fijian meanings: messenger, missionary, minister (Capell, 1968:
215); "tala" in Fijian means "to send" or "to send a person" (Capell, 1968:
214)

talinga: Capell (1968: 43, 361) confirms Ross Clark's statement about
ear/mushroom crossover in Fijian: "daliga" means ear in Fijian (Capell,
1968:  43, 361).  "Daliga ni kalou" means mushroom or fungus (Capell, 1968:
43, 361).

miti: No indication of a similar meaning as the Tok Pisin "missionary"
-- 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/mihalic/attachments/20030917/c18140ab/attachment.htm