Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Great Kalanguya Words

I don't know of an English equivalent for many of these words. I hope my definitions are adequate:).

obi ‘sweet potato’

ob.obi ‘shy to offer the food because it is too simple’

geb.geb ‘The food was too little to be satisfying.’

mak.mak ‘To eat much without manners by shoveling in large mouthfuls.’

kam.kam ‘scattered wood (sometimes other objects)’

ta.-im ‘Your poop.’ Used as a strong expression of disgust (similar to F---).’

em.-em ‘to prepare the logs needed to build the beams of a house’

bal.bal ‘to strike a stick repeatedly until the whole stick is frayed’

hu.weng ‘to put your hand into something covered (a hole, etc.)’

lit.lit.ten ‘to chase a person or an animal until he/she/it has no place to go’

ne.nem.nem.an ‘anyone (especially a child), who exhibits wisdom’

nem.nem.nem.men ‘to remember or bear in mind a lesson learned from experience’

ngih.ngih ‘to show one’s teeth’

pan.nem.nem.nem.man ‘a period of time to think about something’

kemkem ‘to blink (naturally)’

ka.ki.kem.kem.ma ‘s/he closed his/her eyes for a reason while awake’

kem.kem.ki.men ‘a child sitting and blinking his/her eyes after being rebuked (which causes the parent to become angry)’

a.-a.law ‘to move a little’

eb.-eb ‘when a chicken tries to hatch her eggs’

ne.ba-.kol ‘old woman’

ne.-a.me ‘old man’

4 comments:

  1. good you posted some of the words. hoping you are learning fast:) keep learning

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  2. nice words :) except for the 't...m.' :) It's not simply an expression of disgust. It's similar in function to the English four-letter word that the neighbors there loves to say. I wouldn't say t...m even if say, my life depends on it. :)

    I think the root of the word meaning 'to chase a person....' is "palitlit." It should then be 'palitliten.'

    The first 'k' in 'old woman' should be a glottal. :)

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  3. Thanks for the tips! I'll be sure not to say the first one:-)

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  4. Anonymous6:33 PM

    sipa ngay piyan es se len ni " kala ngudya"..proud of my kalanguya blood..keep on posting

    ReplyDelete