I Dictionary

I

i

1.[preposition, locative and temporal]  at, on, in. Maatou e nnoho i Sikaiana, ‘we live on Sikaiana’; te vaka e au i te aho tapu, ‘the ship will arrive on Sunday’.

2.[preposition, far cause]   from, by, because of. Na hale henua ni maseu i a Piukana, ‘the clan houses were destroyed because of Buchanon’; a nau e lihutia i toku soa, ‘I am sad because of my friend/lover’.

3.[preposition, range]  to, about. Na tama uli e hihai i na tamaahine o Sikaiana, ‘Solomon Islanders love the Sikaiana young women’;  a nau e talatala i te mea oku kalemata ni kite ai, ‘I am going to talk about what I saw with my own eyes’.

4.[preposition, source]  from. Te vaka ni uhu i Luaniua, ‘the ship departed from Luaniua’; a nau ni sui na leuleu i te Sanamanu, ‘I bought the clothing from the Chinaman’.

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ia#1

[grammatical particle, phrase marker]   ia can set off one phrase from another or mark a contrast between two phrases. Laatou ia e olo ki Honiara, ka maatou ia e nnoho i Sikaiana, ‘they are going to go to Honiara, but we are going to stay on Sikaiana’.

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ia#2

(from PPN ^ia).

[personal pronoun, 3rd singular]  he, she. A ia ni hano kiHoniara, ‘he went to Honiara’.

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iaa

(from Eng ‘year’).

[n] year.

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ihi

(from PPN ^ifi ‘chestnut species’).

[nf]  a tree species whose fruit is eaten.  Chestnut species? Before the conversion to Christianity, the harvest of this fruit was regulated by the chief {aliki} during the huata. Varieties include: ihi uui, a greenish nut; ihi mmea, reddish nut; ihi kita, a variety with a small nut.

sa: huata.

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iho

(from PPN ^hifo).

1. [direction particle following verb] down: Haele iho, ‘walk down’; kkahi iho, ‘summon down’; tele iho, ‘run down’.

sa: ake, mai, atu.

2.[comparative follows some stative verbs] less than. Lliki iho, ‘smaller, younger’; potopoto iho, ‘shorter’.

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ika

(from PPN ^ika).

[nf]  generic term for fish that applies to most sea animals, including: pusi, eel fish; honu, turtle; ula, crayfish; samono, dolphins; taholaa, whales; sua kolokolo, squid.  The term does not include kava, sea slugs; pilipili, octopus; or shellfish.

cn manu #1.

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ika hatu

[nf]  a fish species, a large grouper.  This is normally the fish that is caught in the deep sea fishing technique, hakasolo.

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ika tapu

[nf]  a fish species, a blue colored trevally.

e: malau seli.

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ika tili

[n]  the ceremonial name given to the people who sponsored a person’s participation in the ceremony, kunaaika.  Usually, these are the guardians {tupuna} of participants.  (PCR).

sa: kunaaika #1.

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ikilaa

[n, location]  there.

sa: laa #4.

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ikinaa

[n, location]  there, in sight near listener.

sa: naa.

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ikinei

[n, location]  here.

sa: nei.

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ili

1.[vt]  to fan with a handheld fan {ili}.

ps: ilihia <to be blown on by the mouth of someone else>,

rp: iliili.

2.[na]  a fan made of local materials, used for cooling.

3.[vt]  to blow into: ili te puu, ‘blow the conch shell’; ili ffula, ‘to inflate as inflating a balloon’.

4.[na]  the spade suit in card games.

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iloa

[vp, but most frequently used in form Agent luu + e + Agent Patient] to know, to know how, to be familiar with, to understand. Koe e iloa i te talatala laa?, ‘do you know that speech?’; a koe e luu e koe, ‘you know’.

sa: ssili.

ps: luu, iloa.

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iloilo

[na]  a ritual spear or stick used by the pule during rituals, including after the teika lle when the pule goes to the outer islands {Muli Akau} to placate the spirits {tupua}.

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inaho

[n]  a group or school of large fish when outside the reef.  Idiom:  te inaho ku hakamaa, lit.: ‘the school of fish are making the top of the ocean white; someone is trying to attract our attention’.  Idiom: te inaho ku tooa, a phrase denoting that over 10 skipjack tuna {atu} have been caught, at which time there was singing and celebration.

sa: kunaaika#3, manavali, tau #1.

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inaki

[np]  the sections of roof thatch of a house; an inaki measures one length of thatch from the top of the roof to the side of the house and spans the distance between two of the rafters for lashing {oka ato}.

wh: hale,

sa: pola.

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india

(from Pis ‘India’).

1.[n]  a person of Asian ancestry, a man from India.

2.[vi]  to be cheap, tight with money, to not spend money freely.  (Demeaning).

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ino

[vs]  to be at a slant, as a tree that leans to its side.  Idiom:  te laa ku ino, ‘afternoon time’. Rare).

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inoa

[no]  a reciprocal kinship term between a mother’s brother and a sister’s children; all true and classificatory brothers of a genetic mother and (for a male speaker) all children of a classificatory sister. ( Traditionally, a respect relationship. Many people discussed this relationship during my stay and claimed that they felt some restraint to their inoa. But an elderly woman described the traditional relationship as involving a very distant classificatory mother’s brother.)

do: hai inoa <to be in the relationship described above>.

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io

(from PPN ^io).

[no]  flesh, meat.

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ise #1

[vt]  to drive away chickens or other small animals from inhabited areas.

ps: isenia.

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ise #2

[nf]  a fish species, garfish species.

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isi #1

[v]  to have, to possess. I te stoa, te tupeka e isi, ‘at the store, there is tobacco’; e isi too soa?, ‘do you have a friend or lover?’.

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isi #2

[vt]  to peel one strip at a time, as one peels a banana.

rp: isiisi,

ps: isia.

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isu

[vs]  to hurt, to be in pain, to be sore. Te manava ku isu, ‘the stomach aches’; te pohoulu ku isu, ‘the head aches’.

do: hakaisu pohoulu <to cause a headache, to be bothersome or troublesome>.

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isuisu

[vs] to hurt off and on, to hurt occasionally.

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ita

[vp]  to be revolted by physical contact with a certain person, to shudder at physical contact with a certain person, as a child with a stranger. Te tama likiliki e ita i na tama mmaa, ‘the small child cringes from body contact with Europeans’.

ps: italia.

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ivi

[no]  *bone: ivi tua, ‘back bone’; ivi pohoulu, ‘skull’; ivi i loto, ‘the central bone of a fish’; ivi tane, ‘sacrum’.

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