Falele
falele
- (n.) forest
- (adj.) green
- (v.) to be green
- (n.) greenness
- (n.) foliage, greenery
U ala ie falele.
“Then we arrive at the forest.”
Notes: So I have a funny story about this word. For the Second Inverse Relay, Arthaey Angosii (creator of Asha’illewas using Kamakawi.
Oh, wait, let me back up. In an inverse relay, participant A translates a text into participant B’s language, then sends it to participant B. Participant B decodes the message, and translates it into participant C’s language, then passing it on to C, and so on. So everyone is using someone else’s language. It’s a lot of fun!
Okay, back to the matter at hand. Arthaey translated what should have been a very simple sentence—the one you see above. When translating it for myself, though, I looked at falele and thought, for some reason, that it just meant “grass”. It, of course, does not. I racked my brain trying to figure out what the heck “We then arrive at the grass” meant, finally assuming that she meant “grass plains”. In my version, then, I translated it into something like “grass plains” (in Sylvia Sotomayor’s Kēlen, which was the language I was using) and passed it on.
Of course, she actually meant “forest”, which seems reasonable, since that’s what falele actually means! What a hoot. There I was, flummoxed by a word that I myself had created—and one that I should know right off the top of my head. That one deserves to go in the conlang blooper reel.
The word for “green” was a later addition to the Kamakawi color system, which is why it was derived from the word for “forest” or “foliage”. Hmm… Foliage sounds good to my right now. Leafiness. I wonder where it is to be had here in Southern California…
Tags: abstract, color, land, natural, plants, substances, traits