Katavaka
katavaka
- (n.) height
- (adj.) high
- (v.) to be high
- (n.) altitude
A fule tava katavaka ti’i.
“I want the high banana.”
Notes: Not the one that’s easiest to grab, oh no: I want the high banana. You feelin’ me?
Well, it’s not quite a banana word, but it has tava in it—and the word tava in the example sentence!
You may recognize this word as being derived from katava, the word for “palm tree”. Katavaka is kind of like “palm tree-ness”, which is height (since that’s what they’re known for [well, among many other things]). I’ve extended that meaning to cover “altitude” as well. For some reason, I was imagining a weather station, far in advance of the current Kamakawi era, where scientists are studying volcanos, for some reason. And they needed a word for “altitude”, and, well, katavaka seems to fit the bill.
Tags: abstract, actions, concepts, structural, traits