Kamakawi Word of the Day

meuto

• (adj.) difficult
• (v.) to be difficult
• (n.) difficulty

A meuto mawa i’i oku.
“Swimming isn’t difficult for me.”

Notes: This iku is a bit of a mystery. It’s clearly built off of me, so there’s a phonological component, but the little knot at the end mystifies me. I think the little knot is supposed to be the complication (and since there’s a complication, the iku is “difficult”). As for the little lines, I believe they’re there to fill out the rest of the space (otherwise there’d be blank space on either side of the line down). I guess then it’s best to call this an iku’ume. Works for me.

kakulu

• (num.) zero
• (pron.) nothing

Ei i kakulu tou!
“I am the mighty zero!”

Notes: Zero is, indeed, the mightiest of numbers—the archnemesis of one. Multiple anything by zero, and all you get is more zero. Compare that to pushover one, who gives you back just what you gave it. Pathetic! In fact, the same thing happens if you divide anything by one. Divide something by zero? Just try it. The very act causes lesser calculators to explode. All hail the mighty zero!

In Kamakawi, you can now use kakulu to mean “nothing”, but it’s a bit slangy. The standard and more general way to say “nothing” is still okuku.

feta

• (v.) to be quiet
• (adj.) quiet
• (n.) quietness

Feta ia! A olo ei a.
“Quiet! I am sleeping.”

Notes: This is a translation of the first lines of a favorite Smashing Pumpkins’ song of mine.

And now for a real treat. I’d eschewed interlinears on this blog (and others) because they simply don’t format correctly. Well, thanks to Carsten Becker (creator of Ayeri), we now have a WordPress plugin that does it for us! I found this extremely exciting. Here it is in action:

Feta

[ˈfɛ.ɾə

/be quiet

ia!

ˈi.ə

2SG

A

a

NS

olo

ˈɔ.lɔ

sleep

ei

ˈe.i

1SG

a.

a]

PRG/

“Quiet! I am sleeping.”

How about that?! Not bad! Basically what it does is it lines up the first word of each line; the second word of each line; the third, etc. This way you can see how each one is glossed. I totally love it! I’m still messing around with the settings, so this may look different if you look at it a few hours from now, but I couldn’t be more pleased with the way this works!

As for today’s word, the iku may look a bit familiar…or would if I’d done that word yet. Dang! Could’ve sworn I’d done that word. Well. When I do do that word, you’ll see why this iku gets classified as both an iku’ume and an ikunoala.

leti

• (v.) to be rusty, to be rust-covered
• (adj.) rusty, rusted, rust-covered

Leti ei!
“I’m rusty!”

Notes: Heh, heh. That’s a little play on a song from The Venture Bros.

Today’s word is an instantiation of a very old (and no longer productive) pattern. The word derives directly from late, the word for “rust”, and the iku also derives from the iku for late. Basically, a few lines have been added, making it look like this poor, upside-down metal bird is shining with rustiness. Ha. Love it.

late

• (v.) to rust
• (n.) rust
• (n.) rusting

Late ia, he Paleti! Late!
“Rust, Brady! Rust!”

Notes: Well, it wasn’t a great game, but it was a pretty good game—and it had the right outcome! There were a couple of outstanding plays and it was a close game the whole way, but in the end, the Patriots fell to the Giants: 21-17. Nothing makes me happier than to see Tom Brady and Bill Belichick suffer.

Today’s word isn’t related at all to the word for “metal” (moka), but the iku is. Check it out. Late, which means “rust”, is the iku for moka turned on its head (to indicate that something bad has happened to it). As metal in its natural state isn’t rusty, rusted metal is the “bad” version of it—hence, the iku.

iana

• (v.) to recognize someone (for something they’ve done)
• (n.) recognition

Iana’u iko tou!
“This could win an award!”

Notes: Next week I’m going to be giving a talk at SWTX PCA/ACA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and one of the professors volunteering her time to the conference created this video for my talk, which I thought was great. Heh, heh. Fire and blood! (Oh, and hey, Kenakoliku peeps: Check out the modified Halfsies font on there!)

Today’s word was created for a specific reason way back when, but the iku, I thought, really came out well. First it uses the li glyph as an ikuiku (symbolic of giving), and it uses the “good” circle determinative to represent the gift or award. Below it are some lines, which I thought were quite fetching. I thought it came out awesome. Unfortunately, I rarely ever have a reason to use this word—it’s a bit too specific. Oh well. I shall use it today, to say: Nice job, Tamy Burnett! Your video made my day.

ile

• (v.) to hate, to despise, to revile
• (n.) hate, hatred
• (adj.) hateful

Ile ei iu Patilioto!
“I hate the Patriots!”

Notes: The old Super Bowl is one week from today, and I’m not looking forward to it. Four years ago, the upstart, massively-underdog Giants beat the up to then undefeated Patriots in one of the most memorable Super Bowls of all time—some even call it the best ever. It was one of the best moments in American sports history.

And now they’re playing again.

If the Patriots win, it’ll be pretty much the worst thing ever. Though you can’t actually take away a previous championship, a New England win would make it feel like the first one was somehow a fluke. If the Giants win, that’s fine, but the finish to Super Bowl XLII was so incredible that we don’t need another one. It’s too bad, all around.

The iku for ile is a turned version of the iku for eli, “love”. Call me sentimental.

leota

• (n.) fire ant

I Ánatoni: A leota! Male awape eya okuka!
“For Anthony: A fire ant! We will never be lonely again!”

Notes: These guys are bad business. Don’t mess around with them!

Now for this…iku. One of the ones I’ve been avoiding. This may, in fact, be my least favorite iku of the entire bunch. I hate it. In fact, this isn’t even the original version: It’s the redone version. I still hate it. In fact, I hate it so much that I’m keeping it. After all, no writing system can be perfect (cf. “Q”).

Anyway, this thing is a combination of le, eo and ta. The things that look like antennae on the top come from le. I’m pretty sure that was intentional. Anyway, the whole thing is just a disaster.

And to add to it, I have no idea how to classify it. It’s composed entirely of phonological iku, which suggests an ikunoala, but it’s actually built off of a single iku, which suggests iku’ume. The antennae, however, make it look kind of antish, so it could be an iku’ui. Or I could just throw up my hands and say it’s an ikunima’u. Absolutely crazy.

Update: So…as occasionally happens, I forgot to do an example sentence. Long-time commenter Anthony caught me on it, so, Anthony, this one’s for you!

lako

• (n.) hook
• (adj.) hooked, having a hook
• (v.) to catch with a hook, to fish

Li lako i ia ko…
“The hook brings you back…”

Notes: And this one’s a quote from the Blues Traveler song “The Hook”. It’s a fun one.

The iku for lako is based on the iku for iloa, which means “shoulder”. It’s basically the same, but it has a little notch on the right side (make it look more hook-like). Real Kamakawi hooks aren’t so angular, but it does the job.

iunu

• (v.) to be slow
• (adj.) slow
• (adv.) slowly

Ale iunu, ale iunu…
“Go slow, go slow…”

Notes: This one’s a quote from a Fela Kuti song “Go Slow” (great one).

This iku is a bit of a mystery to me. We have the “ground” determinative there and also the “bad” line determinative, and that’s obvious enough. That “F” shape, though, has me puzzled… Could be something going fast (maybe a bird), and then the “bad” line determinative tells you it’s not that—i.e. it’s not fast, but slow.

OH! Ha, ha. Actually, it’s built off another glyph. So this one is both an ikuleyaka and an iku’ume. We haven’t seen that word yet, but now that I know it exists, I’ll be sure to put it up. I think it’s pretty good, the relationship; it makes sense.