Kamakawi Word of the Day

fila

• (v.) to be heavy
• (adj.) heavy
• (n.) weight
• (nm.) a boy or girl’s given name

Fila nea ima…
“She’s so heavy…”

Notes: From the Beatles’ song of the same name (a good one!). Fila is a straightforward combination of fi and la, which, honestly, I’ve never liked the look of. Especially in the font, it looks kind of jumbled. But that’s the way of it with characters like these.

Fila is also a name, believe it or not. It’s generally given to babies that are heavier than usual (perhaps a kind of revenge for a mother that’s had a particularly difficult labor). To learn more about the name, go here.

peka’u'u

• (n.) homeland

Kiko nemei ei ie peka’u'u li’i.
“Today I leave my homeland.”

Notes: I’m currently sitting in the John Wayne Airport (not at my actual gate, since there—and nowhere else—the outlets aren’t working) getting ready to fly to the wilds of eastern North Dakota. I won’t be there long, though, as I’ll immediately head over to western Minnesota for the 2011 Faith, Reason & World Affairs Symposium to spread the good word about conlanging. It should be fun, provided it isn’t going to be as cold as the Weather Channel seems to think it’s going to be (no room for a jacket). Plenty nice in the airport, presently.

We’ll see if I can keep up with the word of the day posts. If anything, I should only miss a day—two at the most. I’ve got other things to do with the computer right now, though, so I’m going to attend to those. Happy day to one and all!

le’o

• (n.) egret

Eli ei ie le’o hu’u!
“I love the mighty egret!”

Notes: Man, oh, man! I can’t believe I haven’t done the word for egret yet! Not only is the iku one of my favorite iku of all time, but I have a bunch of cool egret pictures and egret stories (seriously I do)! I remember telling them; can’t believe I haven’t yet. Anyway, to get us started, here’s egret picture #1:

Look at that jaunty little bird! What a sport! This was one of the many egrets my wife and I made friends with in Jamaica. In the days to follow, I shall have more egret pictures and stories (and related words).

Anyway, since I said I would, here’s my (current) fantasy roster (starters first then bench):

• QB: Tony Romo (Dallas)
• RB: Jahvid Best (Detroit)
• RB: Ryan Grant (Green Bay)
• WR: Calvin Johnson (Detroit)
• WR: Roddy White (Atlanta)
• WR: DeSean Jackson (Philadelphia)
• TE: Kellen Winslow (Tampa Bay)
• K: David Akers (San Francisco)
• DST: San Diego Chargesr
• QB: Matthew Stafford (Detroit)
• RB: James Starks (Green Bay)
• RB: Daniel Thomas (Miami)
• WR: Davone Bess (Miami)
• WR: Greg Little (Cleveland)

For those who follow football, you can see I’m soft at running back—and I’ve also got too many Detroit players. I’d love to move Ryan Grant (since I don’t believe in him at all) and Tony Romo (since I hate him), but I’m thinking of moving Calvin Johnson for a decent starting wideout and a major upgrade at running back (just so I don’t have so many players on Detroit). I’m quite happy I got former Cal standouts DeSean Jackson and Jahvid Best, though (and I seriously considered picking up Marshawne Lynch). Anyway, as far as I’m concerned, this is a starting point, not the end point. We’ll see what deals I can make to improve my lot.

i’iki

• (n.) chicken (when it’s food), chicken meat

Kiko ka hava ei i i’iki.
“Today I had chicken.”

Notes: Today’s word derives, unsurprisingly, from the word iki, “chicken”. In Kamakawi there’s a distinction drawn between an animal and the meat of that animal. I decided to do this on purpose, but I now forget the reason… I’m pretty sure it was high-minded, but I don’t know if I agree with the sentiment any longer (especially as I can’t remember what it is). Nevertheless, the distinction remains.

There’s a famous case of lexical ambiguity that involves chickens that’s discussed by Sanford Schane in his class “Language and the Law” (you can see a syllabus here). The case (which you can read up on here) involves a fellow who ordered some chickens, and when they arrived, he discovered they were stewing hens (ones used primarily for stock or in soups) as opposed to young chickens, which are used for eating generally (fried chicken, roast chicken, etc.). He refused to pay for the stewing hens, claiming that they’re not what he ordered. The guy who sent the stewing hens claimed that they were, technically, chickens. The court ended up finding in favor of Frigaliment (the guy who expected young chickens) because while the stewing hens were chickens, it was ruled that any ordinary person who heard “chicken” would not expect a stewing hen (kind of like if someone is looking for bachelors, presenting them with a three week old male baby wouldn’t fit the bill—though the little fellow would, technically, be a bachelor).

Anyway, I brought this up because it occurred to me that the Kamakawi term would solve this ambiguity, but it does’t, actually: I’iki would be used for both stewing hens and young chickens that have been slaughtered for their meat. Oh well.

In other news, today is my good friend Scott Yarborough’s 30th birthday. For my very close friends, he is the last one to turn 30 in our year of 30s. Today we are officially “real” adults, and can no longer use our youth as an excuse for anything. We’re all old and supposed to be responsible. Oh well. It was a good run, while it lasted.

But yeah, happy birthday to Scott! Of us men of a certain age, you are the youngest. Today our hats are off to you. Tomorrow… Well, tomorrow is another day (which isn’t so bad after all).

ioine

• (n.) wedding

Ka puke ioine.
“The wedding has concluded.”

Notes: And happily. I don’t know if I’ve been to a better wedding outside my own. Check this shot out:

I could probably say more about Kamakawi weddings here, but I feel a bit drained, so I’ll have to save it for later.

oine

• (n.) marriage
• (v.) to wed, to marry
• (n.) spouse

Kiko oine nanai oi’i ie nanai oilea.
“Today my friend marries his friend.”

Notes: So, truth be told, I should get eight hours of sleep tomorrow; we’ll see if I do. Just got back from the first bachelor party I’ve ever thrown (mostly successful), and today my friend gets married. He’s a little stressed, but he’s sleeping soundly right now, so for the time being, my job is done.

I absolutely couldn’t be happier for him. He’s found the woman he loves and wants to spend the rest of his life with. I know the feeling, and nothing beats it. Can’t wait to see him off.

nute

• (n.) wrasse

I nute pe.
“There are wrasses in there.”

Notes: Preparing for a wedding, time kind of slipped away from me. The wrasse is a really neat looking fish. I wholeheartedly encourage you to google it and take a look. Some wonderful shots on the web of wrasses!

I don’t have much to say about the wrasse as a fish. I think it’s a great looking fish, and I’m sure the Kamakawi would have more to say about them than I do presently. But I am who I am, so I’ll leave it at this.

keiki

• (n.) dolphin
• (nm.) a woman’s given name

Hava ue i tainu uomoko!
“A takeke keiki i kaneko… Ai lavaka?”

Notes: Today’s word of the day comes in response to a comment on yesterday’s post, but today’s example sentence comes from the fact that I completely, totally and utterly forgot to do a Caturday post last Caturday—and I just realized it right now.

So you can imagine how I feel at this moment.

I’m not quite sure how I’m going make up for this egregious oversight. I know how it happened, of course: I was in Reno, far away from my kitty, and I forgot. (Which is odd because I missed her the whole time.) I can assure you all it won’t happen again, but I’ll need to do something special this Friday…

For more information about the name Keiki, go here.

tainu

• (n.) mahimahi (or dolphinfish)

Hava ue i tainu uomoko!
“We’re eating mahimahi tonight!”

Notes: This is the famous Hawaiian fish, noted for its taste. You’ll find it everyone on the islands, and many places on the West Coast (though apparently you can catch it in the Atlantic). It’s a good-tasting fish, I’ll avow. The actual fish look funky, though (as reflected in the iku). They have a huge head and a dorsal fin that looks like a mohawk.

or

tavatava

• (n.) a bunch of bananas

Hava ei i tavatava a.
“I’m eating a bunch of bananas.”

Notes: Hooray for backposting again!

So “yesterday” was just the one banana, and today’s the bunch. It’s a full reduplication, and so you generally write it by doubling the glyphs, but since the iku itself looks like a bunch of bananas, you can just user the basic line determinative to mean “a bunch of bananas”. I don’t know if I can guess which is more common… Probably the latter with the determinative.

Hey, I’m caught up! Now time to do today’s word of the day. I wonder what it will be (and if it will somehow be related to bananas…).