Kamakawi Word of the Day

takevotu

• (n.) boyfriend

Ai takevotu oi’ia i emi ai?
“And who’s your boyfriend?”

Notes: The past couple words have been fotu and tuli: words for “husband” and “wife”, respectively, that don’t enjoy much regular use. Today’s word does, though.

This is the basic word for “boyfriend” and it means, literally, something like “pretend husband” or “practice husband” or maybe even “trial husband”. And that’s how the Kamakawi see it. The “dating” or “courtship” phase is trying people out: Seeing how they might fit as a spouse, and, at the same time, learning how to be a spouse, in a non-permanent, non-binding way.

Incidentally, in Kamakawi it’s bad luck to marry your first ever boyfriend or girlfriend. It happens, certainly (what society is uniform?), but it’s regarded with suspicion (perhaps something like a Hollywood marriage, where everyone wonders when it will end). The idea is that your first sees you before you’re ready—before you become who you’re going to become—and general consensus is that such marriages can never last.

fotu

• (n.) husband (formal term)

Ea, ipe i fotu oi’i.
“Yes, that’s my husband.”

Notes: Pretty sure I’ve heard my wife say that once or twice.

Today’s word is a counterpart to yesterday’s word tuli, which means “wife”. The common word for “husband” is hopoko, the word for “man”. This one only shows up in formal situations (or when one is mad with the other).

The iku for fotu is based on the iku for hopoko, but it has a line above it like the iku for ei, which means “I”. That line used to have more of a function in the olden days; now it shows up in just a few iku. This is one of them.

tuli

• (n.) wife (formal term)

Eli ei i ia, he tuli oi’i!
“I love you, O wife of mine!”

Notes: In Kamakawi, the common word for “wife” is simply eine, the word for “woman”. There is, however, an older, traditional term that’s used in formal situations (or, perhaps, defensively), and that’s tuli. It’s counterpart is fotu, which we’ll see tomorrow.

oaoa

• (v.) to be shy
• (adj.) shy
• (n.) shy person

Kanekoi oi’i i oaoa kiko!
“My kitty’s being shy today!”

Notes: HAPPY CATURDAY!!!

Ordinarily, Keli is quite the poser, but today she didn’t feel like being photographed. In fact, she went and hid behind her stool:

It’s very hard to scoop her up while holding the iPhone at the same time (especially since it’s case is open, in order to take pictures. It’s gone sliding out before, and we have tile, not carpet!).

Today’s word reduplicates the iku for oa, which itself isn’t a word (or is no longer a word). Aside from this word, oa appears in other words as a phonemic glyph.

palei

• (n.) home

Ipe i palei lapa li’i.
“This is my new home.”

Notes: HAPPY CATURDAY!!!

Recently Erin slightly rearranged some items upstairs. She put all my stringed instruments together in one corner so they leaned against the wall. This make it much less convenient to get at them, but it made a wonderful new little cave for Keli, and it’s become her new favorite spot:

I realize it’s kind of hard to see because Keli is such a dark kitty, but if you can make out her eye, it’ll help you make out the rest of her face.

Today’s word (the diminutive of pale) is the word for the concept of “home”. It can also be used to mean “little house” or to refer to one’s own house (or hut), but it’s the idea of “home” that it encapsulates.

utulini

• (n.) September [< Zhyler]

Ka ale utulini ko. Ka ale ieyalele hema.
“September is here. Summer’s almost gone.”

Notes: And that never fails to make me sad. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: I’d rather be too hot than too cold. (Well, not too too hot, I guess. Wouldn’t want to be on fire.)

Hey, today is a special day. With today’s post, I’ve posted all of the Kamakawi month names borrowed from Zhyler. Hooray! Come October 1st, if you want to know what the name of the month is, you can go back one year and check out the entry from last October 1st. (Oh, no, wait, that’s not right… Looks like I did the word for “October” on October 4th, for some reason. Oops!)

Anyway, today’s word comes from the Zhyler word Ÿslin (or, in the orthography, hsliN). That word also happens to be the Zhyler name for their letter ÿ, or h. Beyond that, its etymology remains a mystery.

Hey, if you’re a conlanger and have a minute, check out the new Fiat Lingua: a place for conlangers to put up journal-style articles, or even non-journal-style articles about conlanging, their conlangs, or what have you. We’re starting out small and slow, so if you’re interested in putting something up, shoot me an e-mail.

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.

awapei

• (n.) a young person (male or female) who’s single (kind of a jocular term)

Féneka pou ki awapei o fala oi’i…
“A ghost from my father’s bachelorhood…”

Notes: Heh. If you thought yesterday’s was fun, get ready for today’s!

When my stepdad moved in (when I was about…13? 12?), he brought with him the picture you see below, and insisted on hanging it in what was then the computer room:

For those too young to have been exposed, these pictures were everywhere in the 80s. They’re by the artist Patrick Nagel, who developed a characteristic style known as the “Nagel woman”. To see what I mean, just do a google image search on “Patrick Nagel”. The way I remember them most is being all over the Charlotte Russe at the mall when I used to have to go with my mother.

Anyway, like hundreds (if not thousands) of young male bachelors in the 80s, my stepdad had a Nagel (pictured above). In fact, when I just did that google image search, I came across one that looked very familiar—he very well may have had two.

And my mother HATED them.

When the day came that they actually got married, my mother insisted he get rid of them. And he did.

Or so we thought…!

It turns out that, somehow, my grandmother ended up with at least one of the Nagels—and it’s now in her new condo.

(By the by, today’s word derives from ape.)

tietu’í

• (n.) August [< Zhyler]

Tietu’í i kavakava.
“August is a hot one.”

Notes: And let me tell you, it’s doing a fine job of it right now. A couple more years like this and we’ll all be living underground.

Today’s word, as a month word, comes from Zhyler. The word in Zhyler is Žezuğü (in the orthography, .ezu©X). It’s barely recognizable in Kamakawi.

This month will be a busy one. I’m taking part in four panels at WorldCon, and then serving as the best man at a friend’s wedding. Plus a bunch of other stuff. I’ll be sure to mention things here as they become relevant.