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Language: Tahiti (1773)

Source/Author:  Sydney Parkinson (1773) 
Identifiers:  ISO-639-3:tah  Glottocode: tahi1242 
Notes:  Vocabulary of the language of Otaheite, with remarks SYDNEY PARKINSON, Draughtsman to JOSEPH BANKS, Esq. on his late Expedition with Dr. SOLANDER, round the World. (London, 1773).

"REMARKS on the Otaheitean Language.
The language is very soft, having a great number of vowels, diphthongs, and triphthongs. Every word, almost, begins with a vowel, which they most commonly drop.

It is also very metaphorical, as I have observed in many instances; as Matapoa, a person blind of an eye, which literally is Night-eye. Mataavai, the name of the bay we anchored in, literally signifies Watery-eye; which appellation is not unapt from the great quantity of rain which falls in the bay. Tehaia, a woman's name, who being lost when a child, her friends went about, crying Tehai? which means, Where is she? The natives could not repeat, after us, the sounds of the letters, Q, X, and Z, without great difficulty; G, K, and S, they could not pronounce at all. Many of the names of the people of our ship having the G, K, or S, in them, they could not approach nearer the sound of them than as follows:

Toote, for Cook.
Matà for Monkhouse.
Opane - Banks
Petrodero — Pickersgill
Tolano — Solander
Tate — Clark
Treene — Green
Poline — Spoving
Hite — Hicks
Taibe — Stainsby
Towara — Gore
Patine — Parkinson

"They have various sounds peculiar to themselves, which none of us could Imitate; some of them they pronounced like B and L mingled together; others between B and P, and T and D. Some like Bh, Lh, and Dh. When they mean to speak of a thing somewhat small, they often double the word, as Oorè oorè, a smallish nail. They also double the word for the superlative, as teá teá, very white. Mai, when placed after a verb, signifies that the action was done to you.
Mai, when added to an adverb, signifies several things, as Mai Maroo, somewhat soft, or inclining to be soft. They have a whoop, when they call after any person, which they pronounce like Ahu! raising their voice very high at the last syllable." 
Data Entry:  Typed By: Richard Parker  Checked By:  
Statistics:   
Classification:  Austronesian:Malayo-Polynesian:Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian:Eastern Malayo-Polynesian:Oceanic:Central-Eastern Oceanic:Remote Oceanic:Central Pacific:East Fijian-Polynesian:Polynesian:Nuclear:East:Central:Tahitic 
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Entries:

ID: Word: Item: Annotation: Cognacy: Loan:
1 hand      
2 left      
3 right      
5 to walk      
6 road/path      
10 dirty      
11 dust      
16 intestines      
17 liver      
20 to know, be knowledgeable      
21 to think      
22 to fear      
33 to laugh      
34 to cry      
35 to vomit      
38 to chew word info      
39 to cook word info      
41 to bite      
46 to see      
49 to lie down word info      
50 to dream      
54 man/male      
62 thatch/roof      
63 name      
66 to tie up, fasten      
67 to sew word info      
68 needle      
69 to hunt word info      
70 to shoot word info      
71 to stab, pierce      
72 to hit word info      
74 to kill      
76 to live, be alive      
78 to cut, hack word info      
80 to split word info      
81 sharp      
83 to work word info      
84 to plant      
85 to choose      
86 to grow word info      
89 to hold word info      
90 to dig      
92 to open, uncover      
93 to pound, beat word info      
94 to throw word info      
96 dog      
99 feather      
100 wing      
106 snake      
107 worm (earthworm)      
109 mosquito      
112 rotten word info      
113 branch word info      
115 root      
116 flower      
118 grass      
119 earth/soil      
121 sand      
123 to flow      
124 sea      
125 salt      
126 lake      
127 woods/forest      
128 sky      
132 fog      
141 wet      
142 heavy      
144 to burn word info      
147 black      
149 red      
152 small      
153 big      
154 short word info      
156 thin word info      
158 narrow      
159 wide      
161 shy, ashamed      
162 old word info      
163 new      
165 bad, evil      
166 correct, true      
169 year      
173 at      
174 in, inside      
178 that      
180 far      
184 he/she      
185 we word info      
186 you      
187 they      
188 what? word info      
189 who? word info      
190 other      
191 all      
192 and      
193 if      
194 how? word info      
195 no, not      
196 to count      
208 Fifty word info      
209 One Hundred word info      
210 One Thousand word info      
4 leg/foot eawy legs 1, 100  
7 to come eheèroharreehòe to come and go    
8 to turn word info wahoee to turn or go back again    
8 to turn word info ehaòe to turn or go back again    
9 to swim eaow to swim 5  
12 skin eweyoraèe skin 1  
13 back word info etoo back 11  
14 belly eoboo belly 2  
15 bone opareemo skeleton or bones x  
18 breast eom breasts 7  
18 breast eoo nipples 1  
19 shoulder etapon shoulders    
23 blood matee blood    
24 head erowroo head 1  
25 neck eaee neck 20  
26 hair word info eraowroo hair 40  
27 nose eahoo nose 1  
28 to breathe oròmàtoo air or breath    
29 to sniff, smell ephàow to smell    
30 mouth ewauh mouth 1, 8  
31 tooth eneeho teeth 1  
32 tongue treero tongue 15  
36 to spit tootoòà to spit 120  
36 to spit hooàre spittle 18  
37 to eat eei to eat 1, 47  
40 to drink norothoedéadeet'avai to drink cocoa-nut liquor    
42 to suck eotte to suck 9  
43 ear tareeh ears 1  
44 to hear aiwee to understand or comprehend; to listen or give ear    
45 eye matau eyes 1  
47 to yawn amama to yawn 19, 28  
48 to sleep iraòwai to dose slumber or be drowsy    
51 to sit parahei sit down 17  
52 to stand eetoò to stand 2  
53 person/human being tata people 1, 66  
55 woman/female aheine woman 1, 106, 116  
56 child earee boy 63?  
56 child midee child 64?  
57 husband tane husband 14  
58 wife huaheine wife 5, 68  
58 wife maheineeawaow housewife 5, 68?  
59 mother mituaheine mother 4  
60 father mituatane father 9  
61 house fale house 14  
64 to say paraowmai speak to me 12  
64 to say porai to talk 12  
65 rope taod thick rope 9  
73 to steal woreede stolen    
75 to die, be dead màtteno natural death 1  
75 to die, be dead màtteroah to die or be dead 1  
75 to die, be dead wharrawai to go or pass away    
77 to scratch word info mayneeneeormyneere to tickle    
79 stick/wood etoomoo wood    
79 stick/wood epeea woody stalk    
82 dull, blunt toòmmoo blunt opposed to oeoe 10  
87 to swell word info hoònnehoònne swelled    
88 to squeeze word info eninnei to squeeze or press one 11  
91 to buy ehò to buy exchange or barter 7  
95 to fall word info itop to fall 124  
97 bird manoo bird 1  
98 egg hooirmoa egg    
101 to fly airareè to fly 11  
102 rat eyoare rat 12  
103 meat/flesh eeree flesh    
104 fat/grease paiy fat    
105 tail eairo tail of quadruped 10  
105 tail ehaòwpè tail    
108 louse word info oatoo louse 1  
110 spider ootooròhonnoo spider 5, 39  
111 fish eiya fish 1  
114 leaf ewawaowerao leaf 1?  
117 fruit hoora-ooiro fruit 1  
120 stone owhai stone 1, 39, 3  
122 water word info avy water 2  
129 moon maram moon 7  
130 star efedee star 1  
131 cloud word info eat clouds (This is likely [ata] - MW) 118  
133 rain eworooai it rains    
134 thunder patiree it thunders 14  
135 lightning eoeffr it lightens (this seems phonetically French to me - MW) x  
136 wind matai wind 1, 66  
137 to blow word info hiamòorre light puffs of air    
138 warm word info verrverra hot applied to victuals 8  
139 cold word info mareere to be cold 1, 52  
140 dry word info marroowhai dry 13  
143 fire wahaeahei fire 1  
145 smoke word info eohoo smoke    
146 ash eàrahow ashes 67  
148 white teà white 8  
150 yellow poeooleoole yellow bead    
151 green poemeedee green bead 1, 11  
155 long word info oëoëteres THIS FORM SEEMS UNLIKELY TO ME -MW. long small or slender    
157 thick word info mènne thick short and round    
160 painful, sick mate my sickness *this looks more like 'death' to me MW    
164 good myty good 15  
164 good manamanatey very good or sweet 15?  
167 night po night 1  
168 day mahan day 8  
170 when? word info nehàia when 5  
170 when? word info ehai when where 5  
171 to hide word info emòto to box or fight x  
172 to climb word info eàeenietematto ['e'a] to climb up rocks 32  
172 to climb word info epèeniea to go up with rope x  
175 above earo upper    
176 below etooa under    
177 this t'èna this    
179 near whattata near at hand 9  
181 where? word info nooie tehai where is such person?    
181 where? word info harehie whither do you go?    
181 where? word info tehai where is he?    
182 I waow I 1, 21, 18  
182 I naow myself 1, 22  
183 thou tooanahoe you and I x  
183 thou tooanahahow   x  
197 One word info tohe One 15  
198 Two word info rooa Two 1  
199 Three word info torhoo Three 1  
200 Four word info ha Four 1, 66  
201 Five word info illemei Five 1  
202 Six word info whaine Six 25  
203 Seven word info hitoo Seven 1  
204 Eight word info walhoo Eight 3  
205 Nine word info iva Nine 5, 44  
206 Ten word info hoolhoo Ten    
207 Twenty word info arooato Twenty    

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