Thursday, June 19, 2008

Learn 25 Kadazandusun Words in one go...

Here I go again, rambling about whatever that comes out of my head… So, today let us learn a couple of Kadazandusun’s words (of the Penampang dialect)…

The words I am going to list down are those which are not regularly spoken of or maybe not even heard by most Kadazan’s today (the younger generations la, but even the older generations prefer to use the Malay or English words) (sad to say lah…’kuroyon pon-doh’ as someone mention to me).. but maybe it’s because these words are also seldom used in everyday life because they’re all about insects and reptiles.. hehehe. Also nowadays, younger kids seldom see these unique creatures… either they don’t live in the ‘kampung’ or these creatures don’t ‘live’ in their ‘kampung’ anymore…

When I was young, I found most of these interesting creatures around my house, the surrounding area, in the paddy field or the sea… I may not be able to translate them all into the correct species or family or even the English word, but I will just try to explain as best as I can (and you will have to try to understand as best as you can too)…huhu..

If I am a teacher teaching Kadazan language, I will teach these words to the students. Any of you teaching the Ladazan Language in school? (Not in the syllabus?.. aisey).. hantam sajalah.. even if not in the syllabus kan.. to make the Language more interesting to learn… well, that’s my opinion if I am a teacher la, but sadly I am not…huhuhu

Enough the ramblings… here we go :-

1. tugalang – lizard, small type, usually dark in colour, bigger than a ‘bulitotok’

2. bulitotok – house lizard - it’s what I think the closest explanation to it..

3. tongkuzu’ – crab

4. tombozungus – same family with grasshopper, usually found in the paddy field. When I was very young, my elder brother and sister used to catch them and ‘grill’ it with fire… very crispy to eat. Those were the days though. Nowadays, paddy field are turned into housing areas, but all of a sudden rice price increased… I believe in a few years time, we will see the housing areas converted back to paddy field..hahaha. Maybe God is teaching us a lesson.. who knows kan?)

5. kuzung – aahh, this one is of the ‘dirty’ kind of beetle. They like to dig the soil wherever a ‘dung’ is present..

6. tongkungang – this is like a ‘lady bird’ but I’m not sure it is a lady or not.. but it is usually dark in color. So it must be a ‘man’ bird (oopps.. not what you think it is..hehe). Also, don’t mistake it as ‘tongkungon’, a ‘tongkungon’ is a musical instrument.

7. hingga’ung – aha.. a ‘butod’s’ dream is to become a ‘hingga’ung’ when it grows older..hehe.. it’s actually what a ‘butod’ becomes, similar like the butterfly.. Well, you do know what a ‘butod’ is.. is it?

8. hontugi – a millipede a.k.a gonggok..

9. tangkahama’ai – centipede

10. tompo’hu’u – scorpion.. not the band from Germany la.. hehe

11. tongkohivang – cacing @ sassing…worm (can be used for earth worm, tape worm, etc…)

12. tutumbakon – sea worm.. can be eaten (anybody wants?)

13. gizuk – I always believe that the ‘giuk’ comes from this Kadazan word… giuk=gizuk = ulat = maggot

14. toninipot – fire fly, seldom see these beautiful creature nowadays due to the worsening environment

15. tongkulibambang – ‘butter’ that ‘flies’…

16. togonok – mosquito

17. tamamangos – you can see these little ‘flies’ hovering rotten fruits

18. soputan – wasp

19. tompulingot – same family with ‘wasp’ I believe, but smaller in size, usually makes their nest in bushes.. they sting you before you know it..

20. suun – I believe this is also another type of wasp

21. tantadan – I believe this is in the same family of bees, only that it doesn’t sting; may we call them ‘friendly bees’?

22. potizukan – this is the real bees…(aaaa yes… my blogspot address..ahaha)

23. tongkulalava - spider

24. hipos – cockroach

25. kau – not ‘you’ in Bahasa Malaysia, but the ‘chicken’s flea’…haha

There are many many more but that’s 25 words for you today…

Some people also may have used some of the words above for their nickname, e-mail address, etc… I think it’s great because they sound unique & exotic…

Well then, the Rambler if off again… until my next post (when my brain provide something interesting…)…

5 comments:

Lab papa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lab papa said...

Bagus ni Hombidai..bagus ko buat banyak lagi, nanti org akan buat blog ko sebagai reference!!! keep it up buddy!

Hombidai said...

tq lab papa... sia cuba korek idea lagi ni...

KaDusMama said...

wah!! bulih tahan..even sia pun nda berapa sampin cakap kadazan nie..

Poppet said...

tutumbakon... yes! I had eaten this before.. yg klu sudah masak gravy dia warna putih tu kan.. :) rasa dia cam santan.. tu zaman dulu-dulu.. skrg inda lagi pernah makan :(
tombozungus.. yup this one too.. selalu "grill" it masa di sawah :)
hehehehe.. sia ni org kg, mcm2 sia pernah makan hehehhe