Ivatan Language - Cultural Terms of The Ivatan People

Cultural Terms of The Ivatan People

• uve, ubi, sudi- yam; staple crop

• sudi- taro

• wakay- sweet potato

• bulyas- onions

• baka- cow

• kaddin- goat

• kayvayvanan- friendship; cooperative work by a community which starts at the blow of a shell horn called a vodiadong

• payohoan- helping one another; work club of teenagers who alternate their shifts

• paluwa; chinarem; tataya- three boats used for fishing

• kabbata- legends

• lagi- lyric folk songs

• kalusan- working songs

• sisyavak- humorous anecdotes and tales

• kabbuni- riddles

• pananaban- proverbs

• vachi- song leader

• mais- corn

• palay- rice plant

• dukay- sprouted mung beans

• rakarakanen- vegetables

• hagsa- an extinct wild deer

• vulaw a bagu- wild boar

• tatus- coconut crabs

• lakasan- tops of wooden trunks used for storing cloth and other valuables serve as benches

• dulang- low dining table

• bangku- low bench

• rahaung, camarin- a storeroom for larger farm equipment such as plows, harrows, sleds, card, and the ox-drawn pole used for clearing off sweet potatoes and other vines from fields being prepared for re-cultivation

• vuyavuy- a small palm growing usually on Batanes coastal hills

• talugung- a kind of conical hat woven from strips made from the stalk of a local plant called nini

• pasikin- small bamboo or rattan baskets worn on the back

• lukoy- bolo knife

• suhut- sheath of a bolo knife

• suut, vakul- a head-and-back covering woven from the stripped leaves of banana or the vuyavuy

• alat- baskets

• batulinaw- a necklace made of hollow globules (1½ cm. in diameter) interspersed with smaller pieces of gold in floral patterns and held together by a string made of fiber

• tamburin- an all-gold necklace whose beads are smaller and more ornate than the batulinaw, and lockets

• seseng, pamaaw, chingkakawayan, liyano, de pelo, dima s'bato, pitu s'bato, de perlas, bumbolya, karakol, pinatapatan- traditional earrings that come from the Spanish period

• angang- jars

• dibang – flying fish

• payi – lobster

• arayu – dorado

• mataw – dorado fisherman

• tipuho – breadfruit

• uhango – pandan

• tamidok – fern

• chayi – tree

• soot – generic term referring to the Ivatan rain cape made from the finely stripped leaves of the vuyavuy palm.

• vakul – woman's soot, worn on the head.

• kanayi – man's soot, worn on the shoulders.

• falowa – Ivatan boat, now usually motorized, for 10–20 passengers.

• tataya – Ivatan dory with twin oars, for 2–4 passengers.

• timban – church

• vanuwa – port

• avayat – a broad directional term used to indicate the west, a western direction or the western side.

• valugan – a broad directional term sued to indicate the east, an eastern direction or the eastern side.

• palek – sugar cane wine

• malisto- fast

• mawadi- slow

• mavid- beautiful

• kuman- eat

• minom- drink

• bapor, tataya- boat

• taw- sea

• ranum- water

• salao sao- wind

• cayvan- friend

• mahacay- man

• mavakes- woman