Indulgences

1. 'ava

   'Ava (kava, the Samoan ceremonial drink)

   Usage

   A drink strained from the pounded root of Piper methysticum. At a formal 'ava ceremony — accompanying the bestowal of a matai title, for example — seating and the order in which cups are passed are fixed, so follow your hosts

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ Drop the glottal stop and you have a different word. Ava (no apostrophe) is "an opening in the coral-reef, a boat passage into the lagoon", "an anchorage for ships", "a very scaly fish", and, under a separate headword, "the wife of a common man". 'Ava itself also means "beard" and, in chiefly speech, "food"

2. tānoa

   Tānoa (the large wooden bowl kava is made in)

   Usage

   A large bowl for drinking kava. A round wooden bowl carved with many legs, set at the centre of the ceremony. It also means "a dish, a plate", and tanoa is used for both "bowl" and "dish"

   Grammar Note

   This is the one word here that takes a macron. Tānoa derives from *taa-noqa. Tongan has an identical tānoa with the same meaning, but both inherited it from the common protoform — it is not a borrowing in either direction

3. tapa'a

   Tobacco

   Usage

   "Tapa'a" means "tobacco" (the English word imitated). It is used as in "Alu atu Manu e ta'ai tapa'a" (Go, Manu, and roll tobacco)

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ Mind where the glottal stop falls. Tapa'au (coconut-leaf mats; also a chief) and tapa (to demand) are different words from tapa'a

4. sikareti

   Cigarette

   Usage

   As in "pepa sikaleti" (packets of cigarettes), they are bought by the packet

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ Two spellings exist. The formal register (tautala lelei: T, N, R) and the colloquial one (K, G, L) line up as "sikareti / sikaleti / sikaleki". The formal-register form sikareti is used here

5. ulaula

   To smoke (tobacco)

   Usage

   "Ulaula" means to smoke (cigarettes). The wording of a no-smoking notice is "E sa ona ulaula." (It is forbidden to smoke), and the polite request is "'E te malie pe 'a 'ou ulaula?" (Do you mind if I smoke?)

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ A reduplication of ula (to blow; to smoke tobacco); it means "to smoke a little." With a glottal stop, 'ulaula is the reduplication of 'ula "red" — a different word

6. pia

   Beer

   Usage

   To count bottles you say fagu pia. The local brand is Vailima, brewed by Samoa Breweries. ⚠ Almost the whole population is Christian, Sunday (Aso Sa) is a day of rest, and individual villages set their own rules — inside a village it is safest to abstain

   Grammar Note

   Borrowed from English "beer". Hawaiian and Māori borrowed the same shape independently from English, so the match across the three languages says nothing about borrowing between them. ⚠ In Hawaiian the first sense of pia is Polynesian arrowroot (Tacca leontopetaloides), a different thing in a cooking context

7. lole

   Lollies, sweets

   Usage

   Sold loose at the village shop (fale'oloa)

   Grammar Note

   Borrowed from Australian/New Zealand English "lolly". ⚠ Hawaiian lole means "clothing" (lole kahakai = swimwear) — an unrelated word that merely happens to be spelled the same

8. sokalate

   Chocolate

   Usage

   Also written sukalate and sukalati

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ The drink is a different word, koko. Sokalate is the confectionery — a bar of chocolate

9. 'aisakulimi

   Ice cream

   Usage

   Also written 'asikulimi or 'aisikulimi

   Grammar Note

   A borrowing of English "ice cream", with vowels inserted to break the consonant clusters and a vowel added at the end

10. keke

    Cake

    Usage

    It is also used more widely, as in "pepa keke — packets of biscuits"

    Grammar Note

    Borrowed from English "cake". The word for pancake, panikeke, is this word compounded with pani "bun"

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