Chapter 1.4 Household Artefacts

Meredith Osmond and Malcolm Ross

1. Introduction⇫

The artefacts considered here are mainly household items, used in the gathering and storage of food, in the construction and maintenance of dwellings and gardens, and those used for personal adornment. Some of the items—earthenware pots, stone adzes and axes, bone needles, bone and shell ornaments, and stone bark-cloth beaters—have provided archaeologists with data that permit dating. Those made of perishable materials—such as leaf baskets, string bags, mats and bamboo knives—seldom leave any trace in the archaeological record. For these we are dependent on linguistic reconstruction interpreted in the light of current ethnographic practice.¹

Artefacts are organised under the following headings: (1) containers; (2) mats and cordage; (3) tools; (4) items of body decoration and clothing, and (5) instruments of communication and music. Terms for relevant processes are included. Thus, within the section on mats and cordage we have included terms for weaving, making thread, sewing, and for needle and twine. Often the term for a tool is derived from the verb denoting the activity of using it.

2. Containers⇫

2.1. Pottery containers⇫

Pottery is one of the more distinctive features of the Lapita culture, here held to coincide with and thus be an integral marker of the early dispersal of Proto Oceanic.² Pottery manufacture in Oceania is geographically discontinuous. By no means all Oceanic speakers make pottery. Obviously, pottery can only be made where suitable clay is available, but its availability is no guarantee that pottery will be manufactured. Nor is its absence from the immediate locality a guarantee that pottery will not be made: the Gumawana speakers of the Amphlett group transport their clay some distance by sea from Fergusson Island. As a result of this discontinuity, pots were traditionally important trade items. A linguistic spin-off of this trade is that words for pots are not infrequently loan words, especially in the languages of the people who are not potters.

Ross (1996c:69) writes that most Oceanic languages have quite a simple pot terminology with three or four main terms.

There is generally a term for cooking pot, which often also doubles as the term for pottery in general … Secondly, there is a term for water pot or water jar. Thirdly, there is a term for a bowl or dish with a variety of functions, and finally a term for a frying dish or frying pan (in some societies the object itself is actually the large sherd of a broken pot).

There is fair agreement across Oceanic languages about the structure of the terminology—Ross provides evidence from NNG, PT, Admiralties and Fijian languages which all have terms (not necessarily cognate) for pot (generic), cooking pot, water jar, bowl/dish and frying pan (see Figure 4)—and we have PMP reconstructions in support of corresponding POc terms. However, our cognate sets are disappointingly small. Of our reconstructions, the cooking pot/generic term is the most soundly based.

2.1.1. Cooking pot⇫

PMP		*kuDen	‘clay cooking pot’ (Blust 1982)
POc		*kuron	‘earthernware pot’
Adm	Drehet	kuŋ	‘earthernware pot’
Adm	Nyindrou	kun	‘earthernware pot’
NNG	Kove	ulo	‘cooking pot, boil (in water)’
NNG	Numbami	ulaŋa	‘earthernware pot’
NNG	Adzera	gur	‘earthernware pot’
PT	Molima	ʔulena	‘earthernware pot’
PT	Misima	ulun	‘earthernware pot’
PT	Motu	uro	‘earthernware pot’
MM	Bali	ɣulon(i)	‘boil (in water)’
MM	Ramoaaina	kuro	‘earthernware pot’
NCV	Wusi	uro	‘earthernware pot’
Fij	Bauan	kuro	‘earthernware pot’
Pn	Samoan	ʔulo	‘pot, cauldron’

2.1.2. Water jar⇫

The best candidate for ‘water jar’ is POc *kalala(ŋ), reconstructed on the basis of Proto WMP *kalalaŋ ‘narrow-necked water jar’ (Tagalog kalalaŋ ‘narrow-necked water jug’; Blust 1980b). However, only one Oceanic reflex, in the PT language Iduna, has been found: kalala ‘cooking pot made in Wedau’. Even this reflex is problematic, since POc *l is reflected as Iduna n in directly inherited items, and we must therefore assume that the item has been borrowed, as its gloss would imply.

Another possible, PNGOc, term for water jar is *bʷad(r)i, for which the evidence is given below. All reflexes except one are from the north coast of New Guinea, and mean ‘pot (generic), cooking pot’, where they have ousted reflexes of POc *kuron in this role, but there is evidence that this is the result of post-Proto Oceanic genericisation. The characteristic Oceanic cooking pot and water jar are quite similar in form, differing only in the narrowness of the neck of the water jar, so that genericisation of the water jar term is quite likely. The facts that the one non-north coast term, from Misima, means ‘water pot’ and that there are indications (in Mindiri and Bilibil) that reflexes of *bʷad(r)i also mean ‘water pot’ suggest that this was its original meaning.

PNGOc		*bʷad(r)i	‘k.o. large pot, possibly for water storage’
NNG	Lukep	bor	‘pot’
NNG	Roinji	buari	‘cooking pot’
NNG	Mindiri	badi(n)	‘water pot’
NNG	Bilibil	bodi	‘cooking pot’
NNG	Bilibil	(yu)bodi	‘pot for water storage and carrying’ (yu ‘water’)
NNG	Takia	bod	‘clay, clay pot’
NNG	Manam	boadi	‘pot, cooking vessel’
NNG	Kaiep	biar	‘generic name for pots’
NNG	Kairiru	buar̃	‘cooking pot’
NNG	Ulau-Suain	buad	‘cooking pot’
NNG	Tumleo	pier	‘cooking pot, pot (generic)’
PT	Misima	(ulun)bʷal	‘water pot about 30 cm high’ (ulun ‘clay pot’)

cf. also:

PT	Motu	hodu	‘narrow-necked water pot’
PT	Lala	vodu	‘narrow-necked water pot’

The Motu and Lala items are either borrowed or simply bear a chance resemblance to this set.

2.1.3. Frying pan⇫

The best candidate for ‘frying pan’, POc *palaŋa, has been noted by Blust (ACD). Again, Oceanic reflexes are not plentiful, but here there can hardly be any doubt that they reflect the PMP term.

PMP		*balaŋa	‘shallow earthenware cooking pot or pan’ (ACD)
POc		*palaŋa	‘frying pan’
NNG	Bilibil	(bodi) palan	‘sago frying bowl, made by cutting down a broken pot’ (bodi ‘cooking pot’)
NNG	Gedaged	palaŋ	‘potsherd, used to render fat and to cook oil; frying pan, shallow roaster’

2.1.4. Large cooking pot⇫

One other Proto Oceanic term for a type of pot is reconstructable, namely *bʷaŋa. This seems to have referred to a large pot, perhaps a communal cooking pot:

PMP		*báŋaq	‘pot, cooking vessel’
POc		*bʷaŋa	‘k.o. large pot’
PNGOc		*(kuron) bʷaŋa	‘communal cooking pot’
NNG	Adzera	(gur) baŋa	‘common cooking pot for meat’ (gur ‘clay pot’)
PT	Misima	(ulun) bʷana	‘cooking pot about 60 cm high, used as a community cooking pot’ (ulun ‘clay pot’)

2.1.5. Dish⇫

We have been unable to reconstruct a POc term for a bowl or dish. Indeed, the only term we have found reflected over quite a large area is PPT *na(q)u(q). The meanings of its reflexes indicate that it meant ‘dish’. In a number of PT languages it has come to mean ‘cooking pot’, but this is not surprising if it is recognised that in south-east (but not central) Papua, the typical Oceanic cooking pot with its restricted spherical form has been frequently replaced by pots with an unrestricted, dish-like form. In Gumawana, an important pot-making centre in the Amphletts, no, reflecting *na(q)u(q), has been genericised to mean ‘pot’ and is the first element in a number of pot types listed in Olsen’s dictionary: nobadala, nogaiga, nokaokao, nokunu, nopaeva, nosipoma. All of these are apparently dish-like in form. Some reflexes of *naquq are listed below. The crucial reflexes for determining the meaning of *na(q)u(q) are those from central Papua-Hula, Motu and Kuni—where Oceanic restricted pot forms remain the norm, and naɣu/nau clearly refers only to dishes.

PPT		*na(q)u(q)	‘clay dish’
PT	Gumawana	no	‘clay pot’
PT	Molima	nau(kai)	‘wooden dish’ (kai ‘wood’)
PT	Iduna	nauʔa	‘dish, bowl, plate’
PT	Are	nau	‘cooking pot’
PT	Muyuw	no(kay)	‘large wooden dish’ (kay ‘wood’)
PT	Sudest	noɣa	‘(wooden) dish’
PT	Hula	naɣu	‘clay plate used by Motu and Mailu people’
PT	Motu	nau	‘shallow open dish for serving’
PT	Kuni	nau	‘clay dish’

Only the Hula form reflects a possible medial *-q-. Since Hula sometimes adds a nonetymological -y- between vowels, *-q- cannot be reconstructed with certainty. Final *-q is reflected in Iduna and Sudest, but not in Gumawana, Molima or Are, where a reflex would also be expected. These uncertainties raise the possibility that this term is cognate with the forms attributed to POc *napu ‘steam (?), boil (7)’ (Ch. 6, §3.4).

2.1.6. Lid⇫

Both cooking pots and narrow-necked water jars may have utilised lids. In addition to those terms glossed ‘plug, stopper’, which are included with coconut or bamboo water carriers, we have terms referring rather to ‘lid’ or ‘cover’:

PMP		*tub-tub	‘close, cover’ (Mills 1981)
POc		*tutup	‘cover’ (Lichtenberk 1994)
POc		*tupi	‘cover (s.t.)’ (Blust 1978b)
Adm	Lou	tup-tup	‘cover up’
Adm	Loniu	tu-tuh	‘cover’
Fij	Bauan	tuvi	‘cover, conceal’

PMP		*tub-an	‘lid, cover’ (glossed as a verb) (Mills 1981)
POc		*tup-a((n,ŋ))	‘lid, cover’
Adm	Loniu	tu-tuha	‘cover, lid, leaf used as lid’
NNG	Tumleo	cup	‘lid’

Note that *tup-a((n,ŋ)) is a nominalised form derived from *[tu]tup, *tupi (see discussion of nominalisations in Chapter 2, §3.2.1).

2.1.7. Tools in pot manufacture⇫

Oceanic pots were typically made using the paddle-and-anvil technique, whereby a smooth stone (the ‘anvil’) is held against the inside of the pot while the outside is beaten with a flat piece of wood (the ‘paddle’). Almost every Oceanic pot-making group for which we have data refers to the anvil simply as the ‘stone’, for which the POc word was *patu (Andra pat, Mindiri pot, Uruava patu, Bauan Fijian vatu are all reflexes used both in the general sense of ‘stone’ and in the specialised sense of ‘anvil’). Ross (1996c) has reconstructed *tapi ‘paddle for beating clay into shape’ with the proviso that the apparent reflexes may be independently derived instrumental nominalisations of the PMP verb *tapik ‘slap, pat lightly’ (Blust 1988).

2.2. Wooden or coconut-shell containers⇫

2.2.1. Wooden bowl⇫

The most important non-ceramic vessel in immediate pre-contact times was the wooden bowl. In parts of Papua New Guinea, finely-wrought bowls were an important trade item. (Among the most famous are bowls from the Tami Islands off the Huon Peninsula and the Trobriand Islands). The generic term for a wooden bowl was probably POc *tabiRa:

POc		*tabiRa	‘wooden bowl’
NNG	Gedaged	tabiȴ	‘wooden bowl, plate’
NNG	Manam	tabira	‘wooden dish’
NNG	Ali	taper	‘wooden bowl’
MM	Sursurunga	tabir	‘full of good things’
NCV	Raga	tabera	‘plate’
Mic	Marshallese	cæpe	‘small dug-out wooden bowl for pounding food’
Mic	Mokilese	capi	‘wooden bowl’
Mic	Carolinian	sæpi	‘plate, bowl for food’
Mic	Woleaian	tapiya	‘dish, bowl’

cf. also:

SES	Tolo	tabili	‘wooden vessel used to smash nut kernels in’
SES	Longgu	tabili	‘bowl shaped like a vase, used for mashing taro to make pudding’
SES	Kwaio	tabili	‘big wooden bowl’
SES	’Are’are	tapire	‘wooden bowl in which taro is mashed’
SES	Arosi	tapiri	‘long trough-like food bowl’
Fij	Bauan	tābili	‘wooden bowl for crushing yaqona roots’

This last set could be taken to reflect a POc **tabili, but their formal and semantic similarity to reflexes of *tabiRa suggests that this inference is not justified. Rather, they are probably descended from an etymon which originated somewhere in the Solomons in the borrowing of a reflex of *tabiRa denoting a trade item, apparently a wooden dish used for mashing and/or crushing.

A term with more restricted distribution and apparently denoting a subtype of *tabiRa is PNGOc *gabom ‘wooden dish’:

PNGOc		*gabom	‘wooden dish’
NNG	Takia	gab	‘cup made of half a coconut shell’
NNG	Mapos Buang	gabum	‘carved wooden dish or bowl’
PT	Sewa Bay	kaboma	‘wooden dish’
PT	Wedau	aboma	‘wooden dish’
PT	Misima	(ulun ab) gabom	‘simple unrestricted earthenware vessel found on Brooker Island’

PSS *popo ‘wooden bowl’ is reconstructable (Gela popo ‘a bowl’, ‘Are’are hoho ’a wooden bowl for pounding food’, Lau fofo ‘a round wooden dish’) but no cognates are known outside the Southeast Solomons.

PCP		*kumete	‘large wooden bowl’ (used as a mortar in pounding, mashing food and/or in stone-boiling) (Lichtenberk 1994)
Fij	Rotuman	ʔumefe	‘bowl’
Fij	Bauan	kumete	‘wooden bowl’
Pn	Tongan	kumete	‘kava bowl’
Pn	East Futunan	kumete	‘wooden bowl, wooden trough’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	ŋumade	‘large wooden bowl for pounding food’
Pn	Tahitian	ʔumete	‘wooden trough or bowl (ovoid in shape)’

cf. also: the following probable loans from Polynesia:

NCV	Mota	wumeto	‘wooden bowl used for stone-boiling’
Mic	Kiribati	kumete	‘kind of wooden mortar trough; hollow, empty, concave; thin, ravenous (hungry)’

2.2.2. Cup, liquid container⇫

One of the most widely-used containers was the coconut-shell cup, for which we have several reconstructions. The term for a gourd also refers to a water bottle in some languages.

POc		*(b,bʷ)ilo	‘coconut shell used as liquid container’
Adm	Lou	pil	‘coconut shell used for soup’
Adm	Titan	pʷe-pʷil	‘coconut shell’
Adm	Drehet	pʷi-pʷiŋ	‘coconut shell’
MM	Tolai	bilo	‘cup’
SES	Longgu	bʷilo	‘coconut shell used as liquid container’
SV	Lenakel	(ui)pəl	‘container’
SV	Anejom̃	ne-pec-	‘container’
SV	Anejom̃	(inhu)pec	‘container’
Fij	Wayan	bilo	‘cup, drinking vessel, formerly a half-coconut’
Fij	Bauan	bilo	‘cup or dish, originally a half-coconut’

POc		*lasa	‘coconut half-shell cup’
NNG	Tami	lat	‘coconut shell’
NNG	Bing	lās	‘coconut half-shell cup’
NNG	Numbami	lasa	‘coconut half-shell cup’
MM	Tolai	lā	‘dish, bowl, any open utensil; shell of a coconut’
MM	Selau	las	‘young drinking coconut’
NCV	Mota	lasa	‘drinking cup’
NCV	Mota	(vin)lasa	‘cup lasa made of coconut shell vin’
NCV	Raga	laha	‘drinking cup made from coconut shell’
NCV	Nguna	lāsa	‘coconut half-shell cup’
Mic	Marshallese	lat	‘coconut shell; skull’

PEMP		*ubi, *ibu	‘drinking vessel’ (Blust 1978b)
POc		*ubi, *ibu	‘half coconut shell used as a drinking cup’3
NNG	Adzera	umpi, impi	‘coconut-shell cup, spoon’
SES	Ulawa	ipu	‘hollow in tree holding water’
Mic	Kiribati	ipu	‘(coconut-shell) toddy container’
Fij	Rotuman	ipu	‘cup, drinking vessel’
Pn	Tongan	ipu	‘cup’
Pn	Samoan	ipu	‘(coconut-shell) cup; bowl; dish’
Pn	Rapanui	ipu	‘gourd, container for liquid’
Pn	Rarotongan	ipu	‘generic for articles that serve as basin, cup +, made in old days from coconut shell or calabash’

PMP		*ka(ŋ)bu(q)	‘ladle, dipper’ (Blust 1972b)
POc		*kabu	‘cup, ladle’
Adm	Loniu	kopu	‘bowl made by coiling slender bundles of natural fibre’
Pn	Tongan	kapu	‘form into a cup-like shape, esp. a banana leaf’
Pn	Samoan	ʔapu	‘cup made from leaf’
Pn	Tuamotuan	kapu	‘ladle’
Pn	Hawaiian	ʔapu	‘coconut-shell cup’

The gloss proposed for the following reconstruction is highly tentative:

POc		*kulopi	‘ladle, bailer’
Adm	Loniu	oloh	‘wooden bailer’
MM	Vitu	kolopi	‘basket’
MM	Bola	kulopi	‘basket’
MM	Tolai	kul-kulup	‘ladle, spoon’

An additional reconstruction, POc *asu (V) ‘scoop or ladle out’ ; (N) ‘ladle, bailer’, from PMP *aŋsu ‘scoop or bail out’ is included in Chapter 7, §7.4.

The following set, from Ross (1996a), is listed because explanation is needed for the fact that it is apparently reflected only in Yapese and NNG languages: is it a retention or a borrowing? (Takia -ae-, Bilibil, Megiar -ai- reflect *-a- which has undergone umlaut because of a lost final *-i.)

POc		*d(r)ag(i)	‘k.o. container’ (?)
Yap	Yapese	ðāg	‘coconut-shell container’
NNG	Takia	daeg	‘dish’
NNG	Bilibil	daig	‘dish’
NNG	Megiar	daig	‘dish’
NNG	Mapos Buang	dɛg	‘cooking pot’
NNG	Patep	dɛg	‘cooking pot’

2.2.3. Water bottle⇫

Water may be carried and stored in bamboo or coconut-shell bottles stoppered with leaves. Blust has reconstructed a term for a coconut-shell bottle:

PSHWNG		*waip	‘water container’ (ACD)
POc		*wai(p)	‘coconut shell water bottle’
SES	Arosi	wai	‘water container’
Fij	Rotuman	vai	‘cask’
Pn	Samoan	vai	‘coconut gourd’
Pn	Rennellese	bai	‘coconut-shell bottle’
Pn	Anutan	vai	‘water container’
Pn	Māori	wal	‘vessel to hold water + ; calabash’

but adds a warning note that the Oceanic forms cited may reflect POc *waiR ‘fresh water’. If so, all that can be inferred is a second gloss for this reconstructed form (ACD).

PROc		*tapaya	‘(gourd or coconut-shell) container, bottle’
NCV	Mota	(wo)tavae	‘kind of gourd, eaten’ (wo- ‘prefix indicating form, i.e. round object, fruit’)
NCV	Raga	tavai	‘gourd’
Fij	Bauan	tavaya	‘bottle’
Pn	Takuu	tafā	‘flask made of coconut shell’
Pn	Māori	tahā	‘calabash with narrow mouth’

2.2.4. Stopper⇫

A number of terms are reconstructable for the plug, probably of rolled leaves, used to stop up the mouth of a water bottle:

POc		*joŋ-a(n,ŋ)	‘plug, bung, stopper’
NNG	Manam	ro-zoŋa	[N] ‘plug’
NNG	Adzera	nzoŋan	[V] ‘plug’
SES	Gela	do-doŋa-na	‘fitted tight as a cork’

This is a nominalisation of the verb below (cf. Ch. 2, §3.2.1):

PAn		*seŋseŋ	‘cork, stopper, plug’ (Blust 1986)
POc		*jojoŋ, *joŋi	‘plug, stop, caulk’
NNG	Gitua	zozon	[V] ‘plug, stop’
NNG	Tami	jojoŋ	[N, V] ‘cork’
NNG	Gedaged	dod	‘cork, stopper made out of leaves rolled together to stop the hole in the coconut-shell water container’
NNG	Numbami	dodoŋa	[V] ‘plug’ (epenthetic -a)
NNG	Yabem	sòŋ	[v] ‘plug’
NNG	Manam	rozoŋ	‘plug a hole in something, plug (bottle +)’
NCV	Raga	siŋo(hi)	‘stopper, cork’ (metathesis)

Two other etyma are reconstructable in the domain ‘lid, cover, stopper’, but it is impossible to determine their exact meanings:

POc		*buruŋ(a)	[N] ‘cover, plug’ (?)
Adm	Drehet	(na)puluŋ	‘plug, usually for a teapot spout’
MM	Patpatar	buruŋ	[N] ‘cover’
MM	Ramoaaina	buru-buruŋ	[N] ‘cover’

PEOc		*bʷalu	‘cover, lid, stopper’
SES	Arosi	bʷaru	‘put lid on, stopper in bamboo water vessel’
SES	Arosi	bʷaru-na	‘lid, plug, stopper’
Mic	Carolinian	bʷala-bʷal	‘cover, lid, top for s.t.; be covered’
Mic	Carolinian	bʷalí	‘cover s.t.’

2.2.5. Lime pot⇫

There is one other kind of container associated with Melanesians other than the inhabitants of Vanuatu and Fiji, and that is the lime pot of betel-nut users. The lime container is usually a gourd, coconut shell or small tightly-woven basket. A lime spatula of bone or wood, sometimes highly decorated, rests in the gourd and is used to convey lime to the mouth. We have a reconstruction for the spatula, POc *d(r)amu, but no specific term for the lime pot. In a number of word lists the term for lime (often from POc *qapu(R)) also can refer to the pot. We have reconstructed a PROc term for a gourd, *tapaya ‘gourd, water bottle’, as there are no cognates from SES, which is the only area of eastern Oceanic where betel is chewed, and we lack any Western Oceanic reconstruction.

2.2.6. Lime spatula⇫

POc		*d(r)amut	‘lime spatula’
Adm	Mussau	(ai) ra-ramuti	(ai ‘stick’)
Adm	Lou	rem	‘lime spatula’
NNG	Gedaged	dam	‘(bone or wood) lime spatula’
MM	Nakanai	damu	‘lime spatula’
SES	Sa’a	demu	‘chew betel nut’
SES	Arosi	damu	‘chew betel nut’

The final -i of Mussau ra-ramuti suggests that this reflects a transitive verb *d(r)amut-i-, perhaps ‘add lime to a chew of betel nut’.

2.3. Woven containers⇫

Usable baskets or trays can be improvised in a few minutes from the wealth of leaves and fibres generally within easy reach. Baskets used today vary greatly in size, shape and function. They range from the large trays used at feasts to tiny purses carried within string bags. Individual communities have evolved their own shapes, styles and traditions of use. Some styles may be so individual or striking that they come to be representative of a particular region or community. Baskets may be with or without handles; carried over the shoulder, from the head or hand or under the arm; used by men only or women only; strictly utilitarian or finely decorated, multi-purpose or highly specific in their use. Different styles may be distinguished by name.

Perhaps surprisingly, in view of the widespread use of bags and baskets and the large number of terms collected, it has proved difficult to locate clear cognate sets with broad distribution. Any proliferation of types and styles would require new terms or reinterpretation of old terms. The likelihood of borrowing is also high.

PMP		*ka(n)tuŋ	‘basket, pocket in clothing’ (Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*katu(m,ŋ)	‘basket’
SES	Arosi	kaso	‘basket without a handle’
NCV	Lonwolwol	aro(bol)	‘basket, container; sack, bag’ (-bol from PROc *bola ‘coconut leaves woven together’)
NCV	Paamese	atu(voi)	‘basket of coconut leaves’
SV	Lenakel	karəm	‘basket’
SV	Anejom̃	in-ɣat	‘pandanus, basket’
Mic	Woleaian	xato	‘kind of small basket for food’
Mic	Carolinian	xɔ̄t	‘k. o. basket’
Fij	Bauan	kato	‘basket, box, trunk, suitcase’
Pn	Tongan	kato	‘basket; suitcase; pouch; pocket’
Pn	West Futunan	kato	‘basket with a four-cornered base’

Arosi -s- from *-t- is conditioned by a following *-u, supporting its reconstruction rather than that of *-o. Carolinian xɔ̄t and some other Micronesian cognates are problematic, since their -t reflects POc *s or *j rather than *t.

POc		*laka	‘basket’
Adm	Mussau	laka	‘basket’
MM	Nalik	laka	‘basket’
MM	Tabar	rake	‘netbag; basket’
MM	Simbo	(e)laka	‘basket’

POc		*ta(b,bʷ)e	‘basket, probably small’
Adm	Loniu	tapʷa	‘basket, string bag’
NNG	Bing	tāb	‘mat woven from coconut fronds’
MM	Lavongai	tape, tepe	‘basket’
MM	Tigak	tape	‘basket’
MM	Sursurunga	təp	‘basket type’
MM	Patpatar	tep	‘basket for carrying food’
Mic	Marshallese	cepe	‘small basket’
Fij	Wayan	tabe	‘small oval basket, usually woven from coconut or pandanus leaves’
Fij	Bauan	(i)tabe	‘small oval basket without handles’ (i- < POc *i- INS)
Pn	Tongan	tape	‘k.o. shallow basket’

PWOc		*kase	‘k.o. basket’
PT	Gapapaiwa	kase-kase	‘basket of coconut fronds’
PT	Misima	ke-kehe	‘basket of coconut fronds used as a handbag’
PT	Sudest	kaði-kaðiye	‘(name of a) basket’
MM	Barok	kis	‘netbag; basket’
MM	Lamasong	kis	‘basket’
MM	Sursurunga	kas	‘basket type, closely woven like a Buka basket’
MM	Patpatar	kas	‘basket’

cf. also:

Adm

Mussau

keru

‘k.o. basket’

PROc		*kete	‘belly, basket’ (Biggs 1965)
NCV	Mota	gete	‘woven basket’
NCV	Raga	gete	‘basket made of plaited coconut leaves’
Fij	Bauan	kete	‘belly, stomach’
Fij	Bauan	kete-kete	‘basket’
Pn	Tongan	kete	‘stomach, abdomen’
Pn	Samoan	ʔete	‘bag, basket’
Pn	Māori	kete	‘plaited flax basket with carrying handles’

This form is unlikely to be of POc ancestry, as medial *-e- is rare in POc. It may well have an association with one of the two *k-initial forms above.

Biggs (1993) lists two further terms for PPn, *taapola ‘basket plaited from a single coconut frond’ (from PROc *bola ‘coconut leaves woven together for any purpose’. See under §3.1 Mats); and *qora ‘fishing basket’.

Bags, typically of twine made from fibres rolled together on the thigh and then knotted into a mesh, are more likely to be used for carrying than for storage. They are a prominent item among western Oceanic peoples, the women carrying them slung from a band round the head, and the men generally over one shoulder. On the New Guinea mainland, they are the means by which a woman carries a baby. The widespread modern term for these bags is bilum, a Tok Pis in term apparently from Tolai, but without cognates outside MM. The present distribution pattern of use would seem to reflect a possible Papuan origin for the net bag. In east New Britain (Tolai and Baining at least) heavy loads are carried in a coconut leaf basket suspended from the forehead by a tumpline (Ann Chowning, pers.comm.). The following reconstruction may have been a general term for a small plaited or woven container which has come to refer to a net bag in parts of western Oceania.

POc		*taŋa	‘basket or bag, small, used for personal effects’
NNG	Lukep	taŋa	‘net bag, womb’
NNG	Gedaged	taŋ	‘net bag used by women’
PT	Kilivila	(va)taga	‘small basket (very simply plaited)’
PT	Dobu	tana	‘dilly bag’ (Grant)
MM	Meramera	taŋa	‘netbag; nest; web; basket’
MM	Tangga	taŋ	‘netbag, basket’
SES	Arosi	aŋa(na)	‘plaited bag with string handles, generic’
NCV	Raga	taŋa	‘small basket made of plaited pandanus leaves’
NCV	Ambae	taŋa	‘small basket, woven from pandanus, used like a handbag for small personal items’
Fij	Bauan	taŋa	‘bag, pocket, sack’
Pn	Tongan	taŋa(i)	‘bag, sack’
Pn	Tikopia	taŋa	‘small basket in which betel or other effects are kept’

3. Mats and cordage⇫

3.1. Mats⇫

Woven mats are made from the leaves of a range of palms, and frequently the same term is used for both tree and the article typically made from it. Thus we have POc *kiRe ‘coastal pandanus: mat made from its leaves’, and PWOc *moke ‘pandanus species, used to make capes and mats’ (see Plants, vol. 3). Mats on which food is placed will usually be made from coconut leaf. Where strength and endurance are important, as in canoe sails, pandanus is the preferred leaf, and the items are sewn rather than woven. Sleeping mats and house walls may be of either leaf. On the use of reflexes of *qebal for sails, see Chapter 7, §5.1.

POc		*qebal	‘pandanus mat, possibly sleeping mat’
NNG	Numbami	embala	‘mat’
PT	Molima	ʔebana	‘sewn pandanus mat; pandanus used for it’
PT	Sinaugoro	ɣeba	‘pandanus mat, possibly sleeping mat’
SES	Longgu	eba	‘pandanus mat, possibly sleeping mat’
SES	Lau	eba	‘mat of pandanus; a sail’
SES	Kwaio	eba	‘sleeping mat’
NCV	Mota	epa	‘mat, piece of matting; sail of matting’
NCV	Raga	ebe	‘sleeping-mat’
SV	Anejom̃	n-ep	‘pandanus mat for carrying a child’
Mic	Carolinian	āp	‘small soft mat used for babies’
Mic	Woleaian	yepe	‘baby’s mat’
Pn	Tongan	ʔepa	‘mats (collectively) given to a bride’
Pn	Samoan	epa	‘native mats and cloth on which dead chief is laid’
Pn	Tikopia	epa	‘ritual offering of finely plaited pandanus mats’

POc		*tabakau	‘mat woven from coconut leaves’
NNG	Lukep	pakau	‘trash mat: a woven coconut-leaf mat used to carry trash and sand’
NCV	Mota	tapaŋau	‘mat of coconut leaves, large, coarsely woven’
SV	Anejom̃	(nicip)akau	‘chief’s single thickness coconut mat with large spine’
Fij	Wayan	tabakau	‘coarsely woven mat of coconut leaves’
Pn	Tongan	tapakau	‘large coconut leaf suitable for making floormats’
Pn	Samoan	tapaʔau	‘coconut leaf floormat’
Pn	Māori	takapau	‘floormat; plaited floormat’ (metathesis)

PROc		*bola	‘coconut leaves woven together for any purpose, including mats, baskets, thatch’
NCV	Nguna	pora	‘woven wall panel’
NCV	Lonwolwol	(aro)bol	‘basket, container; sack, bag’ (aro > POc *kato ‘basket’)
Fij	Rotuman	pora	‘coconut leaf used for walls +’
Fij	Wayan	bola	‘basket, especially four-cornered type with lid’
Fij	Bauan	bola	‘leaf of coconut plaited into a sort of narrow mat for thatching’
Pn	Tongan	pola	‘plaited coconut leaves used for making walls or roof, or as a food tray; fishing net made of plaited coconut leaves, and used in community fishing’
Pn	Samoan	pola	‘plaited coconut leaf wall screen’
Pn	Māori	pora	‘coarse cloak; floormat’
Pn	Tikopia	pora	‘small plaited coconut leaf mat’

It is possible that the two NCV reflexes in the above set are borrowings from Polynesia (Ross Clark pers.comm.). If so, this reduces the reconstruction from PROc to PCP.

PEOc		*ibe	‘mat’ (Pawley 1976)
SES	Gela	ibe	‘mat’
SES	’Are’are	ipe	‘mat, bed’
Fij	Bauan	ibe	‘mat’

Two further terms have been reconstructed for PPn only: *fala ‘plaited pandanus mat’, and *fāliki ‘cover floor with mats or grass; floor covering’, both from Biggs (1993).

3.1.1. Weaving, plaiting⇫

The distinction between weaving and plaiting is not clear even in English, although as a broad principle, weaving produces a fabric and plaiting a braid. Sometimes plaiting is used in descriptive accounts as a general term for all forms of mat and basket making. There are some processes in mat making where the edges of the mat are finished with a kind of braiding. Any distinction between the terms in word lists is consequently not considered significant, unless clarified by context. Where plaiting is used in reconstructions here, it is to be taken as an inclusive term for all kinds of mat and basket manufacture (but excluding loom weaving).

PMP		*batuR	‘plait, weave (mats, baskets +)’ (ACD)
POc		*patu(R), *patuR-i-	‘tie, plait, weave (mats, baskets +)’
Adm	Mussau	atu	‘plait (mats, baskets)’
NNG	Lukep	-watu	‘tie a pig up preparatory to slaughter’
PT	Kilivila	vatunu	‘rope, line’ (borrowed from elsewhere in PT)
PT	Motu	hatu-	‘plait (mats +), weave; twist a small rope’
MM	Banoni	pacu	‘tie’
SES	Tolo	vatuli-	‘weave (s.t.)’
SES	Lau	faoli	‘weave (s.t.)’
SES	Arosi	hauri-	‘plait (s.t.)’
NCV	Tamambo	vatu	‘weave, plait’
NCV	Ambae	vatu	‘weave’
Fij	Wayan	vatu	‘be formed or built in a certain way’
Pn	Tongan	fatu	[V] ‘fold; begin the making of a mat; construct the framework of a house’
Pn	Samoan	fatu	‘assemble (s.t.) with the hands’
Pn	Hawaiian	haku	‘compose, put in order, arrange; weave (flower necklace +)’

PMP		*añam	‘plait (mats, baskets +)’ (Blust 1980b)
POc		*aña	‘woven, braided’
Mic	Kiribati	ana	‘term used in mat weaving to designate a certain width’
Fij	Bauan	yana-yana	‘(mats +) loosely plaited or woven’
Pn	Tahitian	ana(ve)	‘twisted cord made from small combings of coconut fibre’ (Oliver 1974: 140)

POc		*paus, *paus-i-	‘weave, plait’
NNG	Tami	wa-wau	‘weave’
NNG	Kilenge	pau-	‘weave’
SES	Gela	vauhi-	‘weave, plait’
SES	’Are’are	haosi-	‘weave, plait’
SES	Longgu	vaosi-	‘weave (s.t.)’
NCV	Mota	vau	[v] ‘mat, plait, weave (mats, baskets)’
NCV	Nguna	vausi-	‘weave’
SV	Anejom̃	(a)hod	‘weave’
SV	Southwest Tanna	kwuh	‘weave’

POc		*tiki	[V] ‘plait (mat +)’ (ACD)
Adm	Lou	tik	[v] ‘plait (mats, baskets)’
Adm	Loniu	tiʔi	‘weave’
NCV	Mota	tig	‘finish off the plaiting of a mat’

POc		*pai	‘weave’
NNG	Tuam	va-vai	‘weave’
NNG	Gitua	va-vai	‘weave’
NNG	Numbami	wa-wai	‘weave’
NNG	Kove	wal	‘make a basket, plait a door’
NNG	Kove	wa-waiŋa	‘string figures’
PT	Misima	vei	‘plait’
MM	Vitu	vai	‘weave’
MM	Lavongai	pai	‘weave’
MM	Label	hai	‘weave’
NCV	Paamese	hai	[VT] ‘weave, make fence’

Biggs (1993) adds one lower-level reconstruction: PPn *laŋa ’plait (mat, basket) .

Ann Chowning (pers.comm.) has offered an additional sense to POc *raraŋ, *raraŋ-i- (from PAn *da(n)daŋ), which Lichtenberk glosses as ‘warm oneself by fire’; ‘warm up, reheat (esp. food)’ (see Chapter 6, §3.5, for the full cognate set). She contributes cognates from Molima, Kove and Nakanai which all refer to the preparation of pandanus leaves for mat making by softening them over a fire, and accord closely with the gloss of the single Polynesian cognate.

POc		*raraŋ, *raraŋ-i-	‘heat s.t. or warm oneself by fire’
NNG	Kove	lala	‘wilt pandanus leaves over a fire in order to soften them for mat making’
PT	Molima	lala	‘wilt pandanus leaves over a fire in order to soften them for mat making’
MM	Nakanai	lala	‘wilt pandanus leaves over a fire in order to soften them for mat making; hold over the fire, heat over the fire (as bamboo which is to be bent)’
Pn	Pukapukan	lala	‘bleach pandanus leaves by passing them over a fire’

3.2. Cord, twine⇫

The simplest material for tying would have been lengths of vine or rattan, or strips of suitable bark, such as hibiscus. (POc *waRoc ‘vine, creeper, rope, string’; POc *quwe ‘rattan’ (see Plants, vol. 3)). A strong light twine could be made by rolling fibres together on the thigh. The strongest cords and ropes are made by twisting or plaiting various kinds of fibres or rolled thread, principally coconut fibre or hibiscus bark.

POc		*loqi	‘make thread by rolling fibres on the thigh’ (Chowning 1991: *loi ‘thread made …’)
NNG	Kove	loi	‘make thread by rolling fibres on the thigh’
MM	Nakanai	loi	‘rub between the hands’
MM	Tolai	loe	[V] ‘twist, coil’
MM	Tolai	lo-loi	[v] ‘roll or coil (strips of shell money)’
SES	Kwaio	loi	‘weave a net, knit’
NCV	Nguna	lo-lo	‘thread’
Pn	Māori	roi(roki)	‘secured, tied up; knot, bind’

An unrelated PPn term has been reconstructed for the same process, *amo ‘prepare fibres for string making (by rubbing between hands or on thigh); prepared fibre’ (Biggs & Clark 1993).

POc		*tali	‘rope, cord, plaiting’
Adm	Lou	tel	‘rope, string’
SES	Gela	tali	‘rope’
SES	Arosi	ari	[N] ‘rope’; [v] ‘plait’
SES	Arosi	ari(heda)	‘flat-shaped rope’
SES	Arosi	ari(hua)	‘rounded rope’
SES	Arosi	ari(huemadi)	‘knotted line’
NCV	Mota	tal, tali	‘rope, cord, made of plaited or twisted lines’
Fij	Wayan	tali	[v] ‘plait, weave; rope’
Fij	Bauan	tali	[v] ‘plait, interweave’
Pn	Anutan	tari	‘kind of plaiting’
Pn	Māori	tari	‘plaiting as opposed to weaving or twining’

PMP		*piri(c,t)	‘twist, plait’ (Blust 1970)
POc		*piri	‘plait a cord, twist, wrap around’
Adm	Mussau	iri	‘tie, bind by wrapping around’
NNG	Gedaged	piȴi	‘weave (mats, sails +), (V) braid, knot (the strands of grass-skirts)’
PT	Kilivila	vili	‘tum; make grass-skirts; be twisted’
PT	Molima	vili	‘make a skirt, roll a cigarette, put a headdress round the head’
PT	Motu	hiri	‘fasten by twisting round and round; tie up (a parcel, bundle), twisting string all round it; kill (pig) for visitors’
MM	Tolai	pir	‘plait (basket, mat +)’
MM	Nakanai	viri	‘twist, wind up, wind around’
MM	Simbo	viri	‘plait, make a basket’
SES	Sa’a	hiri	[v] ‘lap with string, bind spears or arrows’
SES	Arosi	hiri	‘twist, twine round, (snake) coil, wind (a line) round’
NCV	Mota	vir	‘twist, wring, squeeze with a twist, plait’
NCV	Tamambo	viri	‘twist, plait, braid; coconut milk’
SV	Sye	(e)vi	‘weave (basket)’
NCal	Nemi	fili	‘braid’
Mic	Ponapean	pir	‘tum, spin, twist’
Mic	Kosraean	pɨr(aki)	[V] ‘braid, plait’
Fij	Rotuman	hiri	‘plait three strands of sennit, hair +, and the “tail” of a basket or floormat made of coconut-leaf, this tail itself being called a hiri’
Fij	Bauan	viri	‘lash (fence, raft +)’
Pn	Samoan	fili	‘plait, braid (sennit, hair +)’

cf. also:

PT	Gumawana	(ki)pili	‘twist s.t., unscrew a lid’
MM	Tolai	pir	‘plait (basket, mat +)’

PEOc		*piri-piri	‘twine round and round; thing made by braiding’4
SES	Sa’a	hiri-hiri	‘plaited spear’
SES	Arosi	hiri-hiri	‘twist, twine round, (snake) coil, wind a line round; a thread for tying a hook to a line’
Mic	Woleaian	piri-pir	‘tie, twist, fold, lash (as in twisting ropes)’
Pn	Samoan	fili-fili	‘chain’
Pn	Hawaiian	hili-hili	[v] ‘braid, plait, string’

Reduplication was regularly used to form intransitive verbs from verbs which were otherwise transitive (see Ch. 2, §3.1.2).

PEOc		*pilos, *pilos-i-	‘make a cord by twisting fibres on the thigh’ (Bethwyn Evans pers.comm.)
SES	Lau	filo, filosi-	‘twist together (strands), twist round’
SES	Kwaio	filosi-	‘twist, wring’
SES	’Are’are	hirosi-	‘wring, twist, roll’
SES	Arosi	hiro, hirosi-	‘revolve, spin’
NCV	Port Sandwich	vlösi-	‘roll on one’s thigh’
NCV	Paamese	vilesi-	[VT] ‘turn around, turn over’
Fij	Bauan	vulo	‘twist a thread on the knee’
Pn	Tongan	filo, filohi-	‘thread; spin, make thread, string, rope’
Pn	Takuu	filo	‘roll rope on thigh’
Pn	Mangarevan	hiro	‘make threads by rolling filaments on the thigh’
Pn	Hawaiian	hilo	‘twist, braid, spin; twisted, braided’

See Chapter 9, §§7-8, for discussion of the item above.

PWOc		*mʷali	‘braid large ropes (for use with canoes +)’ (Chowning 1991)
NNG	Lukep	mol-	‘twist into a loop’
NNG	Manam	moli	‘plait’
PT	Sudest	mʷana(basi)	‘twist (s.t.)’
MM	Nakanai	mali	‘plait (mat)’

PMP		*kapat	‘cotton, thread’ (Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*kapa	‘sennit’
Fij	Wayan	kava	‘(sennit) be rolled into a coil; a coil of sennit’
Fij	Bauan	kavā, kapā	‘roll of sinnet’
Pn	Tongan	kafa	‘sennit (string or rope made of coconut fibre)’
Pn	Tikopia	kafa	‘sennit cord plaited from fibre of coconut husk’
Pn	Marquesan	kaha	‘sennit rope used in lashing canoe’

The product of tying a piece of cordage is, of course, a knot. POc seems to have had no term dedicated to a knot as understood in English, but had the more generalised term *buku, which referred to a node, protuberance, joint or knot (this word was also used with the meaning ‘tie a knot’; see Chapter 9, § 10):

PMP		*buku	‘node (as in bamboo or sugarcane); joint; knuckle; knot in wood, string or rope’ (ACD; Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*buku	‘node (as in bamboo or sugarcane); joint; knuckle; knot in wood, string or rope’ (ACD)
NNG	Manam	buku	‘mountain; knuckle’
NNG	Gedaged	buku-n	‘knot on the stem of a tree, or a knot tied in a cord; knob; tumor, haemorrhoids’
MM	Nakanai	bu-buku	‘knot in a tree’
MM	West Kara	buki-	‘knee’
MM	Tabar	puk-puku	‘knee’
MM	Tabar	puku-	‘boil, ulcer’
MM	Tolai	buk	‘boil, ulcer, abscess; hence any lump, corner, point, knob +’
MM	Tolai	buku-	‘knee’
MM	Babatana	pu-puku	‘elbow’
MM	Roviana	puku-na	‘a knot’
MM	Maringe	pʰu-puku	‘knee, elbow’
SES	Bugotu	puku	‘a swelling from a blow; lump, knot, tumor’
SES	Gela	puku	‘a knot’
SES	Gela	vari-puku	‘tie a knot’
Mic	Kiribati	buki-ni-bai	‘elbow’
Mic	Kiribati	buki-narora	‘reef jutting out at end of land’
Mic	Kosraean	fuku-ne	‘ankle’
Mic	Kosraean	puku-n ne	‘shank, shin’
Mic	Chuukese	pʷ-pʷuk	‘knot’
Fij	Bauan	buku	‘the raised end of a shell + ; knot, protuberance’
Fij	Bauan	(i)buku	‘a knot’
Fij	Bauan	buku ni kai	‘hinge of a bivalve’
Pn	Rennellese	puku	‘knot, as in a tree’
Pn	Māori	puku	‘swelling, tumor, knob; head of seed, cob of corn; swell’

3.2.1. Sewing⇫

POc *saqi(t) was the term used specifically for sewing activities. The terms *(su)suk-i ‘pierce, sew (mats)’ and *(su)suRi ‘bone (needle); sew’ were also used for sewing, but this was not their primary meaning.

POc		*saqi(t)	‘sew’ (Milke 1961) ; ‘sew (pandanus mats, thatch +)’ (Chowning 1991)
Adm	Mussau	saki	‘sew’
Adm	Mussau	saiki	‘sew (clothes)’ (cf. sui, sufi ‘sew (mats, thatch)’)
NNG	Amara	sai-sai	‘sew’
NNG	Kairiru	sai	‘sew’
PT	Motu	dai(āhu)	‘close a bag by sewing up the mouth’ (ahu ‘closed’)
MM	Meramera	sai	‘sew’
MM	Nakanai	sahi	‘sew’
MM	Nakanai	sa-sahi	‘sew two things together’
SES	Lau	tai	‘sew’
SES	Arosi	taʔi	‘sew, join together’

cf. also:

NNG

Sengseng

sihit

‘sew areca palm spathe pouches for lime; barricade a doorway by interlacing vines across’

PMP		*cukcuk, *suksuk	‘skewer’ (ACD)
POc		*(su)su(k)	‘anything used to pierce, prick’ (cf. Ch. 9, §4.1)
NNG	Gitua	zuzu	‘sharpened stick used like cooking fork’
PT	Motu	dudu	‘prod with a stick’
MM	Nakanai	susu(tola)	‘pierce the footprint (kind of sorcery)’
SES	Gela	susu(ihu)	‘hole in septum in nose; nose stick; strengthening sticks through thatch of house ridge’ (ihu ‘nose’)
SES	Lau	susu	[V] ‘point, prick, impale, pierce, poke out with a stick, sting, darn’
NCV	Mota	sus	‘pierce, run through’
Fij	Rotuman	susu	‘sew, prick’

In the following set there may be some blending of meaning between two formally close terms, POc *s(u,i)ri ‘pierce, poke’ (Ch. 9, §4.1) and POc *suRi ‘bone’, because needles were at times made from bones (of bird or flying fox or occasionally pig).

POc		*(su)suRi	‘bone (needle); sew’ (cf. POc *suRi ‘bone’)
Adm	Mussau	sui	‘sew (mats), thatch’
MM	Roviana	susuri(na)	‘bone’
SES	Sa’a	suli(teru)	‘bone needle’ (suli ‘bone’)
SES	Arosi	suri(ao)	‘needle for sewing thatch’ (suri-suri ‘bone’, ao ‘sago palm’)
NCV	Mota	su-sur	‘sew, prick’

The following term for needle, POc *saRum, evidently had specific reference to a tattooing needle, in addition to a more general meaning.

PMP		*zaRum	‘needle’ (Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*saRum	‘needle, tattooing needle’ (typically made from wing-bone of flying fox)
Adm	Mussau	raum	‘needle’
Adm	Lou	sou-	‘needle’
NNG	Lukep	sar	‘needle (traditionally made of bat bone or fish bone)’
MM	Nakanai	salu	‘needle or awl’
SES	Arosi	taru	‘bat’s bone for tattooing’
SES	’Are’are	taru(a)	‘needle, the bones of a flying fox’
Fij	Bauan	sau	[v] ‘prick, as in tattooing’
Fij	Bauan	(i)sau	‘needle’ (i- < POc *i- INS)
Pn	Tongan	hau	‘thin dagger, like a giant needle, used in spearing bonito’
Pn	Samoan	au	‘needle, tattooing comb’
Pn	Tokelauan	au	‘needle for sewing thatch; tattooing comb’

4. Tools⇫

4.1. Cutting implements⇫

4.1.1. Axe, adze⇫

Oliver (1989:88) identifies axe heads as having cutting ends bevelled on both sides, adzes as having cutting ends bevelled on one side only, and axe-adzes which are bevelled so as to be used either way. They are, of course, hafted differently on to their handle, the axe head lying along the same plane while the adze head is set at right angles to the handle. Axes would have been used primarily in tree-felling; adzes for such activities as the hollowing out and shaping of canoes, or the extraction of pith from sago palms. Either implement could have been utilised in the shaping of timber for the construction of houses, fenceposts etc. Although the preferred material for an adze blade was presumably basalt, archaeological sites in Island Oceania contain numbers of axes and particularly adzes, made of shell, mostly of Tridacna, the giant clam (Oliver 1989: 89). On coral atolls, shell often has by necessity to substitute for stone.

PMP		*kiRam	‘axe or adze’ (ACD)
POc		*kiRam	‘stone adze, axe’ (Milke 1968)
Adm	Mussau	iema	‘knife’
NNG	Manam	kira	‘stone axe, axe blade’
PT	Gumawana	kiyama	‘axe’
PT	Molima	ilama	‘stone axe’
PT	Motu	ira	‘hatchet; adze’
PT	Dobu	ila	‘stone axe’
MM	Vitu	kira	‘axe’
MM	Label	iram	‘axe’
MM	Tolai	riam	‘the original stone (basalt) tomahawk’ (metathesis)
SES	Gela	gila	‘stone adze, axe’
SES	Kwaio	ʔila	‘flint, flint tool’
SES	Arosi	ʔira	‘stone adze, axe’
NCV	South Efate	karam	‘axe’
SV	Lenakel	(ka)kil	‘sharpened stick (used as adze, digging stick +)’
Mic	Ponapean	kī	‘shell adze’
Fij	Rotuman	ʔia	‘axe’
Fij	Wayan	kia	‘axe or adze’

Note the change in meaning in the three examples given at the end of the following cognate set. All three languages are Samoic Outliers.

POc		*matau	‘axe’
Adm	Loniu	motow	‘k.o. knife or cutting tool’
NNG	Lukep	matau	‘axe’
MM	Lihir	matau	‘axe’
MM	Patpatar	matau	‘axe’
SES	Tolo	matau	‘stone axe’
Fij	Bauan	matau	‘native adze made of stone’
Pn	Samoan	matau	‘adze, axe’
Pn	Luangiua	matau	‘tattooing chisel’
Pn	Tikopia	matāu	‘tattooer’s serrated chisel of bird-bone’
Pn	Anutan	matau	‘tattooing chisel’

POc		*(m,mʷ)ata-	‘point, cutting edge, sharp projection’ (Grace 1969)
Adm	Loniu	mata-n	‘blade’
Adm	Bipi	mata-n	‘sharp’
NNG	Takia	mala-n	‘sharp, bright; (knife) edge’5
PT	Motu	mata	‘point or tip of anything’
SES	Lau	mā	‘point, edge’
SES	Sa’a	mā	‘edge, point, blade, brim’
NCV	Mota	mata(i)	‘edge, point’ (-i < POc *qi ‘generic possessive preposition’)
Mic	Puluwatese	māh	‘(pencil, spear +) point’
Mic	Mokilese	mac	‘spearhead’
Fij	Wayan	ŋata	‘be sharp’
Pn	Tongan	mata	‘blade, cutting edge, point’
Pn	Tahitian	mata	‘edge of a tool’

The following are possibly related to the set above but all reflect an extra *i (Loniu and Tawala reflect a possible POc *mʷati, the NNG items a putative *(m,mʷ)aita). It is possible that this *i reflects the incorporation into *(m,mʷ)ata of the generic possessive preposition *qi, which would frequently have occurred immediately after it (e.g. POc **(m,mʷ)ata-qi kiRam ‘axe blade’) and is reflected in Mota matai above.

Adm	Loniu	mʷati	‘axe’
NNG	Takia	mait	‘(small) knife’
NNG	Manam	moita	‘knife’
NNG	Kairiru	mʷeit	‘knife’
PT	Tawala	mʷasi-mʷasi	‘machete, bush knife’

PMP		*ta(ŋ)kub	‘adze’ (Dahl 1981)
POc		*taku	‘adze’
Adm	Loniu	taku(wen)	‘dig (s.t.) with adze’
PCP		*taku	‘cutting implement made from shell of turtle or Tridacna shell’
Fij	Wayan	taku	‘Hawksbill turtle and its shell’
Pn	Tongan	toku	‘knife or cutter made from turtleshell or hard wood (now rare)’
Pn	Tuvalu	takū	‘axe or flat-bladed adze with Tridacna blade’
Pn	East Uvean	takū	‘shell of turtle’

PMP		*(t,T)aRaq	‘hew, plane’ (Blust 1972b)
POc		*taRa(q)	[N, V] ‘adze’
POc		*taRaq-i-	‘chop with adze’
NNG	Takia	tare	[VT] ‘cut, hew, as with an axe’
NNG	Manam	tara	‘cut down (branches)’
PT	Motu	tarai-	[V] ‘adze, chop, cut wood’
PT	Molima	tala	‘cut down trees; cut firewood; carve’
PT	Dobu	tala	[VT] ‘fell a tree, cut out a canoe; lance flesh’
MM	Tabar	tara	‘chop’
MM	Minigir	(ta)tara	‘adze’
SES	Arosi	arai-	‘chop, cut, cut down a tree’
NCV	Mota	tara	‘hew, chop, cut’
NCV	Paamese	tāta	‘adze’
SV	Lenakel	(a)rai	‘cut’
SV	Anejom̃	(a)tai	‘slice, cut without raising knife’
Mic	Kiribati	ta-tā	[v] ‘adze’
Mic	Carolinian	sār	‘knife’
Fij	Bauan	tā	‘chop with knife or axe’
Pn	Tongan	tā	‘hit, strike, beat’
Pn	Tongan	tāʔi	‘chop, cut or carve (canoe +)’
Pn	Niuean	tā	‘strike, kill, adze’
Pn	Hawaiian	kā	‘hit, strike, hack, thrust’

The existence of axe and adze heads with characteristic shaping to accommodate a handle, together with reconstruction of a term clearly designating ‘handle of adze or axe’ indicates that POc speakers were familiar with a stone head hafted to a wooden handle. This would have been by means of gum adhesives and cordage, much as described by latter day ethnographers (e.g. Oliver 1974: 135-137 for Tahiti).

PMP		*paRada	‘axe-adze handle’ (Blust 1989)
POc		*(p,pʷ)aRara	‘handle’ (Milke 1968: *paRaRa)
NNG	Lukep	parere	‘handle: used of axe, hammer; not of machete, shovel’
NNG	Gedaged	paȴaȴ	‘handle (of broom, hammer, but not of cups +)’
NNG	Takia	parar	‘handle, a curved shaped handle used in the construction of several Takia cutting tools. It is made from the makas tree (Pidgin) (Hibiscus tiliaceus). They heat the handle over a fire in order to shape it.’
PT	Motu	parara	‘handle’
MM	Roviana	varara	‘wooden handle (of axe +)’
SES	Gela	valala	‘handle; cross handle of an adze’
SES	Sa’a	halala	‘helve an axe’
SES	Arosi	hara-hara	‘bamboo knife for cutting up pigs’
SES	Arosi	(a)harara	‘having a handle’ (a- < POc *ta-)
NCV	Raga	vara	‘handle’
Mic	Puluwatese	pār, pera-	‘(knife, saw) handle’
Mic	Woleaian	paṣ	‘that part of a utensil or tool which is to be held with the hand’

With regard to the reconstruction of *(p,pʷ), see Chapter 2, §2.1. Western Oceanic and SES languages show assimilation of POc *r to *R, but we assume that assimilation had not occurred in POc, since, as Blust points out, Puluwat r reflects POc *r, whilst Woleaian ṣ inexplicably reflects POc *dr. One of the Arosi reflexes and the Raga, Puluwat and Woleaian reflexes show haplology.

4.1.2. Knives⇫

Knives were typically made from bamboo. Shells also provided good cutting edges. Probably the very best cutting edge would have been a flake of obsidian, used as a razor or for whatever forms of surgery might have been performed on the human body, and the term for this was apparently *koto (see below). However, dedicated terms for ‘knife’, as opposed to the substances they were made from, are hardly reconstructable in POc. The only one we can be sure of is:

PMP		*pisaw	‘(bamboo) knife’6
POc		*piso	‘(bamboo) knife’
Adm	Mussau	iso	‘cut (meat +)’
MM	Harua	viso	‘knife’
MM	Nakanai	viso	‘(steel) knife’ (a loan?)
MM	Tabar	viso	‘bamboo’

Although PCP *sele ‘knife; cut with a knife’ seems to have cognates elsewhere, it is highly likely that the Lukep, Lihir and Nengone terms were introduced by Fijian or Polynesian missionaries to apply to western metal knives:

PEOc		*sele	‘knife; cut with a knife’
SES	Kwaio	sele	‘shell used for cutting; trim (edge of s.t.)’
Fij	Rotuman	sele	‘cut across path, intercept’
Fij	Wayan	sele	‘cut a slice of s.t.; slice (one piece) of s.t.’
Fij	Wayan	(i)sele	‘instrument for slicing, knife (generic)’ (e.g. isele loku ‘pocket knife’, isele ni drukudruku ‘bushknife, machete’; i- < POc *i- INS)
Fij	Bauan	sele, sele(va)	‘cut with a knife; operate on; castrate’
Fij	Bauan	(i)sele	‘knife’ (i- < POc *i- INS)
Pn	Tongan	hele	‘knife; cut with a knife’
Pn	East Futunan	sele	‘knife, cut’

cf. also:

NNG	Lukep	sele	‘machete’
MM	Lihir	sele	‘knife’
NCal	Nengone	hele	‘knife’

Although the following Admiralties set bears a superficial similarity to the CP set above, the forms are too different to suggest cognation. PEAd *care points back to an otherwise unattested POc **ja(r,c)e.

PEAd		*care	‘knife, slice with a knife’
Adm	Titan	calé-le, cále	‘knife’
Adm	Drehet	sele(ʔe)	‘razor’
Adm	Loniu	caʔe, caʔi(ti)	‘cut’
Adm	Nyindrou	san	‘slice, cut’

Biggs (1993) includes one further reconstruction for ‘bamboo knife’, PPn *kofe.

4.1.3. Flint, obsidian⇫

Obsidian, glass-hard volcanic stone found on Lou Island (Admiralties), on Fergusson Island in the D’Entrecasteaux group, at Talasea (Willaumez Peninsula of New Britain) and Banks Island, Vanuatu, and, from its traces in excavated Lapita sites, a much sought-after trade item among early Oceanic speakers, serves as a fine cutting edge. POc *nad(r)i is reconstructable, although in places it refers only to hard stone (with a cutting edge?). *qa(r,R)iŋ is reconstructable only for PWOc. Reflexes of POc *koto refer to a variety of uses of the material and suggest that its primary meaning was ‘obsidian cutting edge’:

POc		*nad(r)i	‘flint, obsidian, stone with a cutting edge’
NNG	Takia	nad	‘obsidian, volcanic glass’
PT	Motu	nadi	‘stone’
SES	Gela	nadi	‘flint’
SES	Bugotu	nadi	‘flint’
SES	Lau	(fou) nagi	‘flint’
SES	Arosi	nagi	‘flint, obsidian’

PWOc		*qa(r,R)iŋ	‘obsidian; razor’
NNG	Lukep	ailiŋ	‘razor (traditional razor was a sharpened shell)’
NNG	Gedaged	yaliŋ	‘obsidian (a splinter of it serves as a razor)’
NNG	Kove	ali-ali	‘obsidian’
PT	Duau	kalilia	‘arrow’
PT	Sudest	kayina	‘knife’
MM	Nakanai	hali	‘obsidian; razor formerly made of obsidian’
MM	Meramera	ali	‘obsidian’

POc		*koto	‘obsidian head of spear, obsidian knife or blade; cut (across)’
NNG	Dami	oto	‘spear’
NNG	Lukep	koto	‘cut across grain’
NNG	Wab	kot	‘cut’
NNG	Sissano	ʔot	‘chop’
MM	Tigak	koto	‘cut off’
MM	Ramoaaina	koto	‘obsidian; used to make scars or to shave’
MM	Tolai	koto	‘piece of stone (obsidian) or shell used as a lance’
MM	Roviana	koto(a)	‘cut or trim hair, shrubs +’
SES	Kwaio	ʔoto	‘hit and perforate’
SES	Arosi	koto	[V] ‘spear’
SES	Arosi	oto	‘arrow without barbs’
NCV	Mota	koto	‘nip, snap’
NCV	Nguna	koto(vi)	‘break, cut (a long thing); separate, away’
NCV	Lonwolwol	kote, gote	‘across, through’

A group of eastern Polynesian languages have a term for obsidian probably derived from POc *(m,mʷ)ata ‘cutting edge’ (§4.1.1).

Pn	Rapanui	matā	‘obsidian’
Pn	Māori	matā	‘obsidian, flint, quartz’
Pn	Hawaiian	mākā	‘kind of stone’

4.1.4. Awl⇫

Multi-purpose piercing tools may have been carried, fashioned from bone, perhaps a pig’s femur. These were useful for piercing shells, splitting fibres for weaving, splitting areca nuts, separating coconut meat from its shell and such daily activities. They were probably also used to pierce earlobes and the nasal septum. Green (1979:39) lists a worked pig-tusk piercing tool from the Main Reef Islands, circa 1100 B.C. Reconstructions appear primarily verbal, with a term for the instrument sometimes derivable from the verb. They include POc *puru(k), *puruk-i- ‘pierce, bore (hole)’, POc *buru ‘bore a hole, drill’; PWOc *bʷaR(i,e) ‘bore (hole)’; and PEOc *paRo ‘drill through, pierce, perforate’ (see Chapter 9, §4.2, for the cognate sets).

4.1.5. Sharpening and grinding⇫

There is evidence that all three of the basic methods for shaping stone—flaking (also called chipping), pecking and grinding—were practised in POc times (Oliver 1989: 144). We have several reconstructions for actions which include sharpening or grinding, but they may also refer to grating (foodstuffs), and at times to rasping and filing (wood and shell). Pumice, widely available in volcanic regions, was typically used for sharpening stone. Although we can reconstruct terms for the activity, the only reconstruction we have for the implement is the PCP term for a whetstone.

PCP		*vuqa(i)ŋa	‘whetstone, grindstone’
Fij	Wayan	vuaiŋō	‘pumice stone, pumice; used for scouring coconut-shell cups’
Pn	Tongan	fuʔo-fuʔaŋa	‘pumice’
Pn	Samoan	foaŋa	‘grindstone’
Pn	Rarotongan	ʔoaŋa	‘grindstone’
Pn	Mangarevan	hoaga	‘volcanic stone used as hone or sharpener’
Pn	Māori	hōaŋa	‘sandstone used in grinding stone’

From its form it is clear that PCP *vuqa(i)ŋa is a nominalisation. The corresponding verb occurs in Polynesian languages with somewhat altered meaning (Samoan foa ‘break rock or shell’, Hawaiian hoa ‘strike with stick or club’). Together with the WOc cognates, Iduna (PT) fua- ‘crush’, Motu (PT) huari ‘smash, as pottery’ and Tolai puar ‘break (cup, glass +)’ they point to POc *pu(q)a(R), *pu(q)aR-i- ‘break, as s.t. hard, smash’.

PAn		*Sasaq	‘whet, sharpen’ (ACD)
POc		*asa(q), *asaq-i-	‘grate, sharpen by grating or rubbing’
POc		*i-asa(q)	‘grater; anything used to grate, grind’ (Lichtenberk 1994)
Adm	Loniu	yasa(y)	‘sharpen (a cutting edge)’
NNG	Manam	ara	‘grate, sharpen, rub’
NNG	Kairiru	yas	‘sharpen s.t.’
MM	Teop	aha	‘grate (tapioca +); scrub (floor +)’
MM	Teop	(i)aha	‘grater (for tapioca)’ (i- < POc *i- INS)
MM	Maringe	jaha, zaha	‘sharpen (knife, axe +); grate (tapioca, sweet potato)’
MM	Roviana	asa-i-	‘grind (very blunt axe +); grate (sweet potato, taro +)’
SES	Bugotu	(a)aha	‘grate, rub down (taro +) on a stone, sharpen by rubbing’
SES	Lau	sata	‘rub, rub down, sharpen by rubbing’
SES	Arosi	ata	‘scrape, rub, sharpen with rubbing’
NCV	Mota	asa	‘rub, wash with rubbing’
SV	Kwamera	ərəsi	‘scrape, grate’
Mic	Carolinian	(m)asa	‘(knife, axe +) blade’
Mic	Ponapean	ete	‘sharpen, put an edge on s.t.’
Fij	Bauan	yaða-	‘grate, grind, file’
Fij	Bauan	(i)yaða	‘grater, grindstone’ (i- < POc *i- INS)
Pn	Māori	aha-aha	‘saw-like instrument of shark teeth set in a wooden mounting’

PMP		*kirkir	[v] ‘file, rasp’ (Blust 1977a)
POc		*kiri	‘file, rasp, saw’
NNG	Roinji	kiri-	‘bore (hole)’
NNG	Manam	kuiri-	‘bore (hole)’
NNG	Kove	iri	‘clean teeth, scrub a saucepan (both done by rubbing with sand)’
PT	Iduna	kili-li	‘pumice stone’
PT	Motu	iri	[N] ‘saw’
PT	Motu	iri-ri	‘file’
Pn	Tongan	kili	‘saw, file’
Pn	Tokelauan	kili	[v] ‘file, rasp’

POc		*giri	‘file, rasp, saw’
NNG	Mangseng	kir	‘rub, file’
NNG	Mangseng	kir(oŋa)	[N] ‘file’ (-oŋa NOM)
SES	Gela	gi-giri	[N] ‘rasp; a saw’
SES	Lau	giri-giri	‘roughen, as a stick with notches, or in making a file’

cf. also:

NNG	Takia	riri	‘grate, pulverise by rubbing against s.t. rough; rasp’
PT	Motu	riri	‘grate (yams +)’

Both *kiri and *giri are reconstructable, the latter perhaps a verb from *N-kiri; the Polynesian reflexes are attributable to either.

The same terms may have also been used to describe the actions of smoothing and polishing. The Polynesians, in particular, were concerned to produce a fine finish to their artefacts by rubbing. Beaglehole wrote of the Tahitians, “All their [wood] work however acquires a certain neatness in the finishing for they polish every thing, even the side of a canoe or a Post of a house, with Coral sand rubbed on in the outer husk of a Cocoa nut and rays skin, which makes them very smooth and neat.” (quoted in Oliver 1974: 134). The general term for this may have been POc *quju(r) ‘rub, make smooth by rubbing’ (see Ch. 9, §2.3). In at least one language (Woleaian in Micronesia) the term for a file is the same term as that for stingray (faiya > PAn *paRis ‘stingray’), the skin of which serves as a fine abrasive.

5. Bark-cloth, clothing, body decoration⇫

5.1. Bark-cloth (tapa)⇫

The material used to make bark-cloth or tapa in the Pacific area is obtained mainly from various species of trees belonging to the genera Broussonetia, Artocarpus, and Ficus, all of which belong to the family Moraceae. Wherever tapa was made, the Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry tree was used for the highest quality cloth. It is not native to the Pacific, but to eastern Asia, whence migrants carried it to Indonesia and the Pacific. The only other significant source is the Pipturus species, used for tapa particularly in Hawaii (Kooijman 1972: 1).

Bark-cloth is a significant item in Indonesia and in the eastern Oceanic region, particularly Polynesia, but also Santa Cruz, New Caledonia and Fiji. However, it does not feature strongly in the western Oceanic region. Ivens (1918: 186) wrote that although bark-cloth (tapa) was made in Melanesia, it never figured as an article of clothing, and its main use was to form a kind of shawl in which the baby was slung when carried from the shoulder. Ivens was probably speaking from a Solomons perspective. Kooijman (1972:446) quotes reports by Chalmers and Gill (1885) which mention bark-cloth from Collingwood Bay and the Gulf of Papua (both PT); while in the Northern Province of south-east Papua, for instance, bark-cloth is a prestigious valuable. In parts of New Britain it was used to bind the heads of young babies to achieve the desired elongated skull shape (Ann Chowning, pers.comm.). Kooijman (pp.446-453) points out that the descriptions of the manufacture of New Guinea bark-cloth and the study of the museum material indicate that, as a rule, this tapa is relatively thick and stiff and made from Ficus and Artocarpus varieties, rather than from Broussonetia. He believes that the latter was probably not used for tapa cloth in New Guinea. He records little mention of bark-cloth use in Micronesia, other than the wearing of tapa ponchos in Ponape. Yen (1973:83), in his examination of the origins of Oceanic agriculture, describes the cultivation of paper mulberry, as a pruned shrub for the production of bark for cloth, as ceasing west of the Melanesia/Polynesia border area.

Although terms can be located in WOc, none are cognate, and no POc term is reconstructable, apart from terms for the sources of raw material, POc *(m,mʷ)ase ‘wild mulberry, paper mulberry,’Broussonetia papyrifera’ POc *kuluR ‘breadfruit, Artocarpus’ (from PAn *kuluR) and POc *nunu(k) (from PMP *nunuk ‘banyan, Ficus spp.’) (see Plants, vol. 3).

The term tapa, now virtually the generic term for bark-cloth, can be reconstructed for PCP.

PCP		*taba	‘bark’
Fij	Wayan	taba	‘skin, bark’
Pn	Tongan	tapa	‘edge, rim, border, boundary’ (present meaning); ‘bark-cloth (not printed or stained)’ (old meaning; Kooijman, p. 301, from Mariner 1827)7
Pn	Samoan	tapa	‘white border of coloured bark-cloth sheet’
Pn	Mangarevan	tapa	‘bark-cloth’
Pn	Rarotongan	tapa	‘cloth made from inner bark of certain trees’
Pn	Hawaiian	kapa	‘bark -cloth’

cf. also:

SES	Lau	ʔaba	‘hand, arm, wing; leaf, frond, cloth; portion, part’
SES	Arosi	ʔaba	‘wing, limb; leaf (of banana +)’

Note that although the general term for bark-cloth in Tonga is ŋatu and in Samoa is siapo, the term tapa does exist in both places. In Tonga today it refers more generally to ‘edge, rim, border, boundary’, and in Samoa it refers to the uncoloured border of the coloured bark-cloth sheet or siapo. Biggs (1993) lists these as apparently unrelated homonyms. Alternatively, if we assume the original PPn meaning of *tapa to be ‘bark-cloth which was not printed or stained’, its more restricted meaning in Samoa is understandable.

A second term in Polynesia, referring both to plant and product, is widespread:

PPn		*siapo	‘paper-mulberry plant (Broussonetia sp.); bark-cloth’ (Biggs and Clark 1993)
Pn	Niuean	hiapo	‘paper-mulberry plant, bark-cloth garment’
Pn	Tongan	hiapo	‘paper-mulberry plant’
Pn	East Futunan	siapo	‘bark-cloth’
Pn	Samoan	siapo	‘bark-cloth from paper mulberry’
Pn	Marquesan	hiapo	‘young banyan from which tapa is made’

A number of reconstructions have been made at PCP or PPn level, but the similarity of gloss indicates the likelihood of more subtleties of meaning than we have been able to identify here. They include: PCP *ŋatu ‘old or worn bark-cloth’, PCP *leu-leu ‘(old) tapa cloth’, and PPn *ŋafi-ŋafi ‘old mat or bark-cloth’ (Biggs & Clark 1993).

The only term reconstructable for the Southeast Solomons is apparently limited to the island of Malaita.

SES	Lau	maku	‘bark-cloth’
SES	Kwaio	maku	‘bark-cloth’
SES	’Are’are	maku	‘cloth for married women, a fringe of string or a piece of pandanus worn in front and behind, not around the hips’

We have a reconstruction for the mallet used in beating tapa which goes back as far as PMP:

PMP		*ike	‘tapa-beating mallet’
WMP	Uma	ike	‘tapa-beating mallet’ (Kennedy 1934: 237) 8
POc		*ike	‘tapa beater’
SES	Sa’a	iki (ʔoʔo)	‘beat the slitgongs’ (ʔoʔo ‘gong’)
Fij	Bauan	ike	‘tapa beater’
Pn	Tongan	ike	‘mallet with which tutu is beaten in making tapa cloth’
Pn	Samoan	iʔe	‘tapa beater’
Pn	East Futunan	ike	‘tapa-cloth beater’
Pn	Hawaiian	iʔe	‘tapa beater’

Biggs (1993) has PPn reconstructions for the action of beating tapa (*tutu), and the board or anvil on which this was done (*tutua). Both terms are derived from PAn *tuqtuq ‘hammer, pound, crush’, POc *tutuk (see Ch. 9, §5.1). It is of interest that the Toradja of central Sulawesi also have a term totua for the wooden board on which the bark-cloth is beaten (Kennedy 1934).

5.2. Clothing⇫

Over the region as a whole there is enormous variation in the degree and nature of body covering in these areas. Chowning (1991: 46) points out that “although ornaments were worn everywhere, clothes were not; for example, in parts of the Bismarck Archipelago both sexes wore nothing. In others, as Nakanai and part of Kove, only women wore clothing.” Where clothing was worn, bark-cloth was undoubtedly the most substantial wearable material. Leaves, and to a lesser extent, grass, were used to fashion skirts, aprons and G-strings.

5.2.1. Loincloth⇫

The following reconstruction of POc *malo is soundly based, although there is doubt as to whether the term can be traced back to an earlier stage. Blust (1970: 133) proposes PMP *maru ‘loincloth’, but notes the difficulty of reconciling the PMP form with the POc, with the latter having unexplained *o for expected *u and *l for expected *r. There can be little doubt that the POc term referred to bark-cloth and a garment made from that material.

POc		*malo	‘Broussonetia papyrifera, loincloth’ (Milke 1968)
NNG	Gedaged	mal	‘tree, bark of which is used to make G-strings and blankets’
NNG	Takia	mal	‘bark-cloth’
NNG	Kove	malo	‘bark-cloth’ (malo maloŋia male and female breechclout-worn under skirt by women)
MM	Patpatar	māl	‘cloth; clothing’
MM	Tolai	mal	‘name of small tree, Broussonetia papyrifera; native cloth made from bark of this tree; any kind of cloth, loincloth’
MM	Teop	maro	‘cloth/clothing’
SES	Arosi	maro	‘tree species, paper mulberry; beaten cloth of the mara (bark soaked in water and then beaten out, later painted in gay colours and used as a sling (duru) to carry a child, or a loincloth (gaha)’
NCV	Raga	malo	‘men’s loin cloth’
Fij	Bauan	malo	‘paper mulberry; hence the native cloth made from it and the former native male dress, passed between the thighs and fastened with a girdle’
Pn	Samoan	malo	‘loincloth’
Pn	Emae	maro	‘bark-cloth’
Pn	Hawaiian	malo	‘loin garment’

Another apparent POc reconstruction for a loincloth, *sulu, with cognates in Kilivila (PT) and New Ireland as well as in the central Pacific, is relegated to PCP or PPn on the grounds that the term and garment were brought to New Guinea by Fijian and Polynesian missionaries in the nineteenth century.

The term *tipi ‘man’s loincloth’ perhaps had the generic sense ‘man’s clothing’, as its reflexes have been reinterpreted quite broadly with changes in sartorial customs.

POc		*tipi	‘loincloth, man’s garment’
NNG	Numbami	tiwi	‘loincloth’
PT	Motu	sihi	‘man’s girdle; the paper mulberry from which the girdle is made’
MM	Simbo	ti-tivi	‘skirt, sarong’
MM	Roviana	tivi-tivi	‘loincloth’
SES	Gela	tivi	‘sling for carrying a baby’
SES	Ghari	tivi	‘native loincloth for men’
SES	Longgu	ivi	‘sarong, lavalava’
Mic	Woleaian	sifi-sif	‘grass-skirt’

5.2.2. Grass or leaf skirt⇫

Perhaps surprisingly, there is no widely reflected item for ‘grass-skirt’ or, more accurately, ‘leaf skirt’. The set below has cognates in two primary subgroups, but, since the Admiralties and the north coast of New Guinea were connected by trading links, it may be due to borrowing.

POc		*nai(V)	‘woman’s grass (shredded leaf?) skirt’
Adm	Loniu	nay	‘short ornamented skirt’
Adm	Nyindrou	nay	‘woman’s dress’
NNG	Gedaged	nai	‘woman’s grass (shredded leaf?) skirt’
NNG	Kairiru	nai	‘woman’s grass (shredded leaf?) skirt’

Along much of that coast, reflexes of POc *jiRi ‘cordyline’ are used for ‘grass-skirt’:

POc		*jiRi	‘cordyline’
NNG	Bariai	(daŋasi)sid	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Kilenge	na-sir	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Mangap	sere(kini)	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Lukep	sere(k)	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Malasanga	sir	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Bing	zier	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Mindiri	da-dir	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Bilibil	da-dir	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Takia	di-dir	‘grass-skirt’

Biggs (1993) has reconstructed PPn *titi ‘skirt or kilt worn in the dance’, a term which may have the same source.

A term found only on the island of New Guinea is:

PNGOc		*ram(i,e)	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Gitua	ram	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Sio	lome	‘grass-skirt’
NNG	Bing	rām	‘grass-skirt’
PT	Motu	rami	‘grass-skirt’

POc *kaput and POc *kopu have been mentioned in relation to the wrapping of food before oven cooking (see Ch. 6, §3.7), although both are believed to have more general reference (*kaput ‘wrap up, cover’, *kopu ‘bundle up together’). It would seem that in Polynesia their reflexes have also come to apply to the covering of the body, PPn *kafu ‘spread over, cover the body (with a blanket)’ PPn *kofu ‘wrap up; clothing’.

5.3. Paint, smear, anoint⇫

The practice of rubbing oil or grease on the body is known throughout the region, coconut and candlenut oil being favoured, rather than the pig fat used in the Highlands. The practice of painting red, yellow, black or white designs on the face and body with clay, lime etc. is found mainly in Melanesia. POc *lumu(k) most probably refers to oil. POc *pani would seem to cover both oiling and painting. Reflexes of POc *lumut ‘seaweed’ and *lumu(k) ‘oil’ coincide in several SES languages, so the ’Are’are term appears to be a blend of the two meanings, the idea of anointing with oil presumably introduced with Christianity.

PMP		*lumuk	‘(hair, skin) oily’ (ACD)
POc		*lumu(k)	‘oil, grease’
MM	Nakanai	lomo	‘paint for hair and body, usually made from the oil of candlenut and red pigment’
MM	Simbo	lumu	‘oil, grease’
MM	Roviana	lumu-	‘anoint’
SES	’Are’are	rumu	‘seaweed; k.o. moss on trees, used in ceremonial purification, is wrung out over the head of a newborn baby when taken into somebody’s house’
SES	Arosi	rumu	‘oil’ (cf. rumu-rumu ‘moss’)
Fij	Bauan	lumu	‘anoint with oil’

cf. also:

SES

’Are’are

ruma

‘oil, grease from pigs and coconuts, rubbed on the body to make it shiny’

In Fiji and Polynesia, reflexes of a different term, PCP *sinu ‘oil’ are used.

POc		*pani	‘apply oil or paint to the body’ (Chowning 1991)
NNG	Sengseng	pan	‘paint designs on bark-cloth’
MM	Nakanai	vali	‘apply paint, feathers, or other surface adornment to the head or body’
Mic	Kiribati	bani (kamaimai)	‘perfumed oil’ (kamaimai ‘molasses of toddy’)
Fij	Bauan	vani	‘put oil through hair with fingers’
Pn	Tongan	pani	‘smear, besmear, daub, or stain; rub the head with oil’
Pn	Rennellese	pani	‘anoint (head + with turmeric)’
Pn	Samoan	pani	‘dye the hair with the juice of pani (tree)’
Pn	Māori	pani	‘paint, besmear’

Chowning (p.48) mentions another form of body ornamentation, the blackening of teeth, evidently widespread in Melanesia as far east as the Solomons. Seligman (1910:492) describes the custom among the people of Tubetube (PT), in which fragments of a black bituminous semi-fossilised wood called tari are mixed into a paste with the chopped and roasted leaves of the badira tree, and held against the teeth overnight. He gives the purpose of teeth blackening as ‘a means of personal adornment and to attract the opposite sex’. A reconstructed form, *tapal, can be made for PWOc (the Sa’a term, taha rather than the expected aha, has to be considered a borrowing). Mikloucho-Maclay (1975:89) recorded in 1871 that “The natives [of Astrolabe Bay] not only blacken their faces, but also the mouth (tongue, teeth, gums, lips) with a substance which they chew.” He gives the name taval for this substance. Although we cannot attribute taval to a particular language (Mikloucho-Maclay lived in a village of Papuan speakers), it is evidence that reflexes of *tapal occur in the NNG area.

PWOc		*tapal	‘substance used to blacken teeth’ (Chowning 1991)
PT	Molima	tavana	‘mineral substance used for blackening the teeth’
MM	Tolai	taval	‘baked earth for blackening teeth; the custom of blackening the teeth’

cf. also:

MM	Roviana	davala	‘blacken the teeth with a mixture of Terrninalia leaf, oil etc.’
SES	Sa’a	taha	‘pigment made from river rock, used in teeth-blackening’

A second reconstruction is PSS *ogo ‘tooth-blackening powder’ (Lau ago, Kwaio ogo). Ivens (1927 (reissued 1972):83) described the custom as practised by ‘young men or girls, who wish to give themselves airs’, although later, (1930: 121) he wrote that “it was said to preserve the teeth and prevent sore gums”.

5.4. Tattooing⇫

Chowning (1991: 48) points out that tattooing in New Guinea has only limited distribution, tending to be confined to people with relatively light skin. “Where it was practised, methods ranged from the cutting of fine lines with obsidian, after which pigment was rubbed in, to the use of special implements. Darker-skinned people practised ornamental cicatrisation.” Although no POc reconstruction has been made for the activity, reflexes of POc *saRum (see §3.2.1) indicate that a tattooing needle of bat’s bone was known in both eastern and western Oceanic as well as the Admiralties. In the east Oceanic region tattooing is widespread. It was practised most extensively and reached its highest artistic development in Polynesia. A needle of bat or bird bone was tapped repetitively with a mallet, and a dye, probably of vegetable origin, rubbed into the punctured area. (Maoris used a dye made from the oily smoke of burning nut kernels. In Bellona the sap of the ŋieemuŋii tree—Canarium harveyi—was collected, allowed to set, burnt and the carbon collected and scraped into a black powder (Tickle 1977: 11)). A group of Samoic Outliers (Anuta, Luangiua, Takuu, Tikopia) use reflexes of PPn *matau ‘axe’ to refer to their tattooing chisel.

The term tattoo is Polynesian in origin:

PPn		*tatau	[N, V] ‘tattoo’
Pn	Tongan	tā-tatau	[V] ‘tattoo’
Pn	Samoan	tatau	‘tattooing’
Pn	Rennellese	tatau	‘tattooing’
Pn	Rarotongan	taa-tatau	‘tattooing’
Pn	Tahitian	tatau	‘marks or points on the human skin’
Pn	Hawaiian	kākau	‘tattoo; write, print on tapa’

A different term for tattooing is reflected in some Southeast Solomonic and Micronesian languages.

PEOc		*make	[N, V] ‘tattoo’
SES	’Are’are	make	[V] ‘tattoo, draw’
Mic	Puluwatese	mæk	‘mark of any kind; person’s own tattooing’
Mic	Woleaian	make	‘tattoo’
Mic	Carolinian	mæk	[N, v] ‘tattoo, mark, drawing, writing’

5.4.1. Design⇫

Ross (1996c) has reconstructed a verb, *noŋo ‘decorate’, used with reference to putting patterns onto pots and other articles, and for tattooing, but his supporting data are limited to three reflexes, and the reconstruction must be deemed tentative.

POc		*noŋo	‘decorate’
NNG	Gitua	noŋo	‘decoration in general’
MM	Halia	nono(a)	‘add ornamentation to edge of pot’
NCV	Lewo	nono	‘tattoo, picture, image, idol’

The kinds of designs used in tattooing, as on pottery and carved objects, and to a more limited extent on baskets and mats, are a substantial study in themselves. Ross has identified one pattern which reflects a familiar pattern in nature, the fishbone, and is found across a range of crafts.

POc		*mʷati	‘herringbone pattern’
NNG	Lukep	mos	‘traditional carving on paddles, canoes and wooden bowls’
PT	Misima	mati	‘design representing a fish’
NCV	Wusi	mac	‘herringbone pattern’

5.5. Ornaments⇫

Chowning (1991: 47) describes the situation in the New Guinea area:

Perhaps the most common everyday ornaments were necklaces of shell or animal teeth, bracelets and armbands of a variety of materials, most often worn above the elbow, and ear ornaments. Noses were usually pierced, but it is not clear how often nose ornaments were worn. The other very common ornaments were leg bands, worn below the knee, and anklets; belts and girdles; and hair ornaments, including ornamental combs. Aromatic herbs were commonly stuck onto armbands and into the hair; feathers too, unmodified or made into simple ornaments, were often stuck into the hair.

POc		*bara	‘plaited cane armlet’
MM	Tolai	(ta)bāra	‘armlet made from different kinds of woven or plaited grass’
SES	Lau	bara (obi)	‘plaited cane armlet (worn on lower arm)’