The lexicon of Proto Oceanic -

Chapter 5.3 The human body

1. Introduction⇫

Body part terms such as those for head, eye, nose, arm, leg, and breast, are among the most stable of all lexemes.¹ For this reason they are included by linguists in the ‘basic vocabulary’ used, for example, to measure relationships among languages lexicostatistically.

In Oceanic languages, as in languages worldwide, body part terms are used metaphorically, for instance in landscape features, where nose sometimes means cape, mouth means hole or entrance, and belly means central part. It is probably also universal that body part terms are used to refer to location in space, to top, middle, bottom, front, back, left and right. In Oceanic languages internal organs, particularly the liver, are used in expressions of emotion and other mental states where, for instance, ‘to be startled’ is expressed as ‘one’s liver leaps’ or similar.

Glossing reconstructions has sometimes been tricky. There are two interacting reasons for this. One is that some POc terms appear—on the basis of their reflexes—to have had a different denotation from English terms for a similar area of the body. For example, POc *qase- evidently denoted both the lower jaw (the hinged bone and its covering of skin) and the chin (the external shape of the lowest and frontmost part of the lower jaw) (§3.4.13). Interacting with this is the fact that the English glosses of Oceanic terms are often imprecise, or give a false appearance of precision as when a reflex of *qase- is glossed ‘chin’. This is especially true of words found in wordlists, but it is also true of several of the dictionaries used. Sometimes it is solely the English glosses that are at fault. This is the case with the four POc terms for the region of the neck, the throat and the voice, where glosses remain a little vague because of imprecision in the English glosses in the cognate sets (§3.4.14).

Contents are organised into the body (§3.2), materials that occur throughout the body (blood, flesh etc) (§3.3), then the parts of the body: the head (§3.4), the trunk (§3.5), the limbs (§3.6), the internal organs (§3.7), substances eliminated by the body (§3.8) and two incorporeal parts, shadow/reflection and name (§3.9), which are treated grammatically in many Oceanic languages as if they were body parts (they are directly possessed).

1.1. Direct possession⇫

Most Oceanic languages outside Polynesia make a grammatical distinction between directly and indirectly possessed nouns, and this distinction is reconstructable for Proto Oceanic (Lichtenberk 1985a). As discussed briefly in vol.1:32, a directly possessed (= monovalent) noun takes a suffix indicating its possessor (e.g. POc *qaqe- ‘leg’: *qaqe-gu ‘my leg’, *qaqe-mu ‘your (singular) leg’, *qaqe-ña ‘his/her leg’ etc), whereas an indirectly possessed (zero-valency) noun requires no suffix. Directly possessed nouns are said to be inalienably possessed, that is, they are items that usually do not exist without a possessor. They include body parts of human beings and animals (‘hand’, ‘nose’, ‘tail’, ‘wing/fin’ etc), parts of plants (‘fruit’, ‘bark’, ‘branch’ etc), relational local nouns (§3.1.2), and kin terms (‘father’, ‘same-sex sibling’ etc).² However, the converse is not true: not all kin and body part terms are directly possessed. In many Oceanic languages, a monovalent noun must have a possessor suffix or, if the possessor is nonspecific, be linked in some way to that possessor. This linkage may reflect the POc linker *qi (e.g. POc *pasu qi mata- ‘ridge of eye’ = ‘eyebrow ridge’; §3.4.9.3), but in many languages the linker is lost and a compound occurs (e.g. Nguna vasu-mata ‘eyebrow’). In other languages *qi has been replaced by a reflex of *ni, which occurred with a zero-valency possessor noun. It is not clear whether the possessor suffix or the linker was obligatory in Proto Oceanic (Ross 1998c reconstructs the construction with *qi).

Directly possessed nouns are here marked with a following hyphen, e.g. *qaqe- ‘leg’, in order to indicate that a possessor suffix was/is usually present.

1.2. Relational local nouns⇫

Above it was mentioned that across languages body part terms are often used to refer to spatial locations. Some body part terms have undergone varying degrees of grammaticisation in Oceanic languages, a process that had started in Proto Oceanic. Certain terms were used not only to denote a body part but also as local nouns that denoted a spatial relationship to a person or object. Local nouns were a grammatical category in Proto Oceanic (and remain so in many Oceanic languages). They were introduced by the POc preposition *i. For example, *Rumaq ‘house’ also functioned as a local noun, and *i Rumaq meant ‘at home’ (on the grammar of local nouns see vol.2:224–229).

Relational local nouns were directly possessed and their possessor was the person or object in relation to which a location was being established. Thus POc *mata- ‘eye, face’ also served as a relational local noun meaning ‘front’, so that *i mata-gu (*-gu ‘my’) meant ‘in front of me’ and *i mata-ña Rumaq meant ‘in front of the house’ (*-ña ‘his/her/its’). The grammar of relational local nouns is discussed in more detail in vol.2:235–236. Lexical items that served as relational local nouns, many but not all of which also denoted body parts, are reconstructed in vol.2:237–257.

Body part nouns which almost certainly also functioned as relational local nouns were POc *qulu- ‘head, head hair’, (N LOC) ‘top part’ (§3.4.1), *nako- ‘face’, (N (LOC)) ‘front’ (§3.4.7), *[pʷa]pʷaRa- ‘cheek, side of head’, (N LOC) ‘side’ (§3.4.8), *mata- ‘eye, face’, (N LOC) ‘front’ (§3.4.9.1), *bʷal(o,a)- ‘belly, hollow space’, (N LOC) ‘inside’ (§3.7.4).

Occasionally the reverse process seems to have taken place, so that a relational local noun has extended its meaning to denote a body part. Thus a reflex of POc *siriŋ ‘side’ (vol.2:246) also denotes ‘rib cage’ in Dami (NNG) (§3.5.6). POc *qaro- seems primarily to have been a relational local noun meaning ‘front’ (vol.2:247) but some of its reflexes now also denote the face of a person (§3.4.7). Similarly POc *muri[-] ‘back part, rear, behind, space to the rear of, time after; (canoe) stern; space outside’ (vol.2:251) was clearly a relational local noun, some reflexes of which now denote a person’s back (§3.5.1). Whether *takuRu- ‘back’, (N LOC) ‘back’ (§3.5.1 and vol.2:253) was originally a local noun or denoted a body part is difficult to determine.

2. The body⇫

Modern Oceanic languages typically have separate monomorphemic lexical items with the following semantic ranges:

the whole body, seen as the complete skin and its contents, and also used of the skin as a whole (§3.2.1);
the trunk or torso—the body without the head and with or without the legs; the main part of something, e.g. the hull of a canoe (§3.2.2);
a dead body, corpse (§2.2.2.2).

Meaning 1 also contrasts on a whole/part parameter with meaning 4:

the skin of a human being or animal, as well as the bark of a tree, the rind of a fruit or the peeled skin of a fruit or tuber, i.e. a surface covering that can be lifted off piecemeal (§3.3.5);

And on an exterior/interior parameter with meaning 5:

(in some languages) the interior of the body, the inner spiritual part of the person (§9.2.2).

Below are examples of terms for the five listed categories.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
	‘exterior, body, skin’	‘trunk’	‘corpse’	‘skin, bark, rind’	‘interior, spiritual part’
Mutu (NNG)	tini-	anoŋa-	pata-	uli-	lolo-
Dobu (PT)	oo-	tolobʷa-	kokowa-	bʷala-	nua-
Nakanai (MM)	vovo-	kabili-	vata-	kuli-kuli-	ilo-
To’aba’ita (SES)	seʔe-	ʔinafu-	…	ʔuŋa	—
Mota (NCV)	(tarapei)	turiai	tamate	vinitiu	lolo-, ape-
Wayan (Fij)	-taba-taba	-aŋo	aŋo ni mate	-taba	aloŋa

Mota tarapei is parenthesised because it is not clear that its definition (‘body, shape, appearance’) is close to meaning 1. To’aba’ita has a gap under ‘corpse’, as Lichtenberk (2008) lists only terms for the corpse wrapped in a mat ready for burial. Wayan Fijian is slightly exceptional, in that it clearly retains the four semantic categories but apparently renders ‘corpse’ phrasally, and uses the same morpheme -taba in both ‘skin’ terms, distinguishing them by reduplication.

To’aba’ita has a gap under meaning 5, ‘interior, spiritual part’. Terms with this meaning are often reflexes of POc *lalo- ‘inside; seat of thoughts and emotions’ or its short variant POc *lo- ‘inside’ (vol.2:237–238, §9.2.2). To’aba’ita has a reflex of this term, namely lalo-, but it is limited to spatial uses. The reflex of *lalo-/lo- with meaning 5 is used in a number of languages in body-part expressions that label emotional and cognitive states, but in some languages it is replaced partly or entirely by other body-part terms, and this is true of To’aba’ita. Meaning 5 is further discussed in ch.9, where *lalo- is reconstructed.

Terms for these categories presumably also occurred in POc, but POc terms for meanings 1 and 2 have proven somewhat elusive.

The story with regard to meanings 1, 2 and 5 appears to be one of reassignment of forms from one meaning to another, especially in PEOc, where (i) *popo-, *tini- and *pata- no longer appeared in these meanings; (ii) *tubuq-a(ŋ) reflexes shifted from meaning 2 to ‘spirit being’; and (iii) *[q]abe- took over meaning 2. Further discussion is provided in the relevant sections below.

2.1. The ‘complete skin’, metonymically the body⇫

Two PWOc terms are reconstructable for meaning 1, the whole body, viewed as the complete skin, often with its contents. The glosses of their reflexes do not allow a semantic distinction between PWOc *popo- and *tini-. The latter is better distributed, but Eastern Oceanic cognates have been found for neither, and a POc term is not reconstructable.

Discussing what is clearly the same concept in Lelek, a dialect of Madak of New Ireland, Richard Eves (1998:26) writes,

As in some parts of Melanesia, where there is no generic term for the body as such, when the Lelek speak of the body they speak of the skin, labantuxu. … This is not to say that there is no conceptualisation of the body but merely that the skin comes to stand for the body as a whole.

PWOc		*popo-	‘the complete skin, often used metonymically of the whole body’
NNG	Lukep	bobo-	‘body’
PT	Iduna	wowo-	‘skin, body of person’
PT	Molima	wowo-	‘body’
PT	Gumawana	wowo-	‘a person’s body’
PT	Dobu	oo-	‘body’
PT	Kilivila	vovo-	‘body’ (used as seat of physical feelings: ‘body happy, tired, lazy, excited, feverish etc’)
MM	Nakanai	vovo-	‘skin of the entire body, the body as a whole’

PWOc		*tini-	‘the complete skin, often used metonymically of the whole body’
NNG	Gedaged	tini-	‘body, stem, trunk, torso, hull; substance, matter; that which is capable of feeling’
NNG	Takia	tini-	‘skin, body, outward part, surface, also indicates whole person’
NNG	Bariai	tini-	‘exterior, skin, body’
NNG	Kove	tini-	‘body’
PT	Gapapaiwa	inini-	‘body’
PT	Tawala	hini-	‘skin, body’
PT	Minaveha	inini-	‘skin, body’
PT	Ubir	(u)sin	‘body’
MM	Teop	suin-	‘body’
MM	Kia	tini-	‘body’
MM	Roviana	tini-	‘body, skin’
MM	Babatana	tinini-	‘body’

The formal relationship, if any, between PWOc *tini- above and PPn *tino ‘body, trunk of tree, hull of canoe’ below (approximating to sense 2) is unclear, and the resemblance may be due to chance. The same is true of the relationship between PPn *tino and POc *tinoni ‘man, person’ (§2.2.4).

PPn		*tino	‘body, trunk of tree, hull of canoe’
Pn	Tongan	sino	‘body, trunk of a tree, hull of canoe’
Pn	Niuean	tino	‘body, human or animal’
Pn	Samoan	tino	‘whole body’
Pn	Tikopia	tino	‘body of person or animal, trunk of tree, hull of canoe’
Pn	Rennellese	tino	‘body, trunk of tree, hull of canoe’
Pn	Hawaiian	kino	‘body, person, individual’

cf. also:

SES	Bugotu	tono-	‘body’
SES	Gela	tono-	‘trunk of body; headless corpse’

2.2. The trunk⇫

It is not clear prima facie whether terms with meaning 2, ‘trunk’, originally meant ‘the main part of something’, so that the main part of a human being was perceived to be the trunk, or whether they originally denoted the human trunk and were applied analogously to other objects like the trunk of a tree or the main part of a canoe or the tubers of a yam plant. However, the two terms reconstructed below imply the former.

POc *pata-, *pataŋ ‘trunk of human body; tree trunk’ is more widely reflected as ‘tree trunk’ than ‘human trunk’ (vol.3:89), implying that an extension of meaning to include the human torso may have occurred independently in the Admiralties and Micronesia.

PMP		*bataŋ	‘tree trunk, fallen tree, log; stem of a plant; body; corpse’ (ACD; Dempwolff 1938)
POc		pata-, pataŋ	‘trunk of human body; corpse; tree trunk’
Adm	Lou	pata-	‘trunk, stem’
Adm	Lou	pata(lia-)	‘trunk of body, middle of body’
NNG	Mutu	pata-	‘corpse’
NNG	Bariai	pati-	‘corpse’
MM	Nakanai	vata-	‘corpse’
PMic		fata, fata-ŋa	‘tree trunk’ (Bender et al. 2003)
Mic	Chuukese	(ɾē)fasaŋ	‘torso, trunk’

POc *tubuq-a(ŋ) reflects a nominalisation of the POc verb *tubuq ‘grow, thrive, swell’ (vol.1:134), an origin that implies a wider original sense closer to the Iduna gloss ‘body, growth, fullness’ than simply to ‘body’. Indeed, it may be that POc *pata-, *pataŋ above and POc *tubuq-a(ŋ) differed subtly in meaning. Getting at the meaning of *tubuq-a(ŋ) is difficult, partly because of inadequate glosses in sources, and partly because in PEOc the meaning had shifted to ‘spirit being’, where meaning 2 was perhaps assumed by PEOc *[q]abe- below. This in its turn had shifted in PNCV to meaning 5, the inner spiritual part of a person.

PMP		*tubuq	‘grow, thrive, swell’
POc		*tubuq-a(ŋ)	‘body, substance’ (-aŋ NOM)
Adm	Seimat	tupua-	‘body’
Adm	Loniu	(peti)tupuwe	‘body’
PT	Iduna	tupua-	‘body, growth, fullness’
PT	Wedau	tupua-	‘body, substance, material’
PT	Gapapaiwa	tupua-	‘body’
PT	Dawawa	tubuɣa-	‘body’
PEOc		*tubuqa	‘spirit being (possibly guardian spirit)’
SES	To’aba’ita	ðūfā	‘one’s protective, guardian spirit’
NCV	Nguna	na-tupua	‘spirit’
Fij	Lau (Eastern Fijian)	tupua	‘spirit or ghost’
PPn		*tupuqa	‘supernatural being, demon’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	tupuʔa	‘ancient, venerable’
Pn	Niuean	tupua	‘giant, evil spirit, demon, ancient gods’
Pn	Samoan	tupua	‘idol, image’
Pn	Anutan	tupua	‘spirit’
Pn	Tuvalu	tupua	‘god; pre-christian wooden gods’
Pn	East Futunan	tupuʔa	‘stars marking months of year’
Pn	West Futunan	tupua	‘image, idol, sign’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	dubua	‘jealousy, jealous’
Pn	Ifira-Mele	tupua	‘small supernatural people in the bush’
Pn	Luangiua	kipua	‘devil’
Pn	Sikaiana	tupua	‘devil, demon’
Pn	Takuu	tipua	‘bogey-man, monster’
Pn	Tikopia	tupua	‘traditional supernatural being, spirit’
Pn	Tokelauan	tupua	‘idol; guardian spirit; riddle’
Pn	Tuamotuan	tupuua	‘supernatural being’
Pn	Marquesan	tupua	‘wizard’
Pn	Mangarevan	tupua	‘demon, monster; sage, chief’
Pn	Tahitian	tupuua	‘supernatural beings’
Pn	Pukapukan	tupua	‘a demon, ogre; creature, monster’
Pn	Rarotongan	tupua	‘goblin, monster, demon’
Pn	Hawaiian	kupua	‘supernatural being, being with magic powers’
Pn	Māori	tupua	‘goblin, demon, one versed in magic’

The following set is based on reflexes from two subgroups, SES terms emphasising bulk or mass of a body and NCV terms emphasising a body’s less tangible aspects.

PEOc		*[q]abe-	‘body’
PSES		*[q]abe	‘body, bulk’
SES	Kwaio	labe	‘body, bulk’
SES	Sa’a	sape(-)	‘body, trunk, mass’
SES	Arosi	abe, sabe-	‘body of a man, trunk of a tree’
SES	’Are’are	rape-	‘body, bulk, shape, appearance’
PNCV		*abe-	‘body incl. spiritual and other less tangible aspects’
NCV	Lakon	epe-	‘body and soul’
NCV	Mota	ape-	‘s.t. within a man which is the seat of feeling’
NCV	Kiai	ape-	‘spirit of person killed’
NCV	Tamambo	ebe-	‘body’
NCV	Araki	epe-	‘body, especially with relation to health’
NCV	Paamese	ave-	‘body’

3. Bodily materials⇫

This section contains terms for the ‘materials’ or ‘substances’ which speakers perceive as making up the human body: flesh (§3.3.1), fat (§3.3.2), blood (§3.3.3), bones (§3.3.4), skin (§3.3.5), hair (§3.3.7–8) and all the cord-like bits (veins, arteries, sinews and tendons, §3.3.9) that appear when an animal is being cut up. Treated separately under §3.8 are substances emitted by the body.

3.1. Flesh⇫

POc *pisiko denoted human and animal flesh and muscle, as well as cooked meat.

POc		*pisiko	‘flesh, muscle, meat’
Adm	Seimat	xixio	‘flesh’ (fricative assimilation, for †fixio)
NNG	Labu	apisi	‘flesh’ (-p- for †-h-)
NNG	Numbami	wiso	‘flesh, meat, muscle’
PT	Dawawa	visiɣo	‘flesh, meat’
PT	Dobu	esio	‘flesh, muscle’
PT	Minaveha	vio	‘flesh, meat, muscle’
PT	Wedau	vioa	‘flesh’ (for †vio)
PT	Sinaugoro	viriɣo	‘flesh, muscle’
PT	Motu	hidio	‘flesh’
SES	Kwaio	fasiʔo-	‘flesh’
SES	Sa’a	hasiʔo-	‘flesh of body’
SES	Arosi	hasiʔo-	‘flesh, muscle; pulp of fruit’
NCV	Ambae	vihiko	‘flesh’
NCV	Tamambo	visiɣo	‘meat, flesh’
NCV	Araki	visiho	‘flesh, meat’
NCV	Namakir	vihik	‘meat, flesh’

PSV		*na-vVsaɣo-	‘meat, flesh’ (Lynch 2001c)
SV	Lenakel	nu-vhakə	‘meat, flesh’
SV	Anejom̃	no-hoθɣe	‘meat, flesh’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	perak	‘flesh, meat’
NCal	Iaai	vī-	‘flesh’
Mic	Woleaian	fitixo	‘flesh’
Mic	Puluwatese	fitiko	‘flesh, meat, muscle’
Fij	Bauan	viðiko	‘flesh, the lean of meat’ (as against uro ‘the fat’)
Fij	Wayan	viðiko	‘flesh (of animals and people, not fruit), muscles’

3.2. Fat⇫

POc *jiji ‘meat, fat, grease’ is reconstructed. The frequent mentions of ‘meat’ in the data below may be read as references to the edible parts of an animal.

Another term applied to ‘fat, grease’ is POc *moñak ‘fat, oil, cream, coconut cream; tasty’ (vol.3:372).

PAn		*Sesi	‘flesh, meat’ (ACD)
PMP		*hesi	‘flesh, meat’ (ACD)
POc		*jiji	‘meat, fat, grease’
Adm	Seimat	xixi	‘flesh’ (jujue, xuxue ‘fat, grease’)
Adm	Titan	cic	‘slip, slide’
NNG	Numbami	didi	‘pig fat’
NNG	Kaiwa	sisi	‘meat’
NNG	Vehes	jiji-	‘meat’
NNG	Mapos Buang	zzi	‘grease, fat’
NNG	Wampur	zi	‘meat’
PT	Kuni	sisi	‘meat, fish’
PT	Mekeo	titi	‘meat’ (t for †s)
MM	Konomala	sis	‘meat’
MM	Label	sis	‘fish’
MM	Siar	sisi	‘meat’
MM	Nehan	hihi(an)	‘fat, grease’

3.3. Blood⇫

The POc term for blood was *draRa(q). Reflexes are found in all major subgroups except SE Solomonic and Polynesian. In a number of languages the term for ‘red’ is based on the term for ‘blood’ (vol.2:209).

PAn		*daRaq	‘blood’ (Dyen 1953b)
POc		*draRa(q)	‘blood’
Adm	Mussau	rae-	‘blood’
Adm	Mussau	ra(i)-ra(ia)	‘red’
Adm	Tenis	ra(i)	‘blood’
Adm	Tenis	ra-ra(iaŋ)	‘red’
Adm	Aua	rara-	‘blood’
Adm	Andra	draye-	‘blood’
Adm	Nyindrou	draye-	‘blood’
NNG	Malasanga	rara-	‘blood’ (assimilation: r- for †d-)
NNG	Singorakai	lala-	‘blood’ (assimilation: l- for †r-)
NNG	Lukep	dara-	‘blood’
NNG	Bilibil	dar	‘blood’
NNG	Bilibil	dara(n)	‘red’
NNG	Gedaged	daɬ	‘blood’
NNG	Matukar	dara-	‘blood’
NNG	Takia	dar	‘blood’
NNG	Takia	dara(n)	‘red’
NNG	Manam	dara(ka)	‘blood’
NNG	Manam	dara-dara	‘red’
NNG	Bam	dara(ka)	‘blood’
NNG	Bam	dar-dar	‘red’
NNG	Wogeo	dara-	‘blood’
NNG	Kis	dal	‘blood’
SJ	Sobei	dara-	‘blood’
NNG	Bukawa	daʔ	‘blood’
PT	Gapapaiwa	tara-	‘blood’
PT	Anuki	dara-darayi	‘blood’
PT	Taupota	dalaha	‘blood’
PT	Dobu	rara-	‘blood’
PT	Hula	rala-	‘blood’
MM	Bulu	dara-	‘blood’
MM	Bola	dara-	‘blood’
MM	Meramera	dal-dala-	‘blood’
MM	Notsi	del	‘blood’
MM	Tabar	dara-	‘blood’
MM	Lihir	dala-	‘blood’ (dal ‘red’)
MM	Konomala	(d)dai-	‘blood’
MM	Lamasong	da-	‘blood’
MM	Patpatar	dar-darā-n	‘red’
NCV	Mwotlap	na-daj	‘blood’
NCV	Mota	nara-	‘blood, bleed’
NCV	Tamambo	dae-	‘blood’
NCV	Lonwolwol	dā-, rā-	‘blood’
PSV		*nə-da(q,V)	‘blood’ (no specific possessor)
PSV		*nə-da(a)	‘blood’ (specific possessor) (Lynch 2001c) ³
SV	Lenakel	nə-ta	‘blood’ (no specific possessor)
SV	Lenakel	nə-tā	‘blood’ (specific possessor)
SV	Kwamera	ne-ta	‘blood’ (no specific possessor)
SV	Kwamera	nə-te	‘blood’ (specific possessor)
NCal	Nêlêmwa	dā-	‘blood’
NCal	Nyelâyu	(u)rā-	‘blood’
NCal	Nengone	da-	‘blood’
NCal	Iaai	ḍa	‘blood’
Mic	Carolinian	c̣ā-	‘blood, to bleed’
Mic	Woleaian	c̣c̣ā	‘blood, be red, bloody’
Mic	Marshallese	rah	‘blood’
Fij	Bauan	drā-	‘blood’

cf. also:

MM	Roviana	ehara-	‘blood, bleed’
SES	Gela	ŋara-	‘blood’

3.4. Bone⇫

Two POc forms are reconstructed for ‘bone’, *tuqan/tuqa- and *suRi-. The former appears to be the formally irregular continuation of PMP *tuqelan. The expected POc form is †*tuqolan, but we are inferring that the medial *-e- of *tuqelan, phonetically schwa, was first lost, and the resulting *-ql- sequence was then simplified to *-q-.⁴ POc *suRi- on the other hand is evidently a POc innovation.⁵ Certain SE Solomonic and Polynesian languages reflect both, with a difference in meaning. In SE Solomonic languages apparent reflexes of *tuqa- mean ‘leg’ (listed under ‘cf. also’) and reflexes of *suRi- mean ‘bone’. Lau (SES) has suli- ‘bone’ and what looks like a reflex of *tuqa- in ua-sifo ‘bone marrow’, but forms with ua- are not listed elsewhere in Fox (1974). PPn *tuqa meant ‘back’, whilst POc *suRi- is continued as ‘bone’ in Poynesian languages.

The areas in which reflexes of each term occur (in the meaning ‘bone’) are interlaced across the Pacific, as follows:

*tuqa-	*suRi-
NGOc (= NNG, PT)	Adm
Parts of MM	Parts of MM
Mic	SES, TM, SOc (= NCV, SV, NCal)
W and E Fijian	E Fijian, Pn

The interlacing is particularly intricate in Meso-Melanesian languages and in Fiji. The distribution of reflexes in Meso-Melanesian is shown below. Where individual languages are shown, these are in italics. The languages constituting the Bali-Vitu, Willaumez, Tungag/Nalik and Madak groups are listed in Appendix B. Reflexes of the two terms are split across the tiny Tabar group. They are also split across the St George linkage, but this is less surprising, as ‘St George’ is a large group, of which southern New Ireland microgroups and languages, as well as NW Solomonic, are probably first-order subgroups.⁶ Reflexes are also split within NW Solomonic, in particular cutting across the Nehan/N Bougainville (NNB) subgroup.⁷

*tuqa-	*suRi-
Bali-Vitu, Willaumez
Tungag/Nalik	Madak
Tabar: Notsi, Lihir	Tabar: Tabar
St George:	St George:
Sursurunga, Tangga	Patpatar, Label, Kandas, Konomala, Siar
NW Solomonic:	NW Solomonic:
NNB: Taiof, Hahon, Tinputz	NNB: Nehan, Buka, Teop
	New Georgia

Why did POc have two different words for ‘bone’? There are two clues to a difference in meaning. The first is, as noted above, that *tuqa- reflexes in SE Solomonic and in some E Fijian languages mean ‘leg’. The second is that in a few languages reflexes of *suRi also denote a bone needle (vol.1:87). Do these facts perhaps mean that *suRi referred principally to finer bones, *tuqan to larger bones or to all bones? The evidence is hardly compelling, as reflexes of both terms are used of the spine in a few languages. An answer of a different kind is that the two terms were used in different POc dialects. This would entail the inference that the Meso-Melanesian and Fijian linkages each emerged from at least two different dialects. That genealogically separated dialects may become integrated into a new dialect chain is shown by Geraghty’s (1983) work on Fijian dialects. In the case of the Meso-Melanesian groups located on New Ireland (those other than Bali-Vitu, Willaumez and NW Solomonic) there is some independent evidence of such a history (Ross 1988:306–307).

Some Polynesian reflexes of POc *tuqan refer rather to the rough or outer side of a body part, although some compounds refer to backbone or to other prominent bony ridges such as the shin. Lihir (MM) displays two reflexes of *tuqan, meaning ‘bone’ and ‘back’ respectively, and the Tangga reflex has both senses. It is of interest that the unrelated Lau (SES) term ʔogi- also means ‘a bone, the back, the outside of a thing’.

The final *-n of *tuqan is reflected among the reflexes below as final -n or pre-final -n- in the PT languages Muyuw and Kilivila and the MM languages Lavongai, Tigak, Kara, Tiang, Nalik and Taiof.

PAn		*CuqelaL	‘bone’ (ACD)
PMP		*tuqelan	‘bone’ (ACD)
POc		tuqan, tuqa-	‘bone’
NNG	Sio	(i)tuka-	‘bone’
NNG	Tami	tuka-tuk	‘bone’
NNG	Kove	tua-tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Tuam	tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Gitua	tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Lukep	tuk-	‘nape’
NNG	Roinji	tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Wab	tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Dami	tuo-	‘bone’
NNG	Bilibil	tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Gedaged	tiwo-	‘bony skeleton’
NNG	Ulau-Suain	tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Kela	(ŋa)tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Numbami	tua-tua-	‘bone’
NNG	Yabem	(ŋa)tekwa-	‘bone’
NNG	Bukawa	(ŋa)kwa-	‘bone’
PT	Tubetube	tua-	‘bone’
PT	Muyuw	(tou)tun	‘bone’
PT	Kilivila	(to)tuane	‘bone’
PT	Misima	tua-tua-	‘bone’
MM	Vitu	toŋa	‘bone’
MM	Bola	tuɣa-	‘bone’
MM	Nakanai	tuha-	‘bone; rib’
MM	Meramera	tua-tua-	‘bone’
MM	Lavongai	tuan	‘bone’
MM	Tigak	tuan	‘bone’
MM	East Kara	tun	‘bone’
MM	Tiang	tuən	‘bone’
MM	Nalik	ruən	‘bone’
MM	Lihir	tio-	‘bone’
MM	Lihir	tua-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
MM	Notsi	tui-	‘bone’
MM	Sursurunga	tuə-	‘bone’
MM	Tangga	tua-	‘bone; back (of a human being or any large animal)’
MM	Taiof	tuana	‘bone’
MM	Hahon	coa-	‘bone’
MM	Tinputz	soa-	‘bone’
MM	Uruava	tua-	‘bone’
SES	Lau	ua(sifo)	‘bone marrow’ (sifo ?‘descend’)
Mic	Woleaian	sū-	‘bone, body’
Fij	Wayan	-tua	‘bone’
Fij	Vanua Levu	dua	‘leg’
PPn		*tuqa	‘back’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	tuʔa	‘back, space or place or time behind or beyond’
Pn	Tongan	tuʔa hivi	‘ridge’
Pn	Niuean	tua	‘back’
Pn	Rennellese	tuʔa	‘back’
Pn	Samoan	tua	‘rougher, tougher side of a thing; back’
Pn	Samoan	tua sivi	‘ridge of backbone, chain of hills etc’
Pn	Tahitian	tua	‘back’
Pn	Tikopia	tua	‘back, of person or animal; outer side’
Pn	Rarotongan	tua	‘back’
Pn	Hawaiian	kua	‘back’
Pn	Māori	tua	‘back’

cf. also:

SES	Gela	tua-	‘leg’
SES	West Guadalcanal	tua-	‘leg’
SES	Talise	tua-	‘leg’
SES	Birao	tua-	‘leg’
SES	Lengo	tua-	‘leg’
SES	Arosi	uwa-	‘leg’
SES	Bauro	a-uwa-	‘leg’
SES	Fagani	a-uwa-	‘leg’

Reflexes of PPn *tuqa ‘back, outer side’ can be used in compounds to identify a part of the body that is seen as the outer or upper side of a limb or other body part, (cf. alo ’smooth, soft side of a thing < POc *qarop, §3.4.7). The emphasis here has almost entirely moved from bone or bony parts, apart from single examples from Samoa (shin), Tikopia (shoulder blade) and Hawaiian (shin).

Tongan	tuʔa kia	‘nape of neck’
	tuʔa mata	‘eyelid’
	tuʔa nima	‘back of hand’
Niuean	tua ulu	‘back of neck, nape’
	tua mata	‘eyelid’
	tua lima	‘back of hand’
	tua hui	‘instep’
	tua pale	‘lower abdomen, pubic area’
Samoan	tuā ua	‘back of neck’
	tuā ulu	‘back of head’
	tuā mata	‘eyebrow’
	tuā lima	‘outer surface of upper limb from hand to shoulder’
	tua sivi-vae	‘shin’
Rennellese	tuʔā uʔa	‘nape of neck’
	tuʔā mata	‘eyebrow, eyelid’
	tuʔā gima	‘back of hand’
	tuʔā baʔe	‘top of foot’
	tuʔā teŋa	‘top of thigh’
	tuʔā soni	‘female pubic area’
	tuʔā uge	‘male pubic area’
Tikopia	tua rima	‘back of the hand’
	tua kapakau	‘shoulder blade’
	tua vae	‘top of foot’
Hawaiian	kua-poʔi-maka	‘eyelid’
	kua maha	‘back of the temple of the head’
	kuu-ʔau-lima	‘arm below the elbow’
	kuu-ʔau-wā-wae	‘leg, shinbone’

Three sets of seemingly irregular reflexes of POc *suRi ‘bone’ are listed under ‘cf. also’ below. One consists of Vitiaz Strait (NNG) reflexes of Proto Korap and pre-Mangap *tura-,⁸ a second of Papuan Tip reflexes of Proto PT *turiɣa ‘bone’. These may be irregular reflexes of *suRi- reflecting replacement of the initial consonant through contamination by *tuqan. The third set consists of the Nyindrou and Micronesian terms, which reflect POc *(dr,r)uRi ‘thorn’ (vol.3:125). It seems that this may reflect a transfer of meaning from *suRi- to the formally similar *(dr,r)uRi.

POc		*suRi-	‘bone’ (Milke 1965)
Adm	Mussau	riu-	‘bone’
Adm	Mussau	riu ŋ āsoŋo	‘rib’ (āsoŋo ‘rafter’)
Adm	Seimat	kui-	‘bone’
MM	Tabar	ciri-	‘bone’
MM	Patpatar	suru-	‘bone’
MM	Minigir	suru-	‘bone’
MM	Tolai	uru-	‘bone’
MM	Label	sur	‘bone’
MM	Bilur	uri-	‘bone’
MM	Kandas	sur	‘bone’
MM	Kandas	suru-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
MM	Ramoaaina	uru-	‘bone’
MM	Konomala	su-	‘bone’
MM	Siar	suru-	‘bone’
MM	Nehan	hiro	‘bone’
MM	Solos	tinou	‘bone’
MM	Petats	tino	‘bone’
MM	Halia	silo	‘bone’
MM	Selau	cinu	‘bone’
MM	Teop	sino	‘bone’
MM	Papapana	sino	‘bone’
MM	Varisi	uri-	‘bone’
MM	Hoava	su-suri-	‘bone’
MM	Roviana	su-suri-	‘bone’
SES	Bugotu	huli-	‘bone’
SES	Gela	huli-	‘the body; a bone’
SES	Tolo	suli-	‘bone’
SES	Lau	suli-	‘a bone; the back’
SES	Kwaio	suli-	‘bone, backbone, skeleton’
SES	’Are’are	suri-	‘bone’
TM	Buma	die-	‘bone’
TM	Tanibili	dele	‘bone’
NCV	Mota	suri(u)	‘bone’
NCV	Mwotlap	ni-hij	‘bone’
NCV	Raga	hui(na)	‘bone’
NCV	Tamambo	suru-	‘bone’
NCV	Nokuku	sui	‘bone’
NCV	Namakir	siw	‘bone’
SV	Southwest Tanna	nu-hu-	‘leg’
SV	Anejom̃	ne-θuo-	‘bone, foot, leg’
NCal	Nyelâyu	dū	‘(s.o.’s) back; behind’
NCal	Cèmuhî	dūu-	‘bone’
Fij	Bauan	sui-	‘bone’
Pn	Niuean	hui	‘bone; leg, foot’
Pn	Tongan	hui	‘bone’
PNPn		*iwi	‘bone’
Pn	Samoan	ivi	‘bone’
Pn	Māori	iwi	‘bone’

cf. also:

Adm	Nyindrou	druwi-	‘bone’
NNG	Barim	tura-	‘bone’
NNG	Lukep	tura-	‘bone’
NNG	Malasanga	tura-	‘bone’
NNG	Mangap	tiro-	‘bone’
PT	Dawawa	turiɣa	‘bones’
PT	Gapapaiwa	tuira	‘bone’
PT	Sinaugoro	turia	‘bone’
PT	Motu	turia	‘bone’
PT	Doura	kuria	‘bone’ (k < *t)
Mic	Carolinian	ṣɨ̄	‘bone’
Mic	Woleaian	ṣʉ̄	‘bone’

3.5. Skin⇫

There is a semantic difference between PWOc *tini- ‘body, skin’ above, which denoted the whole skin and metonymically the body, and the reconstructions in this section, which refer only to skin itself, including the skins of animals and fruit as well as tree bark (vol.3:120). A number of languages (Mota, Micronesian and Polynesian) show -i- for expected -u- in the first syllable.

PMP		*kulit	‘skin’ (Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*kulit	‘skin (of people, animals, fruit), bark (of trees)’ (vol.3:120)
Adm	Ponam	guli-	‘skin’ (Smythe)
Adm	Seimat	uli-	‘skin’
Adm	Loniu	kuli(hi)	‘bark, skin’
Adm	Titan	kuli-	‘skin’
NNG	Tami	kuli-	‘skin’
NNG	Kove	kuli-kuli-	‘skin, bark’
NNG	Bariai	(i)ku-kul	‘bark’
NNG	Kilenge	kul-kuli(a)	‘skin’
NNG	Mangap	kuli-	‘body (whole), surface of body, skin’
NNG	Lukep	kuli-	‘skin, bark’ (kulina ‘clothing’)
NNG	Malasanga	kuli-	‘skin’
NNG	Mindiri	ku-kuli(n)	‘bark’
NNG	Kaiep	kuli(n)	‘skin’
NNG	Kairiru	quli	‘skin’
PT	Misima	kunis	‘(humans, animals, fish, food) skin; tree bark; fish scales; coconut husk’
MM	Vitu	ɣulit-	‘skin’
MM	Bulu	kuli	‘bark; skin’
MM	Bola	kuli	‘bark; skin’
MM	Nakanai	kuli-kuli	‘skin, a piece rather than the whole’
MM	Lavongai	kulit	‘skin’
MM	Tigak	kulit	‘skin’
MM	Tabar	kuri-kuri	‘skin’
MM	Lihir	kuli	‘skin; bark; coconut husk’
MM	Tolai	(pina)kul	‘dead bark of a tree’
SES	Bugotu	gui-guli-	‘skin, bark’
SES	Gela	guli-	[N] ‘skin’; [VT] ‘to skin, bark, as one’s shins or a tree’
SES	Tolo	huli-	‘skin of man or fruit, bark’
SES	Arosi	ʔuri-	‘skin, of men, animals, roots, fruits’
NCV	Mota	wilit	‘peel off’
NCV	Tamambo	ɣuri-	‘skin, bark’
NCV	Raga	ɣuli-	‘skin, bark’
SV	Ura	no-ɣoles dan	‘skin’
NCal	Nemi	cī-	‘skin’
NCal	Iaai	une-	‘skin’
Mic	Marshallese	kil	‘skin’
Mic	Carolinian	xil	‘skin, bark’
Mic	Woleaian	xiri-	‘skin, bark’
Fij	Bauan	kuli-	‘skin, bark, peel’
Pn	Tongan	kili	‘skin, peel, rind, bark’
Pn	Tikopia	kiri	‘skin, bark’

The next reconstruction, POc *pinut ‘skin, bark’ closely resembles two POc terms that have been reconstructed for ‘coconut husk’, doublets *punut and *pʷenu(t) (vol.3:376–377). However, most languages have separate terms for ‘skin’ and ‘coconut husk’. Only in some NCV languages and in Misima and Lihir in the set above is an inclusive term found. It seems that the resemblance of POc *pinut ‘skin bark’ to the terms for coconut husk is fortuitous, as with the exception of the Manam term the cognate set below agrees on *-i- as the nucleus of the first syllable, whilst almost all reflexes of *punut and *pʷenu(t) agree on *-u- and *-e- respectively. A less likely possibility is that POc *pinut was a doublet of *punut and meant ‘skin, rind’.

POc		*pinut	‘skin, bark’
NNG	Manam	unu	‘skin, complexion’
PT	Muyuw	(kalei)vin	‘skin, bark’
MM	Ramoaaina	pin	‘skin, of human beings only’
SES	Sa’a	hinu	‘shell of shellfish; bark’
PNCV		*vinuti	‘skin, husk, rind’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Mota	vinitiu	‘skin, bark, husk, rind, shell’
NCV	Raga	vinu-	‘skin, bark, husk, rind’
NCV	Ambae	vinu-	‘skin, bark’
NCV	Tamambo	vinu	‘husk, rind’

3.6. Scar⇫

Reflexes of POc *kira(s) ‘scar’, which continues PMP *kiras, have been noted in only a handful of languages, but they are distributed across three subgroups.

PMP		*kiras	‘scar’ (ACD)
POc		*kira(s)	‘scar’
MM	Roviana	kira-	‘scar’
SES	Gela	kira-	‘scar’
SES	Longgu	kira-	‘scar’
Pn	Samoan	(mā)ʔila	‘scar’

cf. also:

SES

Lau

kida-

‘scar of wound or sore’

A second term for ‘scar’, continuing PMP *bilat, is reflected in the data only in the Papuan Tip and SE Solomonic subgroups.

PMP		*bilat	‘scar’ (ACD)
POc		*pila(t)	‘scar’
PT	Dawawa	pire	‘scar’
SES	Lau	fi-fila-	‘white scar’
SES	Kwaio	fila-	‘scar’
SES	’Are’are	hira-hira-	[N,V] ‘scar, cut’
SES	Arosi	hira-	‘scar’

3.7. Head hair⇫

As noted in §3.3.8 Oceanic languages typically distinguish terms for head hair and body hair. However, the two POc forms *puRu ‘head hair’ (below) and *pulu ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8) are similar, and some contemporary forms could reflect either. In a number of languages of Melanesia bird feathers are denoted by a reflex of POc *puRu or POc *ipu- ‘head hair, feather’ (both below).

Although there are many reflexes of *puRu, they are with one exception limited to two major subgroups, Admiralties and Meso-Melanesian. The exception is Gela (SES) vuvulu-. Since POc *-R- and *-l- have merged in Gela, this form almost certainly reflects a conflation of POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8) and POc *puRu- ‘head hair’, an inference supported by its gloss, which includes ‘head hair’, ‘feathers’ and ‘body hair’.

POc		*puRu-	‘head hair; feather’
Adm	Mussau	ū(ŋ-uru-)	‘(head) hair’ (ū- ‘hair’, -ŋ- LIGATURE, uru ‘head’)
Adm	Mussau	ū(gila)	‘feather’
Adm	Tenis	ui(gira)	‘feather’
MM	Vitu	puru-puru	‘beard’
MM	Lavongai	uŋu(i)	‘(head) hair; feather’
MM	Tigak	ugu(i)	‘(head) hair; feather’
MM	East Kara	fui-	‘(head) hair’
MM	Nalik	fur	‘(head) hair; feather’
MM	Notsi	uli-	‘(head) hair’⁹
MM	Notsi	ul	‘feather’
MM	Tabar	vuru-	‘(head) hair’¹⁰
MM	Tabar	vuru-vuru	‘feather’
MM	Petats	hulu-	‘(head) hair’¹¹
MM	Halia	hulu-	‘(head/ body) hair’
MM	Selau	wuru-	‘(head) hair’¹²
MM	Taiof	funu-	‘(head) hair; feather’¹³
MM	Teop	vunu-	‘(head/body) hair; feather’
MM	Banoni	punu-	‘(head/body) hair’
MM	Piva	vunu-	‘(head) hair’¹⁴
MM	Uruava	uru-	‘(head) hair’¹⁵
MM	Ririo	(vu)vure-	‘hair’
MM	Babatana	vura-	‘(head) hair’
MM	Lungga	vuru(ŋu)	‘feather’
MM	Nduke	(vu)vuru-	‘(head) hair’
MM	Simbo	vuru(ŋu)	‘hair’
MM	Simbo	vuru(ŋuna)	‘feather’
MM	Blablanga	fru(ta)	‘hair’
MM	Maringe	na-fru(ta)	‘hair’
SES	Gela	vuvulu-	‘hair of head; hair of body; feather’

POc		*ipu-	‘head hair, feather’ (ACD)
PT	Minaveha	(mata)ivu-	‘eyelash’
MM	Bulu	ivu-	‘(head) hair’
MM	Harua	ivu-	‘(head) hair; feather’
MM	Nakanai	ivu-	‘(head) hair, plumage of a bird’
MM	Patpatar	hī-	‘(head) hair; feather’
MM	Tolai	ivu-	‘feather’; ‘hair of the human body or of animals; fur, feathers, plumage, bristle’
MM	Tolai	ivu-	‘feather’; ‘hair of the human body or of animals; fur, feathers, plumage, bristle’
MM	Label	ih	‘(head) hair’ (ih-a-mani ‘feather of a bird’)
MM	Bilur	eu-	‘head’
MM	Kandas	iū-	‘(head) hair’
MM	Siar	(i)ufu-	‘(head) hair’
MM	Tinputz	uvi-	‘(head/ body) hair; feather’
SES	Lau	ifu-	‘hair’
SES	Lau	ifu(la)	‘hairy, covered with cast hairs’
SES	Kwaio	ifu-	‘hair’
SES	Kwaio	ifu-ʔai	‘let hair grow long in mourning’
SES	’Are’are	ihu-	‘hair, feather’
SES	Sa’a	ihu-	‘hair, feather’
SES	Sa’a	ihu-i menu	‘a bird’s feather’
SES	Sa’a	ihu i pʷeu	‘a hair of the head’
SES	Arosi	(war)ihu-	‘hair; feathers’

POc *raun ‘leaf, head hair’ (vol.3:103) is used to refer also to ‘head hair’, typically in subgroups where reflexes of *puRu are not found. This sense was evidently present in POc, as it is also reflected in non-Oceanic CEMP witnesses.

PMP		*dahun	‘leaf’ (Dempwolff 1938)
PCEMP		*daun	‘leaf, head hair’ (ACD)
POc		*raun	‘leaf, head hair’
NNG	Kove	laun(i)	‘head hair’
NNG	Bariai	(i)laun	‘head hair’
NNG	Tuam	rau-	‘head hair’
NNG	Malai	rau-	‘head hair’
NNG	Gitua	rau-	‘head hair’
NNG	Kilenge	lau-lau(a)	‘head hair’
NNG	Mangap	ru(nu)	‘head hair’
NNG	Lukep	raun	‘head hair’
NNG	Malasanga	rauna-	‘head hair’
PT	Motu	rau-	‘leaf’
SES	Sa’a	rau-	‘leaf’
Fij	Bauan	drau-	‘leaf of a tree, hair of the head’
Fij	Wayan	-rō	‘leaf of a tree, hair of the head’

POc *qulu- with primary meaning ‘head’ also includes ‘hair of the head’ as part of its extended meaning (§3.4.1).

3.7.1. Grey hair⇫

A separate term, POc *qupan, denoted grey hair. Although it is not widely reflected in the Oceanic data, it continues a PAn etymon.

PAn		*qubaL	‘grey hair’ (ACD)
PMP		*quban	‘grey hair’ (ACD)
POc		*qupan	‘grey hair’
Adm	Lou	kup-kup	‘white hair, as of the elderly’
Adm	Seimat	kūh	‘greyhaired’ (k- for †∅)
MM	Maringe	ufa	‘greying (hair), have grey hair, become grey’
SES	Gela	uva-	‘grey hair’
PMic		*wua-	‘grey hair’ (Bender et al., 2003)
Mic	Kiribati	ia-	‘grey or greying hair’
Mic	Chuukese	wəu-wa-ɾ	‘grey hair, white hair’

PPn *sina, reflecting POc *sinaR ‘to shine’ (vol.2:299), denoted grey or white hair, and PPn *sinā (etymologically *sina-a) meant ‘be white- or grey-haired’, a distinction lost in languages that have neutralised short and long vowels.

PPn		*sina	‘white or grey hair’
PPn		*sinā	‘be white- or grey-haired’
Pn	Tongan	hinā	‘grey or white, of hair’ (< PPn sinā)
Pn	Niuean	hina	‘grey-haired, white-haired’
Pn	Samoan	sina	‘white or grey hair’
Pn	Samoan	sinā	‘be white- or grey-haired’ (< PPn sinā)
Pn	Rennellese	sina	‘grey hair’
Pn	Tikopia	sina	‘grey-haired’
Pn	Māori	hina	‘grey-haired’
Pn	Tahitian	hina-hina	‘grey-haired, white-haired’
Pn	Hawaiian	hina	‘grey-haired, white-haired’

3.7.2. Bald⇫

Of the reconstructions below only *pʷalala is certainly attributable to POc. POc *(pʷa)pʷata is reconstructed tentatively, as explained below. The other reconstructions are apparently post-POc innovations.

POc		*pʷalala	‘bald’¹⁶
Adm	Mussau	vāla	‘bald’
Adm	Loniu	pala-	‘head’
NNG	Manam	palala	‘bald head’
MM	Nakanai	lela	‘bald’
MM	Tangga	palal	‘bald’
SES	Bugotu	palala	‘be bald; ridge, crest, top of hill’
SES	Lau	falai	‘bald’ (-i unexpected)
SES	Sa’a	halai	[VI] ‘be bald’; [N] ‘a bald person’ (-i unexpected)
NCV	Southwest Bay	pal	‘bald’ (John Lynch, pers. comm.)
NCV	Nisvai	parpal	‘bald’ (John Lynch, pers. comm.)
Mic	Puluwatese	pal	‘be bald’

The reconstruction of POc *(pʷa)pʷata ‘bald’ is tentative. Pije hʷata reflects a reduplicated form *pʷa-pʷata. Otherwise the correspondence with Sudest vwata is regular. The forms listed under ‘cf. also’, however, do not reflect *-t- regularly.

POc		*(pʷa)pʷata	‘bald’ (?)
PT	Sudest	vʷata	‘bald’
NCal	Pije	hʷata	‘bald’

cf. also:

NCV	Mwotlap	pʷas	‘bald’
NCV	Mota	pʷasa-	‘bald, a bald person’
SV	Lenakel	a-pʷa	‘bald’
SV	Kwamera	a-pʷa	‘bald’

PWOc		*bʷ(a,e)ka	‘bald’
PT	Muyuw	bak	‘bald’
PT	Kilivila	baka-	‘bald’
MM	Tabar	piaka-	‘bald head’ (-ia- unexpected)
MM	Tolai	peaka	‘bald-headed’ (-ea- unexpected)
MM	Nehan	peke	‘bald’
MM	Teop	peka	‘bald’
MM	Tinputz	peka	‘bald’
MM	Roviana	paka-	‘crown of head’ (paka batu ‘bald’)

PNCV		*mʷasu	‘bald’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Raga	mahu	‘hairless’
NCV	Ambae	mʷaho	‘hairless’
NCV	Lewo	mʷu	‘bald’
NCV	Namakir	mʷeh	‘bald’

3.8. Body hair⇫

Many Oceanic languages have distinct terms for body hair and head hair, although the two reconstructions, POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (below) and POc *puRu- ‘head hair’ (§3.3.7), are similar, with some cognates that could reflect either. Reflexes of *pulu- also denote animal fur.

Reflexes of both *pulu- and *puRu- denote bird feathers.¹⁷ In a number of languages of Melanesia, however, bird feathers are denoted by a reflex of POc *ipu- ‘head hair, feather’ (§3.3.7; for feathers, see vol.4:273–274).

POc evidently also had a separate term for pubic hair (see below).

PMP		*bulu-	‘body hair; fur; feather; down; floss on plant stems; color; type, kind’ (ACD) ; ‘hair, plumage’ (Ross 1988 has PAn/PMP *bulu ‘body hair’) (Dahl 1981)
POc		*pulu-	‘body hair, fur, feathers’ (ACD)
NNG	Hote	vulu(k)	‘hair; feathers’
NNG	Kove	ulu-	‘taboo marker made of decorative fringe’ (Goulden 1982)
PT	Sudest	vuli-vuli(ye)	‘body hair’
PT	Dobu	unu-unu-	‘animal and body hair’
PT	Kilivila	unu-unu-	‘body hair’
PT	Roro	bui-	‘body hair’
PT	Motu	hui-	‘hair’
MM	Vitu	vulu(k-)	‘(head) hair’¹⁸
MM	Nehan	ulu-	‘(head/body) hair’
MM	Halia	hulu-	‘(head/body) hair’¹⁹
MM	Teop	vunu-	‘(head/body) hair; feather’²⁰
MM	Banoni	punu-	‘(head/body) hair’²¹
MM	Varisi	pulu-	‘(body) hair’
MM	Simbo	pu-pulu-	‘body hair excluding pubic and underarm hair’
MM	Babatana	pulu-	‘(body) hair’
MM	Laghu	pulu-	‘(pubic) hair’²²
PEOc		*pulu-	‘body hair, fur, feathers’ (Biggs 1965)
SES	Bugotu	vulu-	‘feather, hair’
SES	Gela	vuvulu-	‘hair of head; hair of body; feather’²³
SES	Gela	vulu(hagi)	‘eyelash; antenna of crayfish; shoots of a plant’
SES	Sa’a	hulu	‘be hairy’
SES	Sa’a	hulu motaʔa	‘hairy; rough and prickly, of the backs of certain leaves’
SES	’Are’are	huru motaʔa	‘hairy’
SES	Arosi	huru-	‘the hair of the body’
SES	Arosi	huru-rere	‘downy hair on a child; hair on the legs and arms’
NCV	Mota	vulu(i)	‘the hair of the body’
NCV	Ambae	vulu-	‘hair, feather’
NCV	Ambae	vul-vulusi	‘body hair’
NCV	Tamambo	vulu-	‘hair, feathers’
NCV	Kiai	vulu-	‘hair’
SV	Sye	no-vli-nompu	‘head hair’
SV	Sye	no-vli-ra	‘body hair’
NCal	Nemi	pun(i)	‘body hair’
Fij	Bauan	vulu(a)	‘pubic hair’
Fij	Wayan	-vulu	‘pubic hair’
Pn	Tongan	fulu	‘hair on the privates’
Pn	Niuean	fulu	‘feather, hair’
Pn	Samoan	fulu	‘feather; feather lure’
Pn	Rennellese	hugu	‘body hair, feathers, fur; prickly root hairs, as of some yams; spikes, as of the sea urchin, nail’
Pn	Tikopia	furu	‘hair, feathers’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	hulu	‘hair’
Pn	Hawaiian	hulu	‘feather, quill; fur, wool, fleece, human body hair’

The cognate set below arguably reflects two functions of POc reduplication. The first derived a noun that denotes a multiplicity of an object, in this case many hairs. The second, sometimes with the addition of *-ka or *-a, forms an adjectival noun that denotes a property (this process formed various colour terms: vol.2:206, 210). It is possible that some or all of these terms are not direct reflexes of POc etyma, but reflect later derivations by these processes.

PMP		*bulu-bulu	‘hairy; hair-like growths; plants with hair-like growths’ (ACD)
POc		*pulu-pulu	‘body hair’
POc		*pulu-pulu[-ka]	‘hairy’
NNG	Manam	pulu-pulu	‘hairy’
PT	Mekeo	pui-pui-	‘body hair’
PT	Dobu	unu-unu	‘body hair, excluding head hair; animal hair’
MM	Roviana	pulu-pulu	‘hairy (body)’
MM	Hoava	pulu-pulu-	‘hair’
MM	Simbo	pulu-pulu-	‘hair of the body’
SES	Gela	vulu-vulu	‘species of water plant; a plant: Amaranthus’
SES	Arosi	huru-huru-ʔa	‘hairy’
Pn	Tongan	fulu-fulu	‘hair (esp. on the body), fur, feathers; having hair, fur or feathers (growing on it); (of timber) rough, undressed, unplaned’
Pn	Tongan	fulu-fulu-a	‘hairy, furry, woolly or feathery’
Pn	Niuean	fulu-fulu	‘be hairy’
Pn	Samoan	fulu-fulu	‘fine short hair, down; fur’
Pn	Samoan	fulu-fulu-a	‘(be) hairy’
Pn	Rennellese	hugu-hugu	‘hairy; to grow, as hair or feathers; be tattered, as an unfinished mat; have spines, as a balloon fish’
Pn	Nukuria	hulu-hulu	‘hair on the body’
Pn	Nukuria	hulu-hulu-a	‘hairy’
Pn	Nanumea	fulu-fulu	‘hair on head; fur’
Pn	Nanumea	fulu-fulu-a	‘hairy’
Pn	Hawaiian	hulu-hulu	‘body hair, hair of eyelashes, fleece, fur; hairy; frayed, splintered, rough, not smooth, bristling; blanket; feathers; down or fuzz on plant stems; rootlet’

Many Oceanic languages have no dedicated term for pubic hair and use a reflex of POc *pulu ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), sometimes with a modifier. However, POc *koRo ‘pubic hair’ is evidenced by widely distributed reflexes.

POc		*koRo	‘pubic hair’ (Geraghty 1990: PEOc)
NNG	Lukep	koro-	‘pubic hair’
PT	Iduna	(mata)ʔolo-ʔolo-	‘eyelash’ (mata- ‘eye’)
PT	Gapapaiwa	(igi)koro-	‘male pubic hair’ (igi- ’male genitals)
PT	Gapapaiwa	(kio)koro-	‘female pubic hair’ (kio- ’female genitals)
PT	Gapapaiwa	(mata)koro-	‘eyelash’ (mata- ‘eye’)
MM	Bola	koro	‘pubic; pubic hair’
MM	Nakanai	koro(ma)	‘pubic hair’
MM	Roviana	ɣoro-	‘pubic hair’
SES	Arosi	koru	‘male pubic hair; vulva’
PMic		*koro	‘pubic hair’ (Bender et al., 2003)
Mic	Chuukese	kkor, kkora-	‘underarm hair’
Mic	Puluwatese	kor	‘pubic or underarm hair’
Mic	Carolinian	xōr	‘pubic hair’
Mic	Carolinian	kkor	‘be especially hairy in the pubic area’
Mic	Woleaian	xōẓo-, xoẓo-	‘pubic hair’
Mic	Pulo Annian	xolo	‘pubic hair’

3.9. Veins, arteries, sinews and tendons⇫

The gloss of POc *uRat, which includes blood vessels, sinews and tendons, reflects their common cord-like structure rather than their bodily function. This is even more true of the following term, POc *waRo(c) ‘generic term for vines and creepers; vein, string, rope’, which applies to animal and human anatomy by extension.

PAn		*huRaC	‘artery, blood vessel, vein; muscle; nerve; sinew; tendon’ (ACD)
PMP		*uRat	‘artery, blood vessel, vein; muscle; nerve; sinew; tendon; fibre; vein of a leaf’ (ACD)
POc		*uRat	‘blood vessel, sinew, tendon’ (ACD)
Adm	Mussau	ueta-	‘vein, vessel; tendon’
NNG	Wogeo	urat(a)	‘vein’
NNG	Kis	ula-	‘vein’
MM	Bali	urat(a)	‘vein’
MM	Bulu	ula-	‘vein’
MM	Tigak	guat	‘vein’ (metathesis for †ugat)
MM	Tolai	urat	‘coconut-fibre; gristle; ligament; sinew; tendon’
MM	Lamasong	uat	‘meat’
MM	Sursurunga	(i)ruat	‘vein’ (metathesis for †urat)
MM	Roviana	ru-ruata-	‘vein or artery’ (metathesis for †urata)
MM	Babatana	rota-	‘vein, artery, nerve’ (metathesis for †urata)
SES	Bugotu	ula-	‘tendon; sinew; vein’
SES	Gela	ula-	‘vein’
SES	Gela	ula-kau	‘tendon’
SES	Kwaio	ula-ula	‘blood vessel, vein’
SES	Sa’a	ule-ule	‘sinew, tendon’
PNCV		*uRati	‘vein’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Raga	wesi-	‘vein’
NCV	Kiai	aresi-	‘blood vessel’
PSV		*na-ur	‘vein, artery, sinew’ (Lynch 2001c)
SV	North Tanna	noa-noul	‘vein, artery, sinew’
NCal	Nixumwak	wa(t)	‘sinew, vein’
PMic		*ua	‘tendon, vein’
Mic	Kiribati	te-ia	‘vein’
Mic	Carolinian	wā, wā-	‘veins, arteries’
Mic	Chuukese	wā, wuwa-	‘artery, tendon, nerve, sinew, vein of’
Mic	Puluwatese	wā-	‘vein or artery of’
Fij	Rotuman	ua-ua-	‘sinew, tendon or large nerve; vein or artery’ (Polynesian loan)
Fij	Bauan	ua-	‘vein; muscle’
Pn	Tongan	uoua	‘sinew, tendon, muscle, ligament’
Pn	Samoan	ua-ua	‘ligament, tendon. sinew, vein, pulse’
Pn	Rennellese	ua	‘artery; pulse’
Pn	Tikopia	ua	‘neck, external throat’
Pn	Māori	ua	‘sinew; vein, artery’

cf. also:

Fij

Rotuman

ua-ua-

‘sinew, tendon or large nerve; vein or artery’ (Polynesian loan)

It appears that *uRat was the usual POc term for cord-like parts of the internal anatomy. It can be inferred that *waRo(c) primarily denoted vines and creepers, as this is its most widespread sense (vol.3:74), but was used colloquially of cord-like parts of anatomical items. Below are listed only reflexes of POc *waRo(c) that are glossed with an anatomical term. Given its wide distribution, the extension from ‘vine, creeper’ to veins and tendons was evidently already present in POc. NCV reflexes (under ‘cf. also’) indicate an idiosyncratic change whereby POc *waRo(c) became PNCV *kaRo instead of expected †*waRo. Micronesian languages apparently reflect contamination of POc *waRo(c) ‘vein, string’ (vol.3:74) by POc *wakaR ‘root’ (vol.3:99) with the result that the data point to the reconstruction of PMic *waka (Bender et al. 2003) rather than expected †*wa(r)o. Outright conflation has occurred only in Pulo Annian, however, where wāxa/waxa- means both ‘vein, sinew, artery’ and ‘root’. Other Micronesian languages keep reflexes of PMic *waka ‘vein, artery, sinew’ separate from those of PMic *waka/wakara ‘root’ because *-r- is usually reflected as -r- in the latter (vol.3:99).

POc		*waRo(c)	‘generic term for vines and creepers; string, rope; vein, tendon’
Adm	Seimat	wau-	‘blood vessel, nerve, tendon, etc’
Adm	Wuvulu	wao-	‘vein, tendon; rope’
NNG	Tami	(aka)wal	‘vein’
NNG	Kove	waho-waho	‘vein’ (waho ‘rope’)
NNG	Bariai	oaro-	‘vein’
NNG	Tuam	waro-	‘vein’
NNG	Malalamai	waro-	‘vein’
NNG	Sio	wolo-	‘vein’
NNG	Malasanga	oro-	‘vein’
NNG	Roinji	walo-	‘vein’
NNG	Medebur	ur	‘vein’
NNG	Manam	wari(ge-rige)	‘vein’
NNG	Wogeo	(bul)waro-	‘throat’
SJ	Tarpia	(sini)waro-	‘vein’
SJ	Bongo	(berno)waro-	‘neck’
PT	Molima	walo-	‘veins and tendons’
PT	Dobu	waro-	‘artery’ (waro-waro ‘vein’; -r- for †-l-)
PT	Motu	varo-varo-	‘veins, arteries, tendons’
SV	Anejom̃	in-wau-	‘sinew, tendon, vein’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	wara-	‘vein, tendon, rope, string’
NCal	Nemi	wãk	‘vein, cord’
NCal	Xârâcùù	kʷii	‘vine, rope, vein, sinew, tendon’
NCal	Tîrî	wi	‘vine, rope, vein, sinew’
PMic		*waka	‘vein, artery, sinew’ (Bender et al. 2003)
Mic	Marshallese	yəkəy	‘vein, artery, blood vessel’
Mic	Woleaian	wāxa, waxa-	‘vein, sinew, blood vessel, artery’
Mic	Pulo Annian	wāxa, waxa-	‘root, vein, sinew, artery’
Fij	Wayan	wā	‘creeper, vine; cord, rope string; guts, intestines’
Fij	Wayan	wā-wā	‘guts, intestines’

cf. also:

	PNCV	*kaRo	‘vine, rope; vein’(Clark 2009)
NCV	Maewo	ɣao-	‘vein’
NCV	Ambae	karo(huwe)	‘vein’ (karo ‘rope, vine’, huwe ‘?’)

4. The head and its parts⇫

There is a large collection of POc terms denoting the head and its parts. Terms for parts of the head denote the forehead, brain, back of head (and nape), top of head (and fontanelle), face and side of face (or cheek), eye, eyelash/eyebrow, eyebrow ridge, eyelid, eyeball, ear, nose, nostril, mouth (outer and inner), lips, tongue, teeth (in general, molar and canine), gums, chin/jaw, beard, neck, throat and voice.

There are several terms for the head itself, their cognate sets and glosses suggesting differences in their semantic range. The fact that POc *qulu- (§3.4.1) also had a number of metaphorical senses (‘chief’, ‘headwaters’, ‘prow of a boat’, ‘first-born’), as well as the more specialised sense of ‘hair of the head’ and a use as a relational local noun meaning ‘top’ suggests that part of its meaning was the position of the head as the highest point of the body. The glosses of *bʷatu(k), on the other hand, appear to focus on its shape (§3.4.2).

4.1. *qulu ‘head’⇫

The most widespread term for the head is *qulu. Blust (ACD) comments

Although only the meaning ‘head’ can be assigned to PAn *quluh, PMP *quluh clearly had a number of meanings in addition to its primary use as a body-part label. Physical extensions of this primary sense include applications to the tops of trees, mountains and the like, and to the handles of bladed implements such as knives and axes. Somewhat more striking are widespread reflexes of *quluh in the meaning ‘headwaters of a river’, probably in the construction *qulu ni wahiR. … Reflexes of *quluh apply not only to the upper part of objects, but also to the front part of objects (‘prow of a boat’) and to priority in time (‘first’, ‘first-born’).

Its meaning in POc clearly included such metaphorical extensions.

PAn		*quluh	‘head’ (ACD)
PMP		*quluh	‘head; top part; leader, chief; headwaters; handle of a bladed implement; prow of a boat; first, first-born’ (ACD)
POc		*qulu-	‘head; leader; hair of the head’; [N LOC] ‘top part’
Adm	Tenis	uru-	‘head’
Adm	Drehet	ulu (bo)	‘headwaters of a river’
Adm	Nauna	kulu-n (puli)	‘peak of a mountain’
Adm	Nauna	kulu-n (kɛy)	‘top of a tree’
NNG	Sio	(i)kulu-	‘head, brain’
NNG	Adzera	(guzu)uru-	‘skull’
NNG	Dangal	uru-	‘head; brain’
NNG	Mapos Buang	ulu-	‘head’
PT	Minaveha	ununu-	‘head’
PT	Muyuw	kunu-	‘head’
PT	Molima	ʔunu-ʔunu-	‘head, forehead; (river) source’
PT	Kilivila	kulu-kulu-	‘hair’
PT	Kilivila	kulu(bakana)	‘bald (man)’
PT	Kilivila	kulu(wotagu)	‘top ridge of head’
PT	Wedau	unu-	‘skull, head’
MM	Sursurunga	(l)ulu-	‘head’
MM	Tangga	(paka)lu-	‘head’
MM	Patpatar	ulu-	‘head; skull’
MM	Ramoaaina	ul	‘head, hair, top, apex, crown’
MM	Tolai	ulu-	‘head’
MM	Nehan	lu-	‘head’
MM	Simbo	ulu	‘above, overhead; over’
MM	Maringe	ulu	‘at the head of, in front of, before’
MM	Maringe	n-ulu	‘leader, leading person or thing, in the first position’
SES	Gela	ulu-	‘head, except of a chief; eastern end, upper end’
SES	Bugotu	ulu-	‘head, top end’
SES	Lau	ulu(nao)	‘first-born, elder, senior’ (nao ‘first’)
SES	’Are’are	uru	‘cloud, heaven, sky, top’
SES	Sa’a	ulu(one)	‘the sandy tract immediately above the beach’ (one ‘sand’)
NCV	Mota	ulu(i)	‘hair; feathers’
NCV	Ambae	ulu	‘above, top of, height (of person)’
NCV	Raga	ilu-	‘hair’
Mic	Kosraean	ulu-	‘top’
Mic	Chuukese	wɨɾ̄	‘extreme part, top’
Mic	Chuukese	wɨɾɨ-ɾ (c̣ūk)	‘mountain top’
Mic	Puluwatese	wɨl	‘budding leaf, tree top’
Mic	Puluwatese	wɨlɨ-	‘foliage; head, hair’
Fij	Rotuman	ulu-ŋa	‘top, summit of s.t. high (tree, house, hill, etc)’
Fij	Wayan	-ulu	‘head, hair of head’
Fij	Bauan	ulu-	‘head, hair of head, top’
Fij	Bauan	ulu (matua)	‘woman’s first-born child’
Fij	Bauan	ulu (taŋa)	‘head or upper part of a river’
PPn		*qulu	‘head, hair of head’
Pn	Tongan	ʔulu	‘head (lit. or fig.), upper end’
Pn	Tongan	ʔulu (ʔi ʔufi)	‘yam-top’
Pn	Niuean	ulu	‘head, hair’
Pn	Niuean	ulu(aki)	‘first-born’ (aki ordinalising particle)
Pn	Rennellese	ʔugu	‘head, hair of head; head person’
Pn	Samoan	ulu	‘head; hair’
Pn	Samoan	ulu (matua)	‘first-born, eldest child’
Pn	Tikopia	uru	‘head; crest; top’
Pn	Māori	uru	‘head, in the singular; chief; top, upper end; point, of a weapon, etc; hair of the head, in the plural’

PAn		*qulu qulu	‘head-end, upper part’ (ACD)
POc		*qulu-qulu	‘upper part of s.t.’
PT	Molima	ʔunu-ʔunu	‘head’
PT	Molima	ʔunu-ʔunu(na)	‘upper part of head; forehead; source of a river’
MM	Roviana	ul-ulu-	‘high, lofty’
MM	Simbo	ul-ulu	‘high’
SES	Lau	ulu-ulu-	‘topmost branch of a tree’

4.2. (p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘outer shell, skull’, bʷatu(k) ‘head, top of’ and *pʷau- ‘head’⇫

The three POc terms reconstructed below, *(p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘outer shell, skull’, *bʷatu(k) ‘head, top of’, and *pʷau- ‘head’, represent a solution to a reconstructive conundrum. We are confronted by two overlapping pairs of reconstructions. The first pair, *(p,pʷ)atu(k) and *bʷatu(k), are very similar in form. They are also close enough in meaning that some reflexes of *(p,pʷ)atu(k) mean ‘head’ rather than ‘skull’. The second pair, *bʷatu(k) and *pʷau-, both mean ‘head’, and form a puzzling parallel to POc *pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ and PSOc *bʷau- ‘knee’ (§3.6.8.1.1).

We turn first to *(p,pʷ)atu(k) and *bʷatu(k).

4.2.1. (p,pʷ)atu(k) (vs bʷatu(k))⇫

Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed PMP *batuk and glossed it as ‘skull’. Blust (ACD) retains this gloss, but with a comment that it is problematic, as the only non-Oceanic reflexes are:

WMP	Malay	batok	‘husk and shell of coconut’
WMP	Javanese	batuk	‘forehead’
CMP	Tetun	ulu-n fatu(-k)	‘skull, bones of the head’
CMP	Kisar	ulu waku-n	‘head’

The glosses above suggest the possibility that PMP *batuk meant ‘outer shell’, whether of the skull or of, say, a nut. The CMP terms, in which ulu- reflects PMP *quluh ‘head’ (§3.4.1), thus had the literal sense ‘shell of head’, i.e. ‘skull’, leading to the likelihood that the directly inherited POc reflex of PMP *batuk was not POc *bʷatu(k) ‘head’ but POc *(p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘outer shell, skull’ below.²⁴ It is also possible that this *(p,pʷ)atu shares history with POc *pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ (§3.6.8.1.1), particularly if the latter referred specifically to the knee-cap, itself an outer shell—but we have no direct evidence of this at the moment.

It seems unlikely, however, that the formal and semantic similarity of *(p,pʷ)atu(k) and *bʷatu(k) is due to chance, and more probable that both ultimately reflect PMP *batuk ‘outer shell’, with *bʷatu(k) an indirect reflex—perhaps a loan from a language that retained PMP *b-, perhaps the outcome of a piece of word-play or of some process that the data do not reveal. Such splits in pre-Oceanic etyma did occur occasionally, as attested by the split of PMP *buaq ‘fruit’ into POc *puaq ‘fruit’ (vol.3:115) and POc *buaq ‘betelnut, areca palm’ (vol.3:393; see the summary of Blust’s ACD discussion there). However, there is no non-Oceanic evidence of such a split. The cognate set supporting *(p,pʷ)atu(k) is given below, and that supporting *bʷatu(k) in §3.4.2.2.

In the New Ireland languages Tigak, Kara and Lihir and Bougainville languages from Taiof to Uruava below, the reflex of *(p,pʷ)atu means ‘head’. This may reflect contamination by *bʷatu(k) or simple semantic shift.²⁵ Under ‘cf. also’ below are reflexes of Proto Central Micronesian *fatuku ‘head’, where *f- is the regular reflex of POc *p-, not *pʷ-, but these forms are also odd in reflecting final POc *-k with a following echo vowel. These are thus not regular reflexes and may reflect borrowing from an unknown source that retained POc final consonants.

Also below is a cognate set reflecting POc *[(p,pʷ)atu](p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘hard, strong, firm’. We take this to be a reduplication of *(p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘outer shell, skull’, an inference supported by both form (POc attributes were commonly formed by reduplication; vol.2:206–220) and meaning.

In two instances below, Bariai (eau) pat ‘coconut shell container for water’ and Takia pat-pat ‘strong, hard’, there is homophony with the term for ‘stone’, pat in both cases, reflecting POc *patu ‘stone, rock’ (vol.2:62–63). We take this to be the result of chance. In languages where *pʷ- and *p- are differently reflected, reflexes of *(p,pʷ)atu and *patu are not homophonous, as indicated in parentheses below.

PMP		*batuk	‘outer shell, skull’ (ACD; Dempwolff 1938: ‘skull’)
POc		*(p,pʷ)atu(k)	‘outer shell, skull’
Adm	Mussau	pati(nao)	‘skull’ (nao ?< POc nako- ‘face’; cf. atu* ‘stone’)
NNG	Bariai	(eau) pat	‘coconut shell container for water’ (eau ‘water’; cf. pat ‘stone’)
NNG	Mengen	pat-pato	‘shell’
NNG	Gitua	patu	‘coconut shell, eggshell’
NNG	Bilibil	patu-	‘head’
NNG	Kaiwa	na-vatu	‘skull’ (cf. vat ‘stone’)
NNG	Yalu	(nupiap)arʊ-ʔ	‘skull’ (nupiap ‘head’)
MM	Tigak	patu-	‘head’
MM	East Kara	putu-	‘head’ (cf. fat ‘stone’)
MM	Lihir	pat-pat	‘brain’ (cf. ot ‘stone’)
MM	Lamasong	pat(lak)	‘skull’ (lak ‘brain’; cf. vatu-at ‘stone’)
MM	Sursurunga	patu-	‘skull’ (cf. hat ‘stone’)
MM	Sursurunga	pat-pat	‘shell type’
MM	Siar	pat-pat	‘shell type’ (cf. fat ‘stone’)
MM	Taiof	patu	‘head; forehead’ (cf. fat ‘stone’)
MM	Hahon	pac	‘head’ (cf. vac ‘stone’)
MM	Tinputz	pasu	‘head’ (cf. vɔs ‘stone’)
MM	Teop	pasu	‘head’ (cf. vasu ‘stone’)
MM	Papapana	patu	‘head’ (cf. vatu ‘stone’)
MM	Uruava	patu	‘head’ (cf. patu ‘stone’)
MM	Mono-Alu	(ola)patu-	‘skull’ (cf. patu ‘stone’)
NCV	Lewo	(pia)pari-	‘skull’

cf. also:

NNG	Numbami	watu-	‘shell, hard outer covering’ (cf. wati ‘stone’)
SES	Gela	vatula	‘skull’ (cf. vatu ‘stone’)
	Proto Central Micronesian	*fatuku	‘head’(Bender et al. 2003)
Mic	Kiribati	te-atū	‘head’
Mic	Pulo Annian	θaθɨxɨ	‘head’
Mic	Sonsorolese	fadúkú	‘head’

POc		*[(p,pʷ)atu](p,pʷ)atu	‘hard, strong, firm’
NNG	Takia	pat-pat	‘strong, hard’ (cf. pat ‘stone’)
PT	Dobu	patu-patu	‘hard, of fat, sago’
PT	Minaveha	vatu-	‘strong, hard ??’²⁶
SES	Bugotu	patu	‘hard, firm, taut’
SES	Gela	patu	‘hard, to make firm’ (cf. vatu ‘stone’, vatula ‘skull’)
SES	’Are’are	pau-pau	‘hard’ (cf. hau ‘stone’, pau- ‘skull’)

4.2.2. bʷatu(k) and pʷau-⇫

As noted in §3.4.2, *bʷatu(k) and *pʷau- both mean ‘head’, and form a puzzling parallel to POc *pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ and PSOc *bʷau- ‘knee’ (§3.6.8.1.1). The two pairs overlap conceptually, as reflexes of both entail the sense ‘knob, node, joint’. Formally, all four reconstructions begin with a labiovelar consonant *bʷ or *pʷ, and have the same vowels, but the first member of each pair has a medial *-t- where the second member doesn’t. Moreover, the members of each pair disagree in the voicing of the initial labiovelar. The first pair displays *bʷ-/*pʷ-, the second pair the reverse.

Are any of the four reconstructions related to each other? Near-homophony between terms for head/skull and knee/elbow occurs across subgroups and echoes a polysemy between terms for ‘head’ and ‘knee’ in Tarascan (a Mexican isolate), in several Mayan languages where the term for knee, nah ch’ehk, is literally ‘head (nah) of lower leg’, and in Finnish where the term for elbow, kynärpää, is literally ‘head (paa) of cubit’ (Anderson 1978:354-355). Anderson suggests the polysemy is based on structural similarity (rounded boniness?).

A fairly exhaustive listing of known reflexes is given here and in §3.6.8.1.1 as a basis for answering the questions these forms raise. There are several possible answers, of course. The similarities between the four forms may be due to chance, or the four forms may reflect one or more etyma that have undergone a formal and semantic split, and/or the modern forms may reflect contamination of one form by another formally and semantically similar form.

The most conservative response has been chosen here: to make four separate reconstruc- tions, as there is sufficient semantic and formal consistency within each set to justify this. There are several other reasons for this choice.

Lynch (2002e) merges POc *bʷatu(k) ‘head, top of’ and POc *pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ into a single set, but the initial labiovelar correspondences do not justify the merger. All reflexes of POc *pʷatu[ka]- in §3.6.8.1.1 reflect *pʷ-. All the reflexes of POc *bʷatu(k) below reflect *bʷ-. Lynch also merges POc *pʷau- ‘head’ and PSOc *bʷau- ‘knee’, and for this there is formal support. The non-Southern Oceanic reflexes of POc *pʷau- are regular, but the Southern Oceanic (NCV, SV and NCal) reflexes point to PSOc *bʷau- ‘head’, i.e. the same form as PSOc *bʷau- ‘knee, joint’. If these two sets reflected a single etymon, however, one would expect some of its reflexes to mean both ‘head’ and ‘joint’. In fact this happens only in Sye (SV), where no-mpu occurs in both sets. It thus seems safer to infer that in Sye the reflexes of the two etyma have merged, whilst other languages have kept them separate. It could also be inferred, however, that PSOc *bʷau- ‘head’ is a reflex of POc *pʷau- ‘head’ whose initial *bʷ- reflects contamination from PSOc *bʷau- ‘knee, joint’.

This leaves the question, Did POc *pʷau- ‘head’ and PSOc *bʷau- ‘knee’ arise respectively from POc *bʷatu(k) ‘head, top of’ and POc *pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ through loss of *-t-? Perhaps, but it seems unlikely, first because loss of *-t- has not otherwise been observed in POc etyma, and second because the seemingly shortened forms reflect initial consonants with the opposite voicing value from the forms with *-t-. This gives us four different etyma that display intriguing semantic and formal relationships that remain unexplained.

Further comments on this cognate set follow it below.

PMP		*batuk	‘skull’ (but see text above) (ACD; Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*bʷatu(k)	‘head; top (of s.t.)’
Adm	Seimat	patu-	‘head’
Adm	Lou	potu-	‘head’
Adm	Baluan	patu-	‘head’
Adm	Ponam	batu-	‘head’
Adm	Nyindrou	batu-	‘head’
NNG	Bing	batu-	‘head’
MM	Vaghua	bac	‘chieftain’
MM	Varisi	batu	‘chieftain’
MM	Ririo	boc	‘chieftain’
MM	Sisiqa	bötu	‘head’
MM	Sisiqa	bøtu-	‘head’
MM	Lungga	batu-	‘head’
MM	Nduke	batu-	‘head’
MM	Roviana	batu-	‘head’
MM	Roviana	(pala)batu	‘married man, elder; chieftain’ (pala meaning unknown)
SES	Lau	gʷau-	‘head, top’
SES	Lau	gʷou	‘head, top, lump’
SES	To’aba’ita	gʷau	‘head, top’
SES	To’aba’ita	gū(ʔi)	‘head of, top of’
SES	Kwaio	gou-	‘head, top, important part’
SES	’Are’are	pau-	‘head’
SES	Arosi	bʷau-	‘head; chief, leader; knob; headland’
SES	Sa’a	pʷau(-)	‘head, top, chief’
TM	Nebao	baro	‘head’
TM	Vano	basa	‘head’
TM	Tanibili	(vala)base	‘head’
PNCV		*bʷatu-	‘head’
PNCV		*bʷatu	‘club’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Mota	pʷati-	‘knob , head’
NCV	Mota	pʷat	‘knob, knob-stick, thick stick’
NCV	Mota	pʷat(panei)	‘shoulder’ (lit. ‘head/knob of arm’)
NCV	Mwotlap	bʷɪt	‘head, club’
NCV	Nokuku	potu-	‘head’
NCV	Valpei	pʷatu-	‘head’
NCV	Akei	batu-	‘head’
NCV	Kiai	patu-	‘head’
NCV	Tamambo	buatu	‘head’
NCV	Paamese	a-vat, vati-	‘head’
NCV	Lewo	pʷari-	‘head’
NCV	Raga	bʷatu	‘head, base, beginning’
NCV	Avava	bat	‘head’
NCV	Uripiv	batu-	‘head’
NCV	Uripiv	batu(nrum)	‘head of yam, k.o. war club’
NCV	Port Sandwich	baru-	‘head’
NCV	Port Sandwich	bar(vosa-)	‘shoulder’ (lit. ‘head of arm’)
NCV	Port Sandwich	na-bat	‘club’
NCV	Labo	na-buto-	‘head’
NCV	Labo	nə-büt(vaxa)	‘shoulder’ (lit. ‘head of arm’)
NCV	Naman	batə-	‘head’
NCV	West Ambrym	bʷer	‘head’
NCV	West Ambrym	bʷate-	‘head, top of’
NCV	Southeast Ambrym	vatɪ, vato-	‘head’
NCV	Paamese	vatu	‘head’
PPn		*patu	‘callus, lump, tumour’
Pn	Tongan	patu	‘callus’
Pn	Samoan	patu	‘swelling, lump, tumour’
Pn	Tuvalu	patu	‘callus, tumour, swelling on body’
Pn	East Futunan	patu(ŋa)	‘knot, excrescence on tree’
Pn	Tahitian	patu	‘little mallet’
Pn	Māori	patu	‘general name for mallets and short clubs’

Reflexes of POc *bʷatu(k) ‘head’ are also used metaphorically to refer to the upper part of things, e.g. Mota pʷat panei ‘shoulder’ (‘head of arm’). From the SE Solomons eastward there are reflexes with extended senses such as ‘lump’ and ‘knob’, and what appears to be a further extension to denote a weapon with a large knob on the end (‘knobstick’, ‘club’). Polynesian reflexes have either the latter meaning or denote a lump on the human body or a tree.

Note that Malaita-Makira (SES) languages lose POc *-t- regularly. Hence Lau gʷau- etc are taken above to reflect *bʷatu-. The items in the set below are from languages where *-t- is retained: its absence, along with reflexes of initial *pʷ- indicates that these items reflect POc *pʷau-, not *bʷatu-.

The items listed under ‘cf. also’ below do not reflect *pʷau- regularly and have unexpected senses.

POc		*pʷau-	‘head’
Adm	Mussau	pou(ŋ-alo)	‘back of head’ (alo ‘neck’)
NNG	Bebeli	pawa-	‘back of head, skull’
NNG	Mangseng	pou(ŋa)	‘head’
NNG	Mouk	a-po-	‘head’
NNG	Sio	pau-	‘head hair’
NNG	Kairiru	(i)pʷo-	‘head’
MM	Torau	pau-	‘head’
MM	Kia	pau-	‘head’
MM	Kokota	pau-	‘head’
MM	Maringe	pʰaʔu-	‘head’
SES	Bugotu	pau-	‘head’²⁷
PSOc		*bʷau-	‘head’ (Lynch 2004d)
NCV	Nakanamanga	pʷau-	‘head’
NCV	Nguna	na-pʷau-	‘head’
NCV	South Efate	pʷa-	‘head’
SV	Sye	no-ᵐpu-	‘head’
SV	Ura	no-ᵐpu-	‘head’
NCal	Caaàc	bʷa-	‘head’
NCal	Nyelâyu	bʷā-	‘head’
NCal	Pwapwâ	gʷa-	‘head’
NCal	Ajië	gʷã-	‘head’
NCal	Xârâcùù	bʷa-	‘head, summit’
NCal	Iaai	ba-	‘head’

cf. also:

PT	Gumawana	bo-bou-	‘fontanelle’
PT	Roro	pau-	‘forehead’
PT	Kuni	bau-	‘shoulder’

4.3. Forehead⇫

Three POc terms for ‘forehead’ are reconstructed, only one of which, *raqe-, has a PAn antecedent. POc *dramʷa-, reflected in Adm, NNG, MM and Mic, was evidently an Oceanic innovation. POc *p(u,o)le- has a more limited basis, with reflexes from the Admiralties and a cluster of north Bougainville languages. Its medial vowel is uncertain. To our knowledge no contemporary language has two of these terms side by side, suggesting that they reflect dialectal variation in very early Oceanic.

PAn		*daqey	‘forehead’ (Ross 1988)
POc		*raqe-	‘forehead’
MM	Lihir	lake-	‘forehead’
MM	Lihir	lak	‘brain’
MM	Tinputz	nai-	‘forehead’
MM	Teop	nae-	‘forehead’
MM	Papapana	nai-	‘forehead’
MM	Uruava	rae-	‘forehead’
MM	Torau	rae-	‘forehead’
MM	Mono-Alu	lae-	‘forehead’
MM	Kia	rae-	‘forehead’
MM	Laghu	rae-	‘forehead’
MM	Roviana	rae-	‘forehead’
SES	Gela	rae-	‘forehead’
SES	Arosi	rae-	[VT] ‘move head forward, look forward, peering’
SES	Arosi	rae(hau-)	‘forehead’ (hau ‘stone’)
NCV	Raga	rae-	‘forehead’
NCV	Ambae	rae-	‘forehead’
NCV	Tamambo	rae-	‘forehead’
NCV	Nguna	na-rae-	‘forehead, face; in front of a person)’
Fij	Wayan	-rā	‘forehead’
Fij	Bauan	(ya)dre-	‘forehead’ (ya- prefix added to some body part terms)
PPn		*laqe	‘forehead’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	laʔe	‘forehead’
Pn	East Uvean	laʔe	‘forehead’
Pn	Tikopia	rae	‘forehead’ (also muŋa-rae)
Pn	Māori	rae	‘forehead’
Pn	Hawaiian	lae	‘forehead’

cf. also:

Adm	Mussau	(pati)laka-	‘forehead’
MM	Lamasong	(pat)lak	‘skull’
MM	Madak	(pat)lakuat	‘skull’
SES	Bugotu	laŋe-	‘forehead’

POc		*dramʷa-	‘forehead’
Adm	Seimat	kawa-	‘forehead (includes all front of head)’
Adm	Wuvulu	xawa-	‘forehead’
NNG	Mengen	rama-	‘forehead’
NNG	Tuam	damo-	‘forehead’
NNG	Gitua	damo-	‘forehead’
NNG	Sio	damʷa-	‘forehead’
NNG	Malasanga	damo-	‘forehead’
NNG	Mindiri	demʷa-	‘forehead’
NNG	Dami	dama-	‘forehead’
NNG	Gedaged	damo-	‘cape, forehead’
NNG	Manam	damʷa-	‘forehead’
NNG	Bam	damo-	‘forehead’
NNG	Wogeo	damʷa-	‘mountain’
NNG	Kaiep	damʷa-	‘forehead’
NNG	Sissano	rama-	‘forehead’
NNG	Sera	rama(tal)	‘forehead’
PT	Misima	lamʷa-	‘forehead’
MM	Vitu	dama-	‘forehead’
MM	Bali	dama-	‘forehead’
MM	Bulu	dama-	‘forehead’
MM	Nakanai	gama-	‘head’
Mic	Woleaian	simʷe	‘head, forehead’
Mic	Puluwatese	rāmʷ	‘forehead’

cf. also:

NNG	Mapos Buang	daba-	‘forehead’
PT	Kilivila	daba-	‘head, forehead, brain’
PT	Gumawana	daba-	‘forehead’

POc		*p(u,o)le-	‘forehead’
Adm	Lou	pulɛ-	‘forehead’
Adm	Drehet	pʷili-	‘forehead’
Adm	Loniu	(taha)pule-	‘forehead’
MM	Solos	pone-	‘forehead’
MM	Petats	pole-	‘forehead’
MM	Halia	pole-	‘forehead’
MM	Halia	pole-	‘forehead’

4.4. Brain⇫

Two distinct meanings, ‘brain’ and ‘pith’, are carried by the same term in sporadic reflexes of both POc *qutok (vol.3:374) and POc *paraq (vol.3:373). Non-Oceanic evidence indicates that *qutok was the inherited term for the brain, whilst the use of *paraq for brain represents an extension of its earlier meaning, ‘coconut embryo’. The link between brain and coconut embryo is further supported by the Mussau terms laŋasi ‘brain’, laŋasi niu ‘pith of young coconut’ and Niuean uho-niu, originally referring to ‘the spongy heart of sprouting coconut’, but by extension also to ‘brain’. It is also noteworthy that brain and bone marrow are referred to by one term, hara, in Motu, and oso- in ’Are’are.

A comparison of Blust’s (ACD) non-Oceanic reflexes of PMP *hutek with those of POc *qutok shows that the latter certainly denoted the brain and probably also bone marrow, and (non-Oceanic) Ambonese reflexes are consistent with the hypothesis that it was also used for the pith of plants. The sporadic occurrence of reflexes of POc *paraq that denote the brain (vol.3:373), however, may be the result of independent parallel innovation. That is, the ‘brain’ sense of *paraq may not have been present in POc.

The forms listed under ‘cf. also’ display phonological irregularities. The SES forms have a medial consonant where none is expected, as POc *t is lost in these languages. Tikopia has initial k- where no consonant is expected.

PMP		*hutek	‘brain, marrow’ (ACD) ²⁸
POc		qutok, quto-	‘brain, pith, marrow’ (vol.3:374–375)
NNG	Bariai	(i)uto-uto-	‘brain’
NNG	Gitua	uto	‘pith, centre of tree (particularly sago)’
NNG	Lukep	kuto-	‘head’
NNG	Malasanga	koto-	‘head’
NNG	Kis	ut	‘brain’
NNG	Kaiep	uto(ŋ)	‘brain’
NNG	Kela	koto-	‘brain’
NNG	Mapos Buang	yuto-	‘brain’
PT	Saliba	uto-	‘brain’
PT	Motu	(au) uto-	‘pith’ (au ‘tree’)
SES	Sa’a	uwo	‘inner skin of rattan cane, pith’
SES	Arosi	uwo	‘flesh, edible part of a yam’
NCV	Mota	uto-i	‘pith; inner part, if hard, within bark’
PSV		*nə-vutoɣ	‘brain’ (Lynch 2001c)
SV	Anejom̃	n-hutu(ma)	‘brains’
SV	North Tanna	no-uta-	‘brains’
SV	Lenakel	(neno)urək	‘brain’
NCal	Iaai	haec	‘brain’
Fij	Bauan	uto-	‘core, heart, pith of a tree’
PPn		*quto	‘brain, pith of a tree, spongy mass in sprouting coconut’ (vol.3:375)
Pn	Tongan	ʔuto	‘brain; spongy heart of sprouting coconut’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔuto	‘sponge, as of coconut’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔuto(ʔugu)	‘brain’ (ʔugu ‘head’)
Pn	Samoan	uto	‘spongy substance in old coconut’
Pn	Rarotongan	uto	‘coconut that has germinated; kernel or white spongy substance found inside a spongy coconut’

cf. also:

SES	Sa’a	uto-	‘pith’
SES	’Are’are	oso-	‘brains, bone marrow’
SES	Oroha	oso-	‘brain’
Pn	Tikopia	kuto	‘brain’

PMP		*para	‘coconut embryo’ (ACD)
POc		*paraq	‘spongy mass inside sprouting coconut’ (possibly also ‘brain’)
Adm	Titan	pare-	‘brain, sprout’
Adm	Wuvulu	faxa-	‘coconut pith; brain’
NNG	Bariai	para	‘sprout (V)’
NNG	Bariai	para-ŋa	‘brain’ (-ŋa NOM)
PT	Sinaugoro	vara-	‘brain; inner part of coconut’

A further term is reconstructable for PWOc.

PWOc		*s(i,e)ma-	‘brain’
NNG	Manam	sema-	‘brain, head’
MM	Patpatar	sima-	‘brain’
MM	Tolai	ima-	‘brain’
MM	Siar	suma-	‘brain’
MM	Varisi	su-suma-	‘brain’
MM	Nduke	hum-um-a-	‘brain’

4.5. Back of head, nape⇫

The change of meaning in reflexes in Santa Isabel languages below (from Kia to Maringe) may be due to similarity of shape, i.e. from ‘back of head’ to ‘headland’ to ‘island’. PNGOc *g(i,e)ju- is evidently an irregular reflex of POc *k(i,e)ju-.

POc		*k(i,e)ju-	‘back of head, base of skull, occiput, nape’ (Ross 1988: ‘nape’)
NNG	Mindiri	kudu-	‘nape’
NNG	Bilibil	udu-	‘back of head’
NNG	Manam	kuzi-	‘back of head’ (metathesis)
NNG	Wogeo	kuju-	‘back of head’
PT	Molima	ʔedu-ʔedu-	‘back of the head’
PT	Dobu	ʔedu-ʔedu	‘base of skull’
PT	Ubir	etu	‘occiput’
PT	Bwaidoga	ʔedu-ʔedu-	‘base of skull’
PT	Lala	etu	‘back of head’
MM	Lihir	kicie-	‘back of head’
MM	Vitu	kidu-	‘back of head; elbow’
MM	Bali	kidu-	‘back of head’
MM	Bulu	kidu-kidu-	‘back of head’
MM	Bola	kidu-	‘back of head’
MM	Harua	kidu-	‘back of head’
MM	Nakanai	kisu-	‘back of neck, nape’
MM	Taiof	a-iru-	‘back of head’
MM	Uruava	idu-	‘back of head’
MM	Torau	idu-	‘back of head’
MM	Varisi	kuzu-	‘head’
MM	Ririo	kuju-	‘head’
MM	Babatana	kuju-	‘skull’
MM	Roviana	kizu-	‘back of head’
MM	Nduke	kizu-	‘back of head’
MM	Kia	ɣizu	‘island’
MM	Kokota	ɣizu	‘island’
MM	Laghu	ɣizu	‘island’
MM	Blablanga	(gi)ɣizu	‘headland’
MM	Maringe	(giu)ɣiju	‘headland, point of land’
Mic	Woleaian	xʉ	‘back of head’
PCP		*keju-	‘back of head’ (Geraghty 1986)
Fij	Rotuman	ʔecu	‘back of head’
Fij	Bauan	kesu-	‘back of head’

The following forms appear to reflect a PNGOc innovation whereby *k- was irregularly replaced by *g-.

PNGOc		*g(i,e)ju-	‘back of head, base of skull, occiput, nape’
NNG	Malasanga	guru(kai)	‘back of head’
NNG	Mato	gizu-	‘neck’
NNG	Gedaged	gudu-	‘neck’
NNG	Gitua	gizu-	‘nape’
NNG	Malalamai	gizu-	‘nape’
NNG	Yabem	gesu-	‘neck’
PT	Muyuw	a-gadu-	‘back of head’
PT	Kilivila	(kai)gadu-	‘back of head’
PT	Motu	gedu-	‘back of head, heel’

4.6. Top of head, fontanelle⇫

In a number of languages the term for the fontanelle is a reflex of POc *[ma]ñawa, which was evidently a verb meaning ‘breathe, rest, be alive’, but also occurred as a noun with the senses ‘breath’, ‘life’ and ‘fontanelle’. The full cognate set for this term is presented in §4.5.1, where it is discussed in some detail. Here just those reflexes that include the sense ‘fontanelle’ are given. Note that the fontanelle provides a visible pulse in a young baby and is thus representative of life. The extension from ‘breath’ via ‘pulse’ to fontanelle is thus a natural one. The fontanelle is regarded in some parts of Oceania (e.g. Arosi) as where the soul entered and departed from the body.

PAn		*LiSawa	‘breathe, breath’ (ACD)
PMP		*[ma]nihawa	‘breathe; breath’ (ACD; Ross 1988)
POc		*[ma]ñawa	[V] ‘breathe, rest, be alive’; [N] ‘breath, life, fontanelle’
Adm	Lou	mein	‘fontanelle’
PT	Kilivila	mola-	‘fontanelle’ (-o- for †-a-)
MM	Tolai	mana-manaug	‘fontanelle’
SES	Arosi	manawa	‘breathe, rest, pant; breath, lungs, fontanelle’
PPn		*mānawa	‘breathe; breath’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	mānava	‘breath, breathe’
Pn	Samoan	mānava	‘breathe, breath; palpitate, pulsate; rest from work’
Pn	Rennellese	manaba	‘breathe; breath, fontanelle’
Pn	Tuvalu	mānava	‘breathe’
Pn	East Futunan	mānava	‘breath, breathe’
Pn	East Uvean	mānava	‘breath, breathe’
Pn	Tikopia	mānava	‘breath’
Pn	Hawaiian	manawa	‘anterior fontanelle’
Pn	Marquesan	menava	‘breath, anterior fontanelle’

cf. also:

Fij

Bauan

mana-manā

‘fontanelle’

POc *maŋawa- ‘fontanelle, forehead’ is apparently a doublet of POc *mañawa, related to it by an irregular sound change *ñ > *ŋ. Some reflexes of *maŋawa- denote the forehead rather than the fontanelle, presumably as a result of a metonymic usage extending reference to the whole of the front part of the top of the head.

POc		*maŋawa-	‘fontanelle, forehead’
MM	Lamasong	maŋa-	‘forehead’
MM	Madak	maŋ	‘forehead’
SES	Sa’a	maŋo(-)	‘breathe; breath, chest’
SES	Lau	maŋo(-)	‘breathe; pulse; fontanelle’
SES	To’aba’ita	maŋo	‘breath, breathing; soul; pulse’
PMic		*maŋo-	‘top of head, fontanelle’ (Bender et al., 2003)
Mic	Kiribati	maŋo-	‘fontanelle’
Mic	Woleaian	maŋo-	‘forehead’
Mic	Carolinian	mōŋ	‘forehead’
Fij	Bauan	mana-manā	‘fontanelle’

It is possible that *tubuŋa ‘crown of head’ is a nominalisation (with -ŋa) of POc *tubuq ‘grow, swell’ (vol.1:134; vol.3:366), where the hair on the crown is compared to the first appearance of plants above ground.

POc		*tubuŋa	‘crown of head’
PT	Sinaugoro	tubua	‘highest point on the head’
PT	Motu	tubua	‘crown of head, top of anything’
Fij	Rotuman	fupuŋa	‘crown of head’

4.7. Face⇫

Although two POc terms, *nako- and *qarop-, are listed here, *qarop- was principally a spatial term (a relational local noun; §3.1.2) referring to ‘front, face, the side usually seen’ (vol.2:247) whereas *nako- denoted the body part containing facial features and was only secondarily a spatial term. A third term POc *mata- (§3.4.9.1 and vol.2:249) was apparently also commonly used to refer to ‘face’ as well as ‘eyes’.

POc		*nako-	‘face’; [N LOC] ‘front’ (vol.2:250)
Adm	Pak	nogo(gi)	‘front, before, face’
NNG	Gitua	nago-	‘face’
NNG	Tami	nao-	‘front, face’
NNG	Takia	nao-	‘face’
PT	Minaveha	nao	‘front’
MM	Lavongai	no-	‘forehead, frontside’
MM	Tigak	no-	‘forehead, frontside’
MM	West Kara	no-	‘forehead’
MM	Nalik	no-	‘forehead’
SES	Gela	naɣo	‘front, before, face’
SES	Bugotu	naɣo	‘before, in front, first’
SES	Lau	nao-	‘face, front’
SES	Kwaio	naʔo	‘before, in front of’
SES	Sa’a	naʔo	‘front, before, face’
NCV	Mota	naɣo(i)	‘face, front, cutting edge’
NCV	Ambae	nako-	‘face, front’
NCV	Tamambo	naɣo-	‘face’
NCV	Paamese	nā-	‘face, front’

cf. also:

Nakanai

lagu-

‘face; forward, in front’ (g for †k)

Reflexes of POc *qarop consistently refer to ‘front, face, the side usually seen’ and are sometimes contrasted with reflexes of POc *muri- ‘back’ (§3.1.2, vol.2:251). In this sense they are often used to refer to parts of the body other than the face. Evidence for final *-p lies in phrases such as Tongan ʔaofi-vaʔe and Samoan alofi-vae, both ‘sole of foot’, where -i- reflects the PPn linker *qi (Hooper 1985).

PAn		*qadəp	‘front, face’ (Blust 1997)
POc		*qarop	‘face’; [N LOC] ‘front, the side usually seen’ (vol.2:247)
Adm	Mussau	alo-	‘(front of?) neck’
Adm	Lou	kar	‘palm, sole’ (kar-mɛna ‘of hand’, kar-kɛ ‘of foot’)
NNG	Manam	aro	‘space in front’
NNG	Kairiru	aro	‘in front of (s.t.)’
PT	Dawawa	karo	‘in front’
PT	Kilivila	kayo	‘front of neck, throat’
SES	Sa’a	saro	[VI] ‘to face, turn oneself’; [N] ‘breast’
SES	’Are’are	ʔaro-ʔaro-	‘throat’
NCal	Pwaamei	kala(n)	‘front side’
Fij	Rotuman	aro	‘front, side or surface usually seen; palm of hand etc’ (possible Polynesian loan)
Pn	Tongan	ʔao	‘front, esp. of a person, private parts, genitals’
Pn	Tongan	ʔaof-i	‘lining (of house, garment etc)’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔago	‘front, coastline, front of human chest’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔago baʔe	‘back of knee or thigh’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔago hi gima	‘palm of hand, inner surface of arm’
Pn	Samoan	alo	‘smooth soft side of a thing, the front as opposed to tua the back; stomach, belly’
Pn	Tikopia	aro	‘inner part, lining; concave face opp. to tua back of s.t.; stomach, womb’
Pn	Māori	aro	‘front of body; pubic area of females’
Pn	Hawaiian	alo	‘front, face; inner surface; front of human chest’

4.8. Side of face, cheek, temple⇫

Two POc etyma, *[pʷa]pʷaRa- ‘cheek, side of face’ and *baba[R,l]i- ‘cheek’ appear to reflect Blust’s PCEMP *papaR ‘cheek’ (ACD). However, two comments are in order. First, PCEMP *papaR is supported by only one non-Oceanic reflex (Buru papa-n ‘cheek’), with the consequence that there is no independent attestation of PCEMP *-R- or of the vowel following it. Second, POc doublets are rare, and it is possible that the two etyma have different origins. Both have reflexes that simply mean ‘side’, but it is common for POc relational local nouns to be derived from human body part terms (cf. POc *bʷal(o,a)- ‘belly, inside’, vol.2:239; *qaro- ‘face, front’, vol.2:247; *mata- ‘eye, front’, vol.2:249). A stronger possibility is that POc *baba[R,l]i- is indeed a doublet, created through contamination by POc *baban ‘flat, board, plank of boat’ (vol.1:185–186) because of its reference to a bone with a flat surface. Reflexes of POc *baban are sometimes used in this sense (cf. To’aba’ita baba-leqo, Maori papa-āhuahua, both ‘shoulder blade’), and it is possible that PEPn *papa-ariŋa ‘cheek’ reflects such a compound.²⁹

PCEMP		*papaR	‘cheek’ (ACD)
POc		*[pʷa]pʷaRa-	‘cheek, side of face’; [N LOC] ‘side’ (vol.2:244-245)
MM	Nalik	par, pāran	‘side’
MM	Kandas	papori	‘side’
MM	Minigir	papara	‘side’
MM	Tolai	papar, papara	‘side’
MM	Taiof	pana	‘side’
MM	Mono-Alu	papala	‘side’
MM	Tinputz	panan	‘cheek, brim’
MM	Varisi	pa-para-	‘cheek’
MM	Vaghua	pa-para-	‘cheek’
MM	Nduke	pa-para-	‘cheek’
MM	Roviana	pa-para-	‘side of face, cheek’
NCV	South Efate	mʷar, pʷar	‘side of face’

cf. also:

Sobei

popa

‘cheek’

PCEMP		*papaR	‘cheek’ (ACD)
POc		*baba[R,l]i-	‘cheek’
NNG	Manam	baba	‘flat; palm of hand, sole of foot’
NNG	Rauto	vava	‘side’
NNG	Mengen	vava	‘side’
NNG	Mengen	vava	‘side’
SES	Lau	babali-	‘cheek’
SES	To’aba’ita	babali-	‘cheek’ (cf. baba-leqo ‘shoulder blade’)
SES	Kwaio	baba-	‘side, cheek’ (for †babali-)
SES	Sa’a	papali-	‘cheek’
SES	’Are’are	papari-	‘cheek’
SES	Arosi	baba-	‘cheek’
SES	Arosi	babari-	‘temples’
Fij	Bauan	baba-	‘side of s.t.; cheekbone; side of canoe’

cf. also:

NNG	Manam	papaki-	‘temple’
	PCEPn	*papa-ariŋa	‘cheek’ (POLLEX; PPn *papa ‘flat hard surface’)
Pn	Māori	pāpāriŋa	‘cheek’ (cf. papa-āhuahua ‘shoulder blade’)
Pn	Tahitian	pāpāriʔa	‘cheek’
Pn	Tuamotuan	pāpāriŋa	‘cheek’
Pn	Hawaiian	papālina	‘cheek’ (lina ‘soft’?)

The following may be from PMP *balaŋ/POc *pʷala(ŋ) ‘side, part’ (vol.2:245) + POc *qase ‘chin, jaw’ (§3.4.13).

PNCV		*balase	‘jawbone (of pig), chin, cheek’ (*ase ‘chin, jaw’)
NCV	Mota	palasa-i	‘cheek’ (palasa ‘jawbone of a pig’)
NCV	Ambae	balahe-	‘cheek’

POc		*tabal	‘side of head’
MM	Bulu	tabala-	‘side of head’ (for †taba. Borrowed from Bali?)
MM	Bola	tabala-	‘side of head’
SES	Arosi	aba-	‘half, part, side’
PMic		*tapa-	‘cheek’ (Bender et al., 2003)
Mic	Woleaian	tap	‘cheek, face’
Mic	Chuukese	sap	‘face, present a side in a given direction (with directional suffixes)’

4.9. The eye and its parts⇫

4.9.1. Eye⇫

POc *mata- ‘eye, face’ appears to have served both as a noun denoting the eye (as a body part) and as a relational local noun denoting the ‘front’ side of a person or object (vol.2:249).

PAn		*maCa	‘eye; face’ (Blust 1999)
POc		*mata-	‘eye, face’
Adm	Mussau	mata-	‘eye, face’
Adm	Tenis	mata-	‘eye’
Adm	Lou	mara-	‘eye, face, front’
NNG	Adzera	mara-	‘eye’
NNG	Numbami	mata-	‘eye’
PT	Kilivila	mata(la)	‘eye, face, appearance of anything’
PT	Motu	mata-	‘eye’
PT	Dobu	mata-	‘eye’
MM	Vitu	mata-	‘eye’
MM	Bulu	mata-	‘eye; frontside’
MM	Nakanai	mata-	‘eye’
MM	Meramera	mata-	‘eye’
MM	East Kara	mata-	‘eye; frontside’
MM	Notsi	mata-	‘eye’
MM	Patpatar	mata-	‘eye, opening, entrance’
MM	Tolai	mata-	‘eyes, face’
MM	Nehan	mata-	‘eye’
MM	Petats	mata-	‘eye; frontside’
MM	Tinputz	mata-	‘eye; frontside’
MM	Teop	mata-	‘eye; frontside’
MM	Roviana	mata-	‘eye’
SES	Bugotu	mata-	‘eye, face’
SES	Sa’a	mā-	‘eye, face; opening’
SES	Arosi	mā-	‘eye’
NCV	Mota	mata(i)	‘eye, face’
NCV	Raga	mata-	‘eye’
NCV	Tamambo	mata-	‘eye’
SV	Sye	ni-mtu	‘eye, face’
SV	Lenakel	nə-mrə	‘eye, face’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	idā)mā-t	‘eye, face’
NCal	Iaai	ec)mæka-	‘eye’
Mic	Kiribati	mata-	‘eye, face, front, appearance’
Mic	Woleaian	mat	‘eye, face’
Mic	Kosraean	mʌta-	‘eye, face’
Fij	Bauan	mata	‘eye, face, source, front’
Pn	Tongan	mata	‘eye, face, front; point, blade’
Pn	Samoan	mata	‘eye, face; point, blade’
Pn	Tikopia	mata	‘forepart, eye, face’

4.9.2. Eyelash, eyebrow hair⇫

The glosses below suggest that ‘eyelash’ and ‘eyebrow hair’ were denoted by a single POc term, *pulu qi mata- literally ‘hair of eye’. POc *pulu- was the term for body hair (§3.3.8) as opposed to head hair. On *qi, see Hooper (1985), Ross (1998a) and §3.1.1.

PMP		*bulu ni mata	‘eyelash’
POc		*pulu qi mata-	‘eyelash, eyebrow hair’ (ACD: *pulu ni mata-)
NCV	Tamambo	vulu-vulu-i mata	‘eye lashes’
NCV	Ambae	vul-vulu-si mata-	‘eyebrow, eyelash’
Fij	Wayan	vulu-vulu-ni-mata	‘eyelash’
Pn	Tongan	fulu-fulu ʔi laumata	‘eyelashes’ (‘hair of eyelid’)
Pn	Niuean	fulu mata	‘eyelash’
Pn	Samoan	fulu-mata	‘eyelash’
Pn	Samoan	fulu-fulu mata	‘eyebrow’
Pn	Nanumea	fulu-fulu mata	‘eyebrow’
Pn	Tikopia	firi-firi mata	‘eyebrow, eyelash’

Kukuya mata-ivu ‘eyelash’ is a conceptually similar term, but ivu reflects *ipu ‘hair’ (§3.3.7).

Numbami (NNG) has mata-lami ‘eyelash’ and Nyindrou (Adm) has lami mada- ‘eyelash, eyebrow’, each containing an apparent reflex of POc *Ramut ‘fine, hair-like roots’ (vol.3:101).

The next set probably shows metaphoric use of a term also used to describe the fringe-like leaflets of a coconut branch (see Arosi, Sa’a, ’Are’are hisi, Lau fisi). Note that in MM and SES languages the possessor follows the possessed whilst in PT languages the order is reversed.

POc		*pisi(n)-mata	‘eyelash’
PT	Dobu	mata usi-usi	‘eyelashes’
MM	Halia	hisin-mata	‘eyelash’
SES	Kwaio	fi-fisi i mā-	‘eyelash’

4.9.3. Eyebrow ridge⇫

Widely distributed reflexes of POc *pasu- denote ‘eyebrow’, but scattered among them are reflexes meaning ‘forehead’ and, in Vanuatu, also ‘cheek’. Ancestral to the POc term is PMP *pasu(ŋ), which Blust (ACD) glosses ‘cheek bone’. However, in addition to ‘cheek’ the non-Oceanic reflexes have meanings as varied as ‘prominent cheek bones’, ‘upper jawbone’, ‘bridge of the nose’. The common denominator across both Malayo-Polynesian and Oceanic glosses seems to be ‘facial bony ridge’ and this may well have been its extended sense at both interstages. However, its narrower PMP meaning does indeed seem to have been ‘cheek bone’. This was perhaps also its narrower POc gloss, with a semantic shift to ‘eyebrow ridge’, then ‘eyebrow’, in various daughter-languages. In this light, complex expressions for ‘eyebrow’ below which include a reflex of POc *mata- ‘eye’ (§3.4.9.1) apparently meant ‘ridge of eye’, i.e. ‘eyebrow ridge’, as opposed to other facial ridges, particularly the cheek bone.

The compound forms in Loniu, Port Sandwich, Nguna, Iaai and Rotuman all point to POc *pasu-mata-, but Nokuku pus-pusa-n meta- contains a suffix -n which reflects either POc *-ña ‘his, her, its’ or *ni, a morpheme that marked the following noun phrase as the nonspecific possessor of an indirectly possessed noun, e.g. POc ? *pasu ni mata- ‘ridge of eye’. This reconstruction is odd, however, as POc *pasu- was directly possessed, and the nonspecific possessor of a directly possessed noun was introduced by *qi (Ross 1998c; also §3.1.1), i.e. the expected form is POc *pasu qi mata-. In a number of languages the reflex of *ni has displaced *qi, and Nokuku may be one of these.

The eyebrows perhaps had a particular cultural significance for Proto Oceanic speakers. The Sinaugoro and Nguna terms below refer to raising the eyebrows to say ‘yes’, and it seems likely that the gesture already had this meaning in Proto Oceanic times.

PMP		*pasu[ŋ]	‘cheek bone’ (ACD)
POc		*pasu-	‘facial bony ridge, especially cheek bone’
POc		pasu-mata-, pasu qi mata-	‘eyebrow ridge’
Adm	Loniu	pusu-mata-	‘eyebrow, eyelash’ (mata- ‘eye’)
PT	Dobu	asu-	‘forehead’
PT	Sinaugoro	varu-raɣe	‘lift eyebrows to say “yes”’ (raɣe ‘go up’)
PT	Mekeo	paku-	‘forehead’
MM	Bulu	varu-	‘forehead’
MM	Bileki	vasu-	‘forehead’
MM	Nakanai	varu-	‘forehead’
SES	Bugotu	vahu-	‘forehead, temple’
SES	Gela	vau-vahu-	‘eyebrow’
SES	Arosi	hasu-hasu–	‘eyebrow’
PSOc		*vasu	‘eyebrow’ (Lynch 2004d: Clark 2009: PNCV *vazu)
NCV	Nokuku	pus-pusa-n meta-	‘eyebrow’ (meta- ‘eye’)
NCV	Tamambo	vasu-	‘eyebrow’
NCV	Ambae	vahu-	‘forehead above the eye, incl. eyebrow’
NCV	Raga	vahu-	‘cheek’
NCV	Uripiv	vasu-	‘cheek’
NCV	Port Sandwich	vos-mara-	‘eyebrow’ (mara- ‘eye’)
NCV	Nguna	na-vasu-mata	‘eyebrow’
NCV	Nguna	liŋi-vasu	‘lift eyebrows in agreement’
NCal	Iaai	bade-mɛka-	‘eyebrow’ (mɛka- ‘eye’)
PMic		*fasu	‘eyebrow’ (Bender et al., 2003)
Mic	Marshallese	yāt	‘eyebrow’
Mic	Woleaian	fāt	‘eyebrow’
Mic	Sonsorolese	fati	‘eyebrow’
Mic	Carolinian	fāt	‘eyebrow’
Fij	Rotuman	hæs-mafa	‘eyebrow’
Fij	Bauan	vaðu-	‘eyebrows’

4.9.4. Eyelid⇫

Although a possible PEOc compound can be reconstructed from SES and NE Ambae terms which translate literally as ‘eye skin’, there is little consistency of form across the Oceanic region, with a range of terms being used in place of ‘skin’ including ‘cover’, ‘husk’, and ‘leaf’. PEOc *pinu-pinu is a reduplicated reflex of POc *pinut ‘skin, bark’ (§3.3.5).

PEOc		*pinu-pinu ni mata	‘eyelid’
SES	Sa’a	hinu-hinu i mā-	‘eyelid’ (hinu ‘bark/skin’)
SES	Arosi	hinu-hinu-	‘eyelid’
NCV	Ambae	vinu-i mata-	‘eyelid’ (vinu ‘skin, bark’)

cf. also:

PT	Motu	mata kopi-	‘eyelid’ (kopi ‘skin’)
PT	Wedau	mata opi-	‘eyelid’
PT	Dobu	mata ʔapʷaʔapʷara	‘eyelids’ (ʔapʷaʔapʷara ‘sugarcane with dried leaves’)
MM	Tolai	pil-pil na mata-	‘eyelid’ (pil ‘to peel, shell, remove rind’)
MM	Roviana	poko-poko-mata-	‘eyelids’ (poko-poko- ‘husk of certain grains, ear of corn’)
SES	Kwaio	fe-felu i mā-	‘eyelid’ (*(p,pʷ)ilit ‘peel by hand’)
NCV	Tamambo	buroɣi mata-	‘eyelids’ (burohi ‘to cover over with s.t. hard’)
Pn	Tongan	lau-mata	‘eyelid’ (lau ‘flat surface’)
Pn	Niuean	lau-mata	‘eyelid’ (lau ‘flat surface’)

Separate terms for upper and lower lids are found in Bauan Fijian, Samoan and Tikopia, but they appear to be independently created descriptions.

Fij	Bauan	dakudaku ni mata	‘upper eyelid’ (daku ‘back of a person or thing’)
Pn	Samoan	laumata aluŋa	‘upper eyelid’ (luŋa ‘top, upper surface’)
Pn	Samoan	laumata alalo	‘lower eyelid’ (lalo ‘down, below’)
Pn	Tikopia	tua mata	‘upper eyelid’ (tua ‘back, outer side’)
Pn	Tikopia	raro mata	‘lower eyelid’ (raro ‘down, below’)

4.9.5. Eyeball⇫

The eyeball is sometimes referred to by compounds which include a term meaning something like the kernel or flesh or substance of the eye. Reflexes of POc *kanoŋ ‘flesh, meat, coconut flesh’ (vol.3:370) combined with reflexes of *mata ‘eye’ are used to refer to ‘eyeball’ in a number of languages, pointing to POc *kanoŋ qi mata ‘eyeball’.

POc		*kanoŋ qi mata	‘eyeball’
NNG	Yabem	mat-ano	‘eyeball’
NNG	Kaiwa	mat-ano	‘eyeball’
NNG	Numbami	mat-ano	‘eyeball’
PT	Motu	mata anin-a	‘eyeball’
PT	Wedau	mata- ano-na	‘eyeball’
Pn	Tongan	kanoʔi-mata	‘eyeball’

Other compounds, similar in meaning but varying in form, include:

Adm	Loniu	cili-mata	‘eyeball’ (cili ‘sprout’)
NNG	Kove	mata kaliro	‘eyeball’ (kaliro ‘breadfruit seed’)
SES	Kwaio	lodona mā-	‘eyeball’ (lodo ‘fruit’)
NCV	Tamambo	tolui mata-	‘eyeball’ (tolu ‘testicles, toltoa ‘egg’)
Fij	Bauan	yaloka ni mata	‘eyeball’ (yaloka ‘egg’)
Pn	Niuean	tega-mata	‘eyeball’ (tega ‘seed’)
Pn	Samoan	ʔiʔo-i-mata	‘eyeball’ (ʔiʔo ‘tuber, corm’)
Pn	Tikopia	kafi mata	‘eyeball’ (kafi ‘lump of flesh’; cf. kanofi)

4.10. Ear⇫

POc *taliŋa- was not only the term for ‘ear’ but also the generic term for mushrooms and fleshy fungi (vol.3:78). The association between the two was presumably based either on visual similarity or on the fact that fungi often grow on trees in the rain forest just as ears appear to grow on the side of the human head. That the association had a conceptual basis is attested by the fact that in certain Oceanic languages where the term for ‘ear’ is not a reflex of POc *taliŋa-, the ‘ear’ term is still the generic term for fungi.

PAn		*Caliŋa	‘ear; k.o. tree fungus’ (ACD)
PMP		*taliŋa	‘ear; k.o. tree fungus’ (ACD)
POc		*taliŋa-	‘ear’
POc		*taliŋa	‘generic term for mushrooms and fleshy fungi’
Adm	Aua	alia-	‘ear’
Adm	Wuvulu	alia-	‘ear’
Adm	Mussau	taliŋa-	‘ear’
Adm	Mussau	taliŋa ŋiŋii	‘mushroom’
Adm	Tenis	tariŋa-	‘ear’
Adm	Lou	teliŋa-	‘ear’
NNG	Mengen	taliŋ	‘mushroom’
NNG	Kove	taliŋa-	‘ear’
NNG	Gitua	taliŋa-	‘ear’
NNG	Lukep	taliŋa-	‘ear’
NNG	Gedaged	tiliŋa-	‘ear’
PT	Kilivila	taiga(la)	‘ear’
PT	Motu	taia-	‘ear; gill fins of fish’
PT	Mekeo	aina-	‘ear’
MM	Vitu	taliŋa-	‘ear’
MM	Bali	taliŋa-	‘ear’
MM	Nakanai	taliga	‘small edible fungus’
MM	Notsi	taliŋa	‘ear’
MM	Patpatar	taliŋa-	‘ear’
MM	Tolai	taliŋa-	‘ear’
MM	Roviana	taliŋa-	‘ear’
SES	Gela	taliŋa	‘fungus; wax in ear’
SES	Kwaio	aliŋa-	‘ear; mushroom; fish fin’
SES	’Are’are	arina-	‘ear’
SES	Sa’a	aliŋe-	‘ear; wing of flying fish; large fungi, some edible, growing on logs’
NCV	Port Sandwich	ndariŋa(n)	‘ear, fin’
NCV	Nguna	na-daliga	‘ear’
SV	Sye	n-telŋo-	‘ear’
SV	Anejom̃	n-ticŋa-	‘ear; initial element in various compounds denoting mushrooms’
Mic	Woleaian	tariŋa-	‘ear; mushroom’
Mic	Carolinian	sariŋ	‘ear’
Fij	Rotuman	faliŋa	‘ears; pectoral fins of fish; toadstool or fungus’
Fij	Bauan	daliŋa-	‘ear’
Fij	Bauan	daliŋa ni kalou	‘mushroom’ (lit. ’god__s ear’)
Fij	Wayan	taliŋa	‘ear’
Pn	Tongan	teliŋa	‘ear’
Pn	Rennellese	tagiŋa	‘ear; side fins of fish’
Pn	Samoan	taliŋa	‘ear; name given to several types of fungus’
Pn	Tikopia	tariŋa	‘ear’

4.11. The nose and its parts⇫

4.11.1. Nose⇫

POc *icuŋ ‘nose’ probably also had the senses ‘cape of land’ (vol.2:47) and ‘canoe prow’ (vol.1:189).

PMP		*ijuŋ	‘nose’ (ACD)
POc		*icuŋ	‘nose’ (vol.1:189)
Adm	Seimat	(we)ixu-	‘nose’
NNG	Gitua	izu-	‘nose’
NNG	Bing	uyu-	‘nose’
NNG	Manam	su(sukuri)	‘nose’
NNG	Kairiru	isu-	‘nose’
PT	Suau	isu-	‘nose’
PT	Roro	isu-	‘nose’
PT	Lala	idu-	‘nose’
PT	Motu	udu-	‘nose, beak, mouth’
MM	Vitu	(ɣ)iðu-	‘nose’
MM	Bulu	iru-	‘nose’
MM	Nakanai	(ma)isu-	‘nose’
MM	Lavongai	isu-	‘nose’
MM	Tigak	isu-	‘nose’
MM	Sursurunga	(ŋ)isu-	‘nose’
MM	Teop	ihu-	‘nose’
MM	Nduke	isu-	‘nose’
MM	Roviana	isu-	‘face’ (for †isuŋu); ‘nose’
SES	Gela	ihu-	‘nose; beak; cape of land’
SES	Lau	isu-	‘prow and stern erections of a canoe’
SES	Arosi	isu-isu-	‘nose ornament, made of clam shell’
SV	Lenakel	(-n)haŋə	‘nose’ (second element in various compounds; Lynch 2001c)
SV	Kwamera	(nəpa)-seŋi	‘nose’
Fij	Rotuman	isu	‘nose; projection, cape of land; point, tip, head of match’
Fij	Bauan	uðu-	‘nose’
Pn	Tongan	ihu	‘nose, trunk (of an elephant)’
Pn	Samoan	isu	‘nose’
Pn	Samoan	isu-isu	‘be inquisitive, put one’s nose into other people’s affairs’
Pn	Rennellese	isu	‘nose, beak, swelling on top of beak of doves; axe handle top, beneath the butt end of the blade’
Pn	Tikopia	isu	‘nose, beak, pointed end, tip’
Pn	Māori	ihu	‘nose; bow of a canoe, etc’
Pn	Hawaiian	ihu	‘nose, snout, beak, bill, trunk of an elephant, toe of a shoe; a kiss, prow or bow of a canoe or ship; thick end of pearl-shell shank’

There is also evidence for POc *bʷa(l,R)usu- ‘nose’. Its SE Solomonic and Micronesian reflexes form part of the evidence on which Blust (1984b, 2010) bases his Malaitan-Micronesian subgroup. In the context of the additional cognates listed here, his Proto Malaitan-Micronesian *pʷaRusu- is less convincing as a uniquely shared innovation. Blust dismisses Lou pursu- as a ‘chance resemblance’ on the grounds that Lou -r- does not reflect *-R- (it reflects *-r-). The -l- of the MM reflexes here also fails to agree with the Micronesian reflexes as the former reflect POc *-l-, the latter POc *-R- (the SES cognates reflect either *-l- or *-R-). Whatever the reason for these discrepancies, it is difficult to attribute the resemblances across the set to chance.

This set is rendered more difficult by the presence of a number of look-alikes in NCV languages (a sample is given under ‘cf. also’). Of these, the most attention grabbing is Sowa (Pentecost) bʷa-ŋsu- (Tryon 1976), where nearby Apma has ŋusu-, presumably reflecting POc *ŋuju- ‘external mouth, lips, snout, beak’ (§3.4.12.1) and suggesting that Sowa bʷa-ŋsu- reflects *bʷa- + *ŋuju-. This in turn raises the question whether the same *bʷa- occurs in the reconstruction below, but the evidence does not allow a clear answer. Araki ŋalsu-, Aore kalsu-, Lendamboi na-gars- and Nisvai na-gursu- are typical of the Santo and Malakula forms which complicate the picture yet more. None of them reflects *bʷa-, but Araki and Aore include the sequence lsu-, perhaps cognate with lisu-, the term for ‘nose’ in Maewo languages. Is it also cognate with the MM and SES forms? One cannot be sure.

POc		*bʷa(l,R)usu-	‘nose’ (PEOc *bʷaRucu: Geraghty 1990)
MM	Konomala	bulsu-	‘nose’
MM	Minigir	bilausu-	‘nose’
MM	Tolai	bilau-	‘nose’
MM	Label	bulsu-	‘nose’
PSES		*bʷa(l,R)usu-	‘nose’
SES	Longgu	bʷalasu-	‘nose’
SES	Lau	gʷalusu-	‘nose’
SES	Sa’a	pʷalusu-	‘nose, nostril, beak of bird, snout of pig’
SES	Arosi	bʷarisu-	‘nose, beak of bird’
NCV	Sakao	e-ðelhö-	‘nose’ (< *balisu; Clark 2009)
PMic		*pʷauSu-	‘nose’ (Bender et al., 2003)
Mic	Kiribati	pʷairi-	‘nose’
Mic	Chuukese	pʷə̄tɨ-	‘nose’
Mic	Carolinian	bʷɔtɨ-	‘nose’
Mic	Puluwatese	pʷɔtɨ-	‘nose’

cf. also:

Adm	Lou	pursu-	‘nose, snout, beak’ (-r- for expected -l-)
NCV	Sowa	bʷa-ŋsu-	‘nose’(Tryon 1976)
NCV	Araki	ŋalsu-	‘nose’
NCV	Aore	kalsu-	‘nose’(Tryon 1976)
NCV	Lendamboi	na-gars-	‘nose’ (John Lynch, pers.comm.)
NCV	Nisvai	na-gursu-	‘nose’ (John Lynch, pers.comm.)

4.11.2. Channel above the upper lip⇫

Although a number of reflexes of POc *ŋoro-ŋorok are glossed ‘nose’ (and by extension ‘cape’; vol 2:48), the term apparently referred in POc times to ‘channel above upper lip’, its meaning transferred independently in daughter-languages. Given their formal and semantic similarity it is reasonable to infer that PNCV *ŋori reflects POc *ŋoro-ŋorok, despite the irregular final vowel. We take *ŋoro-ŋorok to be a reduplicated form of the noun *ŋorok ‘snot’ (§3.8.3) and/or the verb *ŋorok ‘grunt, growl, snore’ (§4.5.3).

POc		*ŋoro-ŋorok	‘channel above upper lip’ (cf. *ŋorok ‘snore’; vol.2:48)
Adm	Loniu	ŋo-	‘nose, beak’
NNG	Sio	i-ŋo-ŋoro-	‘nose’
MM	Notsi	ŋul-ŋul	‘nose’
MM	Tangga	ŋoro-ŋoro-	‘nose’
MM	Patpatar	ŋar-ŋaro-	‘nose’
MM	Roviana	ŋo-ŋoro isu	‘nostril’
SES	Lau	ŋo-ŋora(-)	‘nose, nostrils, snout; headland’
SES	Arosi	ŋora-ŋora-	‘lips, snout; cape; space above lips’
PNCV		*ŋori	‘channel above upper lip’ (Clark 2009:‘edge, upper lip’)
NCV	Mota	ŋor	‘mucus of nose’
NCV	Mota	ŋor-ŋor parou	‘triangular space below nose on upper lip’
NCV	Araki	ŋori-ŋori-	‘upper lip; place between nose and upper lip’
NCV	Uripiv	ŋor	‘upper lip of person or animal’
NCV	Paamese	ŋoli-	‘edge, exposed surface’
NCV	South Efate	na-ŋor	‘nose’
NCV	Nguna	na-ŋori-	‘moustache’

4.11.3. Nostrils⇫

The nostrils are typically described in Oceanic languages as ‘mouths of nose’ or ‘holes of nose’.

Adm	Nyindrou	munu no-	‘nostril’ (lit. ‘hole nose’)
NNG	Bariai	nunu- i-baba	‘nostril’ (lit. ‘nose its-mouth’)
NNG	Dami	uyu- ku	‘nostril’ (lit. ‘nose hole’)
NNG	Takia	ŋudu- awa-n	‘nostril’ (lit. ‘nose mouth-its’)
PT	Iduna	kabu-ʔawa-	‘nostril’ (lit. ‘nose-mouth’)
PT	Tawala	niu domo-na	‘nostril’ (lit. ‘nose hole-its’)
NCV	Lonwolwol	bʊlʊ-n gʊhu-	‘nostril’ (lit. ‘hole-its nose’)

PNPn used the phrase *poŋa qi isu, literally ‘orifice of nose’:

PNPn		*poŋa qi isu	‘nostril’
Pn	Samoan	poŋa-i-isu	‘bridge of nose’
Pn	East Futunan	poŋa ʔi isu	‘nostril’
Pn	Māori	ponga-a-ihu	‘nostril’
Pn	Ifira-Mele	poŋa-a-usu	‘nostril’
Pn	Pileni	poŋa-iu	‘nose’
Pn	Pukapukan	poŋapoŋa a iyu	‘nostril’

4.12. The mouth and its parts⇫

Four POc terms referring to the mouth have been reconstructed: *ŋuju-, *[pʷa]pʷa(q), *qawa and *maŋa. POc *ŋuju- probably referred to the external mouth and lips, its reflexes sometimes extending to bird’s beak or nose, while POc *[pʷa]pʷa(q) referred to the inner mouth or opening and *qawa perhaps had the broader meaning ‘opening into a passage or channel’. POc *maŋa may have referred more broadly to an opening. Other extensions of its meaning are to a particularly shaped opening such as a slit or vagina, or opening as in a passage through a reef.

4.12.1. External mouth⇫

Blust (ACD) glosses PAn *ŋusuq ‘nasal area, snout’. We add ‘mouth’ here, as glosses referring to ‘mouth’ are found across Austronesian subgroups.

PAn		*ŋusuq	‘nasal area, snout; mouth’ (ACD)
POc		*ŋuju-	‘external mouth, lips, snout, beak’ (PWOc *ŋuju ‘carved prow’: vol.1:189)
Adm	Lou	ŋusu-	‘lip’
Adm	Mussau	ŋusu-	‘nose’; [VT] ‘to smell’
Adm	Tenis	ŋuso(ŋo)	‘nose’
Adm	Loniu	(pɔʔɔ)ŋusu	‘lip’ (pɔʔɔ ‘within’)
NNG	Gitua	ŋuzu	‘smell’
NNG	Takia	ŋudu(n)	‘nose’
MM	West Kara	ŋusu-	‘mouth’
MM	Nalik	ŋus	‘mouth’
MM	Bulu	ŋutu-	‘lips; beak’
MM	Notsi	ŋuce-	‘mouth’
MM	Madak	ŋus	‘mouth’
MM	Tangga	ŋisa-	‘mouth’
MM	Roviana	ŋuzu-	‘mouth’
SES	Lau	ŋidu-	‘lips, snout’
SES	Kwaio	ŋidu-	‘lips, bill of a bird, snout’
SES	Sa’a	ŋidu-, ŋudu-	‘lip’
NCV	Neve’ei	ŋus-ŋus	‘breathe’
NCV	Uripiv	o-ŋus	‘sniff’
Fij	Bauan	ŋusu	‘mouth’
Fij	Bauan	bele ni ŋusu-	‘lips’ (bele ‘border, edge of some soft things’)
Fij	Wayan	ŋusu	‘external mouth of a person or animal’
Fij	Rotuman	nucu	‘mouth’ (n- for †ŋ-)
PPn		*ŋutu	‘mouth, beak’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	ŋutu	‘mouth, beak, orifice’
Pn	Rennellese	ŋutu	‘mouth’
Pn	Samoan	ŋutu	‘mouth, beak’
Pn	Tikopia	ŋutu	‘mouth’
Pn	Māori	ŋutu	‘beak, lip, mouth of harbour, rim’
Pn	Hawaiian	nuku	‘beak, snout, mouth of harbour’

PPn		*lau-ŋutu	‘lips’ (lau ‘particle found before a number of bases, most of which refer to flat and thin objects’)
Pn	Tongan	lou-ŋutu	‘lips’
Pn	Rennellese	gau-ŋutu	‘lip’
Pn	Samoan	lau-ŋutu	‘lips’
Pn	Tikopia	rau-ŋutu	‘lip’

4.12.2. Lips⇫

The data support two POc reconstructions for ‘lips’, *[pi]piRi- and *[bi]biRi-, both reflecting PAn *biRbiR, PMP *bibiR. As noted in vol.2(18), PMP *b became either POc *p or POc *b, in initial position more commonly *p-. In almost every instance Oceanic cognates reflect either POc *p- or POc *b-, but not both. In this instance, however, PMP *bibiR has given rise to two etyma, POc *[pi]piRi- and POc *[bi]biRi-. We have no explanation for PWOc *b- in this instance.

PAn		*biRbiR	‘lip’ (ACD)
PMP		*bibiR	‘lip; labia of the vulva; eyelid’ (ACD)
POc		*[pi]piRi-	‘lip’ (ACD)
NNG	Bing	fari-	‘lips’ (-a- for †-i- unexplained)
NNG	Mindiri	fari-	‘lips’ (-a- for †-i- unexplained)
NNG	Takia	fari(n)	‘lips’ (-a- for †-i- unexplained)
NNG	Gedaged	filị(ŋa)-	‘lips, snout’
PT	Mekeo	fifi-	‘lips’
PT	West Mekeo	pipi-	‘lips’
MM	Siar	pir(lo)	‘lips’
MM	Hoava	pipi-	‘vulva’
SES	Kwaio	fe-felu (ŋidu-)	‘lip’
SES	Kwaio	fe-felu (i māna)	‘eyelid’
SES	’Are’are	hihi-	‘labia’
NCV	Ambae	viviri (siŋona)	‘lips’ (siŋona ‘lips incl. skin above and below’)
NCV	Araki	(huri) vivi	‘lips’ (huri ‘skin’)

POc		*[bi]biRi-	‘lips’
NNG	Bam	buri-	‘lips’
NNG	Wogeo	biri-	‘lips’
NNG	Kaiep	biri-	‘lips’
NNG	Kairiru	bri	‘lips’
NNG	Ulau-Suain	bri-	‘lips’
NNG	Ali	pri(ŋ)	‘lips’
PT	Motu	bibi-	‘lips’
PT	Lala	bibi(ʔa)	‘lips’
PT	Kilivila	bili(-balo)	‘lips’ (Senft has bilu-bilo)
Fij	Bauan	bebe-	‘vagina’

cf. also:

NNG	Matukar	bru-	‘lips’
MM	Roviana	beru-	‘lips, rim of a bottle etc’ (unexpected vowels)

4.12.3. Inner mouth⇫

Terms for the inner mouth denote the opening and the cavity rather than the lips, and are often used of the opening and inside of a vessel.

PMP		*(bahaq)bahaq	‘mouth, opening’ (ACD) ³⁰
POc		*[pʷa]pʷa(q)	‘(inner) mouth’
Adm	Mussau	pā	‘mouth; hole in a pot, canoe etc’
Adm	Loniu	pʷaha-	‘mouth’
MM	Vitu	hava-	‘mouth’
MM	East Kara	fə-	‘mouth’
MM	Patpatar	ha-	‘mouth’
MM	Label	paha-	‘mouth’
MM	Tolai	papa	‘open’
SES	Longgu	vava	‘speak’
SES	Lau	fafā	‘open mouth wide’
PNCV		*vʷavʷa	‘(open) mouth’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Nokuku	wowa-	‘mouth’
NCV	Nokuku	wawa	‘opening’
NCV	Tamambo	wawa-	‘inside of mouth’
NCV	Araki	vava-	‘mouth, esp. inside’
NCV	Raga	(lol)vʷa	‘inside of mouth’ (lol ‘inside’)
NCV	Raga	vʷavʷa	‘open the mouth’
SV	Lenakel	noua	‘inside of mouth’
NCal	Nemi	hwa	‘mouth’
Pn	Rennellese	haha(ŋa)	[V] ‘open, as a shell’
Pn	Tahitian	vaha	‘mouth’
Pn	Māori	waha	‘mouth, entrance’
Pn	Hawaiian	waha	‘mouth; opening; inner surface of a bowl; open top of a canoe’

cf. also:

PT	Molima	vava	‘jaw’
MM	Nakanai	(si)vava	‘chin, jaw’

POc		*qawa	‘mouth, opening’
Adm	Seimat	awa	‘mouth’
Adm	Kaniet	awa	‘mouth’
NNG	Malai	avo(m)	‘mouth’
NNG	Gitua	awa	‘mouth’
NNG	Tuam	avo	‘mouth’
NNG	Kilenge	awa	‘mouth’
NNG	Sio	(i)kawa	‘mouth’
NNG	Gedaged	auan	‘mouth; beak, snout, muzzle’
NNG	Takia	awa(n)	‘mouth’
NNG	Manam	aoa	‘mouth’
NNG	Wogeo	vawa	‘mouth’
PT	Maisin	kava-	‘mouth’
PT	Gapapaiwa	kawa	‘mouth’
PT	Molima	ʔawa	‘door; mouth; eye of a needle’
PT	Dobu	ʔawa	‘mouth’
PT	Bwaidoga	awa	‘passage or opening, e.g. the opening of the mouth, or a passage through two reefs’
PT	Minaveha	awa	‘mouth; door opening’
MM	Vitu	ɣava-	‘mouth’
MM	Bali	ɣava	‘mouth’
MM	Bilur	ava	‘mouth’
MM	Ramoaaina	ava	‘mouth’
NCV	Ambae	kuwa	‘mouth’
Mic	Carolinian	awa	‘mouth’
Mic	Woleaian	yaw(a)	‘mouth’
Mic	Puluwatese	yew-	‘mouth, bill of a bird, largest eye of a coconut’
PPn		*awa	‘channel, passage through reef’
Pn	Tongan	ava	‘passage, opening’ (for †ʔava)
Pn	Tokelauan	ava	‘passage through reef’
Pn	Rapanui	aba	‘channel, crack, crevice, ditch’

Finally, some Oceanic languages have a term for ‘mouth’ that reflects POc *maŋa(p) (V) ‘to open wide, gape’, (N) ‘open mouth; gap, space’. The supporting cognate set is given in §4.5.5. POc *maŋa(p) in its turn reflected PMP *q⟨um⟩aŋa[p,b] ‘gape, open the mouth wide’ (where *⟨um⟩ was the PMP actor voice infix; §1.3.5.5). Blust (ACD) attributes two of these reflexes, Arosi maŋa ‘an opening, mouth’ and Bauan Fijian maŋa ‘vagina’, to PMP *maŋaq ‘slit, crevice’ (ACD). However, the glosses of the set of Oceanic reflexes in §4.5.5 include a range of meanings centring on ‘opening, aperture’ (‘mouth’, ‘vagina’, ‘space between earth and sky’), pointing to a more probable origin in PMP *q⟨um⟩aŋa[p,b] rather than PMP *maŋaq. But, since the two PMP terms would have had near-identical POc reflexes, one could argue that the cognate set supporting POc *maŋa(p) reflects a conflation of the two terms.

4.12.4. Tongue⇫

There are two related POc reconstructions for ‘tongue’, *maya- and a compound that includes it, *kara-maya-. The origin of *kara- in the latter is unknown.

Most reflexes of *maya- entail a reduction of *-ay- or *-ya- to -e-, but the Bariai, Kilivila and Roro reflexes point to *maya-. The compound is reconstructed as *kara-maya- rather than *kara-mea-, on the model of *maya-.

PCEMP		*maya	‘tongue’ (Blust 1993)
POc		*maya-	‘tongue’
NNG	Kove	mae-	‘tongue’
NNG	Bariai	mae-	‘tongue’
NNG	Lukep	me-	‘tongue’
NNG	Manam	me-me-	‘tongue’
SJ	Ormu	(ma)me-	‘tongue’
PT	Dobu	meya-	‘tongue’
PT	Kilivila	maye-	‘tongue’
PT	Minaveha	mea-	‘tongue’
PT	Roro	maya-	‘tongue’
MM	Petats	mea-	‘tongue’
MM	Banoni	mea-	‘tongue’
MM	Torau	mea-	‘tongue’
MM	Roviana	mea-	‘tongue’
SES	Lau	mea-	‘tongue’
SES	Kwaio	mea-	‘tongue’
SES	Sa’a	mea-	‘tongue’
NCV	Ambae	mea-	‘tongue’
NCV	Raga	mea-	‘tongue’
NCV	Tamambo	me-me-	‘tongue’
SV	Lenakel	na-mə-	‘tongue’
Fij	Bauan	(ya)me-	‘tongue’ (ya- prefix added to some body part terms)
Fij	Wayan	-mē	‘tongue’

POc		*kara-maya-	‘tongue’
Adm	Lou	kar-mɛ-	‘tongue’
Adm	Loniu	(pala)keʔi-me-	‘tongue’ (pala ‘head’)
MM	Nakanai	kala-mea-	‘tongue’
MM	Notsi	kali-mə-	‘tongue’
MM	Tabar	kara-me-	‘tongue’
MM	Lihir	kala-me-	‘tongue’
MM	Sursurunga	ker-me-	‘tongue’
MM	Patpatar	kara-me-	‘tongue’
MM	Minigir	kara-mea-	‘tongue’
MM	Tolai	kara-mea-	‘tongue’
MM	Bilur	kara-mea-	‘tongue’
MM	Kandas	kar-me-	‘tongue’
NCV	Mwotlap	na-ɣay-me-	‘tongue’
NCV	Mota	ɣara-mʷeai	‘tongue’

Andrew Pawley (pers. comm.) suggests that the item below is of Meso-Melanesian origin and has been borrowed into the Guadalcanal-Gelic subgroup of SE Solomonic.

PMM		*lap(e,i)-	‘tongue’
MM	Vitu	lave-	‘tongue’
MM	Kia	lapi-	‘tongue’
MM	Kokota	lapi-	‘tongue’
MM	Maringe	glapi-	‘tongue’
SES	Gela	lapi-	‘tongue, flame’
SES	Bugotu	ðapi-	‘tongue’
SES	West Guadalcanal	lapi-	‘tongue’
SES	Talise	lapi-	‘tongue’
SES	Birao	lapi-	‘tongue’

4.12.5. Teeth⇫

POc *nipo- and POc *lipo- ‘tooth’ coexisted. Both *n- and *l- forms are reconstructable at least as far back as PAn, and both must be attributed to POc. The fact that the two forms have existed side by side for such a long time is intriguing, as there is no difference in meaning. Kwaio is the only language among the data sources that reflects both.

In a number of languages the term for teeth is a reflex of POc *ŋisi or *[ŋi]ŋisa, both glossed ‘bare one’s teeth, grin’. Since these forms were evidently verbs, they are discussed in §4.7.2.

PAn		*nipen	‘tooth’ (Blust 1999)
POc		*nipo-	‘tooth’
NNG	Kaiwa	nivo-	‘tooth’
NNG	Numbami	niwo-	‘tooth’
PT	Tawala	niwo-	‘tooth’
MM	Mono-Alu	niho-	‘tooth’
SES	Kwaio	nifo-, lifo-	‘tooth’
SES	Sa’a	niho-	‘tooth, tusk’
SES	’Are’are	niho-	‘tooth’
Pn	Tongan	nifo	‘tooth’
Pn	Rennellese	niho	‘tooth’
Pn	Samoan	nifo	‘tooth’
Pn	Samoan	(ʔau)nifo	‘gums’ (ʔau- ‘classifying prefix used esp. with bases referring to long and often narrow things; also to sets or clusters of things’)
Pn	Tikopia	nifo	‘tooth, of man or animal’
Pn	Hawaiian	niho	‘tooth, crab claw, insect nipper’

cf. also:

Minaveha

niho-

‘tooth’ (h for †p)

PAn		*lipen	‘tooth’ (Blust 2011)
POc		*lipo-	‘tooth’
Adm	Wuvulu	lifo-	‘tooth’
Adm	Aua	lifo-	‘tooth’
Adm	Seimat	leho-	‘tongue’ (Smythe)
Adm	Ponam	life-	‘tooth’
Adm	Baluan	līp	‘tooth’ (Smythe)
NNG	Kove	luo-	‘tooth’
NNG	Bariai	(i)luo-	‘tooth’
NNG	Tuam	livo-	‘tooth’
NNG	Malai	livo-	‘tooth’
NNG	Gitua	livo-	‘tooth’
NNG	Malalamai	liwo(m)	‘tooth’
NNG	Bilibil	liwo(n)	‘tooth’
NNG	Gedaged	liwo-	‘tooth’
PT	Wedau	ivo-	‘tooth’
MM	Meramera	livo-	‘tooth’
MM	West Kara	lifo-	‘tooth’
MM	Nakanai	livo-	‘tooth’
MM	Tiang	lio-	‘tooth’
MM	Petats	lihu-	‘teeth’
MM	Nduke	livo-	‘tooth’
MM	Roviana	livo-	‘tooth’
SES	Gela	livo-	‘tooth’
SES	Tolo	livo-	‘tooth’
SES	Lau	lifo-	‘tusk, tooth, porpoise teeth used as money’
SES	Kwaio	nifo-, lifo-	‘tooth’
SES	Arosi	riho-	‘tooth, tusk’
NCV	Ambae	livo-	‘tooth, tusk’
NCV	Raga	livo-	‘tooth’
NCV	Paamese	loho-	‘tooth’
PSV		*na-livo-	‘incisor tooth’ (Lynch 2001c)
SV	Sye	nelve-	‘incisor tooth’
SV	Lenakel	nelu-	‘tooth’
SV	Anejom̃	nicho-	‘tooth’
NCal	Iaai	ñu	‘tooth’

All three reconstructions for ‘molar tooth’ are based on limited cognate sets.

PMP		*baReqaŋ	‘molar tooth’ (ACD)
POc		*paRa(ŋ)	‘molar tooth’
NNG	Lukep	para-	‘place of molars’³¹
NNG	Tuam	parara-	‘molar tooth’
SES	Arosi	hara-	‘mouth; jawbone; double tooth, molar; tusk’

cf. also:

Adm	Lou	areŋa-	‘molar tooth’
MM	Minigir	pala-	‘tooth’
MM	Tolai	pala(ŋie)-	‘teeth’ (ŋie- ‘mouth’)

With regard to the relationship between PMP *baReqaŋ and POc *paRa(ŋ) Blust (ACD) notes that

medial *-e- in a trisyllable is retained in PAn *baqeRu > POc *paqoRu ‘new’. The suggested loss of PMP *e and reduction of the resulting consonant cluster in POc *paRaŋ ‘molar tooth’ may indicate very specific conditions for deletion of *e between PMP and POc. Alternatively, the resemblance of Arosi hara to phonetically and semantically similar forms in non-Oceanic languages may be due to chance.

However, the occurrence of the Lukep and Tuam forms alongside Arosi hara- indicates that the resemblance is not fortuitous.

Two further vaguely similar reconstructions for ‘molar tooth’ can be reconstructed. In the set reflecting *ŋaRo- the gloss of Misima nalu- ‘gums’ suggests that it reflects POc *ŋado- ‘gums’ (§3.4.12.6), but this is probably a case of contamination of one form by the other. Note in any case that two reflexes of PWOc *mʷao- ‘molar tooth’ below instead denote the gums, i.e. this is perhaps a fairly common extension of meaning.

POc		*ŋaRo-	‘molar tooth’
Adm	Mussau	ŋalu-ŋalu-	‘tooth’
Adm	Mussau	ŋalu-ŋalu (katu)	‘molar tooth’ (katu ‘seed’)
NNG	Kairiru	ŋar̃o-	‘tooth’
NNG	Kove	ŋaro-	‘molars’ (r for †h)
PT	Misima	nalu-	‘gums’
Pn	Tongan	ŋao	‘molars’
Pn	Samoan	ŋao	‘molar tooth’

PWOc		*mʷao-	‘molar tooth’
NNG	Gedaged	(ga)mau-	‘molars’
NNG	Takia	(ga)ma-	‘molar tooth’
PT	Minaveha	moa-	‘gums’ (metathesis)
PT	Motu	māo-	‘gums’
MM	Harua	mao-	‘molar tooth’
MM	Nakanai	(bigo)mu-	‘molar teeth’

The POc term for ‘canine tooth’, *bati, is also used for a boar’s tusks (vol.4:266).

POc		*bati	‘canine tooth, tusk’
NNG	Gedaged	bali	‘canine tooth of dog; ornamental band for forehead made of dog’s teeth’
PSOc		*bati-	‘tusk, upper canine tooth’ (Lynch 2004d)
NCV	Mota	pati(u)-	‘upper tusk in a boar’
NCV	Uripiv	bati-	‘upper canine tooth, of pig, porpoise or person’
NCV	Araki	pʷari-	‘molar’
NCV	Raga	basi-	‘fang’
NCV	Namakir	bati-	‘tooth, pig’s tusk; seed’
SV	Sye	ne-(m)pati-	‘canine tooth, tusk. horn, crab’s pincer’
SV	Ura	na-bare	‘tusk’
SV	Kwamera	nə-pati-	‘tusk, horn’
SV	Anejom̃	ni-pat	‘tusk, horn; tusked pig’
NCal	Pije	pae(hwa-)	‘tooth’
NCal	Nemi	paye(hwa-)	‘tooth’
Fij	Bauan	bati-	‘tooth; any sharp edge’

cf. also:

Lala

asi-ʔasi

‘molar’ (ʔ for †b-)

Some reflexes of PNGOc *joŋa ‘(boar’s) tusk’ (vol.4:267) refer also to teeth.

4.12.6. Gums⇫

POc *ŋado- ‘gums’ bears an obvious resemblance to *ŋaRo- ‘molar tooth’ above, but the difference in medial consonant and in gloss indicate that they are distinct.

POc		*ŋado-	‘gums, palate’
MM	Nakanai	gago-	‘gums’
NCV	Mota	(ma)ŋaro-	‘gums, palate’
NCV	Ambae	ŋado-	‘gum’
NCV	Raga	ŋado-	‘gums’
PMic		*ŋaco-	‘palate, gums’ (Bender et al., 2003)
Mic	Kiribati	ŋaro-	‘the gum’
Mic	Kiribati	ŋaro-ŋaro-	‘toothless’
Mic	Marshallese	ŋaṛ	‘gums’
Mic	Carolinian	ŋōṣ	‘hard palate, roof of the mouth’
Mic	Woleaian	ŋāṣo-	‘gum, hard palate’
Fij	Wayan	ŋadro	‘inner mouth, palate’
Fij	Bauan	ŋadro-	‘palate’

4.13. Chin, jaw and beard⇫

Austronesian languages usually lack separate words for ‘chin’, i.e. the outward shape of the lowest and frontmost part of the lower jaw, and the lower ‘jaw’ itself. They are typically denoted in Oceanic languages by a reflex of POc *qase- or by a compound that apparently contains a reflex of POc *qase-. PPn *kau-qahe ‘cheek, chin, jawbone’ is evidently such a compound. PPn *kau meant ‘edge, side’, and *kau-qahe presumably once meant ‘edge of jaw’, i.e. ‘chin’, but with the loss of PPn *qahe ‘jaw’, *kau-qahe came to subsume ‘chin’ and ‘jaw’. Another possible compound, POc *(k,g)abase- ‘chin; jawbone’, is discussed below.

The term for ‘beard’, POc *kumi-, was clearly distinct from the term for ‘chin, jaw’, but its meaning has been extended to include the latter in a number of languages.

PMP		*qazay	‘chin, jaw’ (ACD)
POc		*[qase]qase-	‘chin, jaw’ (ACD; Ross 1988)
Adm	Seimat	axe-	‘chin, jaw’
NNG	Manam	are-	‘chin’
NNG	Manam	are patu	‘jawbone’ (patu ‘stone’?)
NNG	Kove	aze-ze	‘chin’
NNG	Bukawa	(ŋ)ase	‘jaw, chin’
PT	Tawala	ah-ahe-	‘jawbone, chin’
PT	Dobu	ʔase-ʔase-	‘cheek, jaw’
PT	Motu	ade-	‘chin’
PT	Lala	ade-	‘chin’
PT	Mekeo	ake-	‘jaw, chin, mouth’
PT	Bunama	ase-ase-	‘jaw’
MM	Vitu	ɣaðe-	‘tooth’
MM	Nakanai	are-	‘mouth’
MM	Meramera	ase-	‘mouth’
MM	Nalik	ias	‘jawbone’
MM	Tabar	(paru)ase-	‘jawbone’
MM	Tangga	ese-	‘chin’
MM	Konomala	ŋes	‘chin’
MM	Lamasong	(papali)s	‘chin’
MM	Lamasong	(sipapal)es	‘jawbone’
MM	Madak	(papal)es	‘chin’
MM	Barok	(pal)es	‘chin’
MM	Patpatar	iase-	‘chin, jaw’
MM	Roviana	ase-	‘jaw, chin’
MM	Simbo	ase-	‘jaw; lip, rim, edge’
SES	Lau	sate-, sa-sate-	‘chin; jaw; beard’
SES	Kwaio	late-	‘jaw, chin’
SES	Kwaio	lā-late-	‘beard’
SES	Sa’a	sate, sa-sate-	‘human jaw, chin’
SES	’Are’are	ra-rate-	‘jaw, chin, beard’
NCV	Nokuku	ase-	‘chin’
NCV	Tamambo	ase-	‘chin, jaw’
NCV	Larëvat	na-ɣse-	‘jaw’ (John Lynch, pers. comm.)
NCV	Nguna	na-asi-	‘jaw, chin’
Mic	Carolinian	æte-	‘chin’
Mic	Puluwatese	yǣt	‘chin, especially its bottom’
Mic	Woleaian	yat(e)	‘chin, jaw’
PPn		*kau-qahe	‘cheek, chin, jawbone’ (POLLEX; *kau ‘edge, side’)
Pn	Tongan	kou-ʔahe	‘cheek, side of face’
Pn	Samoan	ʔau-vae	‘jaw, chin’
Pn	Tikopia	kau-ae	‘jaw, chin’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	kau-wae	‘cheek’
Pn	Māori	kau-wae	‘jaw, chin’

POc *(k,g)abase- ‘chin; jawbone’ at first sight appears to have been a compound of *(k,g)abV (meaning unknown) and *qase- ‘chin, jaw’, but only the Lou and Baluan reflexes straightfowardly reflect the reconstructed vowels (and disagree on the initial consonant). Bipi and the Meso-Melanesian reflexes instead reflect a possible POc *(k,g)abesi- or *(k,g)abise-, suggesting that the POc form was a trisyllable with perhaps three different vowels (apparently *a, *i and *e) which underwent various metatheses and/or assimilations.

POc		*(k,g)abase-_(k,g)abesi-(k,g)abise-	‘chin, jawbone’
Adm	Lou	kapase-	‘chin, jaw’
Adm	Loniu	kepase-	‘chin’
Adm	Baluan	gabase-	‘chin’ (Smythe)
Adm	Bipi	gabise-	‘chin’
PT	Kilivila	gabula-	‘chin, beard’
MM	Meramera	abeso-	‘chin; jawbone’
MM	Tangga	kemese-	‘jawbone’
MM	Minigir	kabesa-	‘chin’ (vowel metathesis)
MM	Label	kabesi-	‘chin’
MM	Siar	kabes	‘chin’

There is a well-attested form for ‘beard’.

PMP		*kumis	‘beard’ (Blust 2011)
POc		*kumi-	‘beard’
PT	Molima	umi-	‘lower chin, lower jaw, lower part of beak’
PT	Dobu	ʔumi-	‘beard, moustache, chin’
PT	Minaveha	umi-	‘chin’
PT	Kilivila	kim(la)	‘jaw’
MM	Vitu	ɣumi-	‘lips’
MM	Harua	kumi-	‘chin’
MM	Roviana	ɣumi-	‘beard’
SES	Gela	ɣumi-	‘beard’
SES	Talise	ɣumi-	‘beard’
PNCV		*kumʷi-	‘beard’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Tamambo	ɣumi-	‘beard’
NCV	Raga	gumʷi-	‘beard’
NCV	Ambae	kumi-	‘beard, moustache’
NCV	Araki	humi-	‘beard’
SV	Kwamera	nə-kumu-	‘chin and upper throat’
Fij	Bauan	kumi-	‘chin, beard’
Pn	Niuean	kumu-kumu	‘chin’
Pn	Tongan	kumu-kumu	‘chin’
Pn	Māori	kumi-kumi	‘beard’

cf. also:

MM	Bali	umi-	‘lips’
Fij	Rotuman	kum-kumu	‘chin, beard’ (Pn borrowing)

4.14. Neck, throat, voice⇫

Modern Oceanic languages typically have four separate monomorphemic lexical items denoting parts of the neck region: ‘neck’ (viewed from the outside), ‘voice’, ‘throat’ (inside the neck) and ‘nape’ (back of neck/base of skull’). For ‘nape’, see §3.4.5. Examples of the first three terms are given below. Some languages also have monomorphemic terms for the Adam’s apple and the gullet, but sources typically omit these meanings.

	‘neck’	‘voice’	‘throat’
Mutu (NNG)	lua-	aliŋa-	ᵑgarusa-
Dobu (PT)	ʔoto-	ʔena-	maga-
Nakanai (MM)	holo-	vigia-	golu-
To’aba’ita (SES)	lua-	liŋa-	lua-
Wayan (Fij)	-domo	-lio	-ŋodro-ŋodro
Tongan (Pn)	kia	leʔo	moŋa

The most detailed source available to us is Pawley & Sayaba’s (2003) dictionary of Wayan Fijian, according to which -domo ‘neck’ is also used for voice, overlapping semantically with -lio (both terms are also used of animal vocalisations). Doubtless overlaps of the kind indicated by the definitions of the Wayan terms also occur in other Oceanic languages but are not recorded by our sources. The only language here to collapse two of these terms is To’aba’ita, where the meaning of lua-, originally ‘neck’ (from POc *Ruqa-), has been extended to ‘throat’, presumably after a period of overlap.

Evidently POc also had a three-way distinction among ‘neck’, ‘voice’ and ‘throat’, but four terms are reconstructed. The assignment of the first three is straightforward, but the meaning of *kadro- is problematic (see below).

*Ruqa- ‘neck’
*[qa]liŋa- ‘voice’
*[qa]liqoR ‘throat’
*kadro- ‘neck ?’

*Ruqa- ‘neck’ has largely retained its meaning throughout all subgroups, although isolated terms have extended or relocated reference to nearby body parts.

POc		*Ruqa-	‘neck’
Adm	Wuvulu	ua-	‘neck’
Adm	Aua	ua-	‘neck’
NNG	Wab	lua-	‘neck’
NNG	Bing	rua-	‘neck’
NNG	Dami	(u)lua-	‘neck’
NNG	Sengseng	huwa-	‘shoulder’
PT	Wedau	ua-	‘neck’ (for †rua-)
MM	Lihir	lua-	‘neck’
MM	Bilur	a-rua-	‘neck’
MM	Roviana	rua-	‘neck’
SES	Bugotu	lua-	[N] ‘neck’; [V] ‘utter, emit, of sound; vomit’
SES	Gela	lua-	[N] ‘neck’; [V] ‘burst out’
SES	Lau	lua-	‘neck’
SES	Sa’a	lue	‘neck, throat’ (in compounds e.g. lue ni ʔae ‘back of knee’, ukuuku [channel] i lue ‘windpipe’, suli tolai lue ‘collarbone’)
SES	Arosi	rua-	‘chin, jaw’
NCV	Ambae	ua-	‘neck’
NCV	Araki	ua-	‘neck’
PSV		*n(a)-ua-	‘neck’ (Lynch pers. comm.)
SV	North Tanna	n-ua-	‘nape of neck’
SV	Lenakel	n-ua-	‘top of shoulder near the neck’
SV	Southwest Tanna	n-ua-	‘shoulder and part of neck’
SV	Kwamera	n-ua-	‘neck’
Mic	Carolinian	ɨwa-	‘neck; jaw and jowls’
Mic	Woleaian	ʉwa-	‘neck’
Fij	Yasawa	ua	‘neck’
Pn	Niuean	ua	‘neck’
Pn	Tongan	uʔa	‘neck’
Pn	East Uvean	uʔa	‘neck, throat’
Pn	Samoan	ua	‘neck’
Pn	Tikopia	ua	‘neck, throat (external)’
Pn	Tahitian	ua	‘neck’

POc *[qa]liŋa- ‘voice’ is reflected in languages as far east as the southeast Solomons, but its reflexes are not found further east. East and south of the Solomons, the term for voice is a reflex of POc *[qa]liqoR ‘throat’.

Even closely related languages vary as to whether *qa- is included.³²

POc		*[qa]liŋa-	‘voice’
Adm	Mussau	liŋi(ŋ-alo)	‘voice’
NNG	Wogeo	valiŋa	‘voice’
NNG	Kove	liŋe-	‘voice’
NNG	Tuam	aliŋa-	‘voice’
NNG	Mangap	kalŋa-	‘voice, speech’
NNG	Lukep	kalŋa-	‘voice’
NNG	Mengen	kaliŋa-	‘voice’
MM	Bali	ɣaliŋa-	‘voice’
MM	Bulu	ɣaliŋa-	‘voice’
MM	Lavongai	kaliŋa-	‘voice’
MM	Tigak	liŋi-	‘voice’
MM	Nalik	liŋ	‘voice’
MM	Patpatar	iŋa-	‘voice’
SES	Lau	liŋe-	‘sound, voice’
SES	Arosi	riŋe-	‘voice’

Reflexes of *[qa]liqoR mean ‘neck’ or ‘throat’ in languages as far east as the southeast Solomons, but in languages further east refer consistently to ‘voice’. Initial *qa- in *[qa]liqoR is reflected only in NNG and PT (i.e. NGOc) languages. PNCV *le(q)o ‘word, speech, voice’ and PPn *leqo ‘voice’ are reflexes of POc *[qa]liqoR ‘neck, throat’. PNCV *daleqo ‘neck, throat; voice’ remains unaccounted for, other than to note its similarity to POc *[qa]liqoR ‘neck, throat’.

PAn		*liqeR	‘neck’ (Blust 1999)
POc		*[qa]liqoR	‘throat’
NNG	Malalamai	alio(m)	‘neck’
NNG	Malasanga	kalio-	‘throat’
PT	Motu	aio-	‘neck’
MM	Vitu	loɣor	‘neck, shoulder’
MM	Bali	laɣor(a)	‘neck’
MM	Bulu	loɣo-	‘neck; shoulder’
MM	Harua	loɣo-	‘neck; voice’
MM	Nakanai	loho-	‘projecting bones of neck; Adam’s apple’
MM	Nakanai	loɣol(a)	‘throat’ (-l- unexpected; probably borrowed)
MM	Petats	lio-	‘throat, neck’
MM	Roviana	leo-	‘throat’
SES	West Guadalcanal	lio-	‘neck’
SES	Talise	lio-	‘neck’
SES	Malango	lio-	‘neck’
SES	Ghari	lio-	‘throat, neck’
SES	Lengo	lio-	‘neck’
SES	Bauro	rio-	‘neck’
SES	Kahua	rio-	‘neck’
PNCV		*le(q)o	‘word, speech, voice’ (cf. *daleqo ‘neck, throat; voice’) (Clark 2009)
NCV	Mota	leo	‘word, report, law’
NCV	Raga	leo	‘rule, law’
NCV	Uripiv	na-le	‘word, language, statement’
NCV	Ambae	leo	‘language’
NCV	Araki	leo	‘voice’
NCV	Tamambo	leo	‘voice’
Fij	Rotuman	lio	‘voice’
Fij	Wayan	lio	‘voice of person or animal’
PPn		*leqo	‘voice’
Pn	Niuean	leo	‘voice, sound’
Pn	Tongan	leʔo	‘voice, sound’
Pn	Rennellese	geʔo	‘voice, sound, noise’
Pn	Samoan	leo	‘voice’
Pn	Tikopia	reo	‘voice, esp. in speech’

The relationship, if any, between POc *[qa]liqoR ‘neck, throat’ and PNCV *daleqo- ‘neck, throat; voice’ is not understood.

PNCV		*daleqo-	‘neck, throat; voice’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Löyöp	n-dolo-	‘neck’
NCV	Mwotlap	ne-nlo-	‘neck’
NCV	Nokuku	ʔalo-	‘neck’
NCV	Labo	ne-dele-	‘neck’
NCV	Uripiv	drrela-	‘voice, noise’
NCV	Paamese	ree-	‘voice’ (hi-ree ‘neck, throat’)
NCV	Port Sandwich	drö-drö-	‘throat’ (drae- ‘voice, noise’)
NCV	Namakir	doloʔo-	‘voice, language, sound’
NCV	Nguna	(na-kau)daleo	‘neck’ (kau ‘handle’, na-daleo ‘voice’)

POc *kadro- ‘neck’ has reflexes only in Mussau and Western Oceanic, and seems to have referred to the neck region generally, to judge from the compound terms for its parts in Mussau and Motu. Thus it appears to have been a (near-)synonym of POc *Ruqa-.

POc		*kadro-	‘neck ?’
Adm	Mussau	alo-	‘neck, voice’
Adm	Mussau	(taue-ŋ)alo-	‘throat’
NNG	Roinji	aro(tua-)	‘neck’
NNG	Bam	aro(buku-)	‘neck’
PT	Motu	ɣado-	‘throat, voice, speech’
PT	Motu	ɣado baubau	‘windpipe’ (baubau ‘bamboo pipe’)
PT	Motu	ɣado rourou	‘Adam’s apple’ (rourou ‘noise’?)
PT	Lala	ato-	‘neck, throat’
PT	Roro	ako-	‘throat, neck’
MM	Patpatar	kado-	‘neck’
MM	Laghu	ɣado(ai)	‘neck’

PPn		*koro-koro-	‘throat’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Niuean	kō-kō-	‘throat’
Pn	Tongan	kō-kō-	‘windpipe of a fowl’
Pn	Pukapukan	kolo-kolo	‘throat, double chin’
Pn	Mangarevan	koro-koro	‘pronounced external larynx, tumour on larynx’
Pn	Tuamotuan	koro-koro	‘gular pouch of male frigate bird’
Pn	Māori	koro-koro	‘throat’

cf. also:

Adm	Loniu	kolu	‘throat’
MM	Nakanai	golu	‘throat’
MM	Nakanai	(bari)golu	‘throat, windpipe’
MM	East Kara	kolo(ma)	‘neck’
MM	Roviana	koro-koro(na)-	‘lungs’

5. Parts of the trunk⇫

Terms for the trunk itself are given alongside those for ‘body’ in §3.2.2. Terms for the parts of the torso or trunk are arranged such that those for the back are presented first, followed by those for parts of the trunk moving from the top (shoulder) to the bottom (buttocks and genitalia).

5.1. Back⇫

POc *takuRu- ‘back’ clearly denoted a location, i.e. the posterior surface of an object, and specifically the posterior surface of the human body. But did it also denote the spine as a body part? The answer appears to be ‘no’, in that very few glosses of its reflexes include ‘spine’ or ‘backbone’ (often encoded with a compound involving the term for ‘bone’), and Oceanic languages typically have separate terms for back and backbone.

Another reconstruction sometimes used to refer to the back as a body part is the relational local noun POc *muri[-] ‘back part, rear, behind, space to the rear of, time after; (canoe) stern; space outside’ (§3.1.2 and vol.2:251).

POc		*takuRu-	[N, N LOC] ‘back’ (vol.2:253)
Adm	Titan	lákulo-	‘(s.o.’s) back’ (l- for expected †t-)
NNG	Sio	taulo-	‘behind’
PT	Gumawana	tolu-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
PT	Molima	tulu-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
PT	Dawawa	tauri-	‘back of s.t.; s.o.’s back’
MM	Nakanai	turo-	‘spinal column’
MM	Minigir	tauru-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
MM	Bilur	taru-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
MM	Siar	taru-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
MM	Taiof	touno-	‘(s.o.’s) back’
MM	Kia	taɣuru-	‘back of s.t.; s.o.’s back’
MM	Kokota	tagru-	‘back of s.t.; s.o.’s back’
NCV	Mota	tawur, tawuru-	‘behind, the hinder part, back’
NCV	Raga	a-taɣu-	‘behind’
NCV	Namakir	tak	‘back, backwards, behind’
SV	Kwamera	taku(tā)	‘back, backside’
NCal	Nemi	dai	[N] ‘back’
NCal	Jawe	jai	‘back’
NCal	Iaai	(ho)tō-	‘back’
Mic	Kiribati	akū	‘back; behind’
Mic	Puluwatese	hækir	‘(s.o.’s) back’
Mic	Carolinian	saxɨr	‘back, backbone’
Fij	Rotuman	fɔʔu	‘back (of body), space behind, time after’
Fij	Wayan	-takū	‘back of s.t.; s.o.’s back’
Fij	Bauan	daku-	‘back of s.t.; s.o.’s back’

cf. also:

Adm

Wuvulu

uku-

‘(s.o.’s) back’ (reflects *takuru with loss of first syllable)

5.2. Flat of back⇫

No POc term is reconstructable for ‘flat of back’. PPn *papa in *papa-a-tuqa below reflects POc *baban ‘flat object or surface; board, plank, canoe strake’ (vol.1:58, 185).³³

PPn		*papa-a-tuqa	‘small/flat of back’ (papa ‘flat surface’, -a- ‘linker’, *tuqa ‘back’; POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	papa-tuʔa	‘flat of back’
Pn	Samoan	papa-a-tua	‘small of back’
Pn	Pukapukan	papa-a-tua	‘lower back’
Pn	Tuamotuan	papa-tua	‘small of back’
Pn	Tahitian	papa-tua honu	‘shell on back of turtle’

5.3. Shoulder⇫

POc *[qa]paRa- ‘shoulder’ has usually been reconstructed as a straightforward trisyllable (i.e. *qapara), but well distributed reflexes (Gitua, Nakanai, Halia, Selau, Torau, Mono-Alu, Nduke, Lungga, Gela, Big Nambas) lack initial *qa-. The same is true of a number of non-Oceanic reflexes listed in the ACD. POc *[qa]paRa- is thus one of a small number of trisyllabic body part nouns which consist of a disyllabic root (the most common form of POc roots) and apparently had forms with and without POc *qa-. Other forms of this kind are POc *[qa]liŋa- ‘voice’, POc *[qa]liqoR ‘neck, throat’ (both §3.4.14) and POc *[qa]nunu ‘shadow of person, likeness, reflection’ (§3.9.1). Whilst we can describe this pattern, we do not know its function or why alternants apparently survived side by side over a long period.³⁴

As noted in §3.4.2 some Oceanic languages refer to the shoulder as the ‘head/knob of arm’, but we cannot say how old this expression is.

PAn		*[qa]baRa	‘shoulder’ (ACD)
POc		*[qa]paRa-	‘shoulder’
Adm	Loniu	keheya-	‘shoulder’
NNG	Tuam	avara-	‘shoulder’
NNG	Malai	avara-	‘shoulder’
NNG	Gitua	bara-	‘carry on shoulder’
PT	Ubir	abara-	‘shoulder’
PT	Gapapaiwa	kavara-	‘shoulder’
PT	Bwaidoga	avala-	‘his shoulder; carry something on the shoulder’
PT	Molima	ʔavala-	‘shoulder’
PT	Molima	avala-	‘carry, esp. on the shoulder’
PT	Bunama	ahara-	‘shoulder’ (-r- for †-l-)
MM	Nakanai	pala-	‘shoulder’
MM	Minigir	(ul)avara-	‘shoulder’ (ul ‘head’)
MM	Kandas	kabara	‘shoulder’
MM	Halia	hala-hala-	‘shoulder’
MM	Torau	ara	‘shoulder’
MM	Mono-Alu	fala	‘shoulder’
MM	Roviana	avara-	‘shoulder’
MM	Nduke	vara-	‘shoulder’
MM	Lungga	vara-	‘shoulder’
MM	Laghu	fara-	‘shoulder’
SES	Gela	vala-	‘shoulder; collarbone’
SES	’Are’are	ahara-	‘shoulder’
SES	Sa’a	ahala-	‘shoulder’
SES	Arosi	ʔabara	‘shoulder’
NCV	Big Nambas	və-	‘shoulder’ (John Lynch, pers. comm.)
NCV	Neve’ei	na-ʔavera-	‘wing’ (John Lynch, pers. comm.)
NCV	Namakir	ʔovari-	‘wing’ (John Lynch, pers. comm.)
Mic	Chuukese	afara-	‘shoulder (of human, animal, bottle)’
Mic	Woleaian	yafaẓa-	‘shoulder’
Mic	Puluwatese	(ya)yəfar	‘shoulder, load carried on the shoulder’

cf. also:

Adm	Mussau	papapa-	‘shoulder’
NNG	Kove	wala-	‘shoulder’

A second term is reconstructable for PWOc. Initial y- or l- in some reflexes is epenthetic following loss of *k-.

PWOc		*kaRo	‘shoulder’
NNG	Gedaged	yalọ-	‘shoulder’
NNG	Matukar	yaro-	‘shoulder’
NNG	Megiar	yaro-	‘shoulder’
PT	Gapapaiwa	yaro(bebana)	‘shoulder’
PT	Minaveha	yano-yano-	‘shoulder’ (-n- is regular reflex of *-R-)
PT	Motu	laro-laro-	‘shoulder blade’ (*yaro)
PT	Roro	aro-	‘shoulder’
MM	Tabar	kara-kara-	‘shoulder’
MM	Lihir	kola-	‘shoulder’

5.4. Armpit⇫

POc		*bʷae-	‘armpit’
NNG	Kove	voe	‘armpit’
NNG	Gitua	bʷae	‘armpit’
NNG	Bariai	bae	‘armpit’
MM	Vitu	bai(k-)	‘armpit’³⁵
MM	Patpatar	bawe-	‘armpit’
MM	Tolai	bai-	‘armpit’
SES	Bugotu	bai(balige)	‘armpit’
SES	Gela	abe-abe	‘armpit’ (metathesis)
SES	Lau	gʷae-gʷae-	‘armpit’
SES	’Are’are	pae-pae	‘armpit’
SES	Kwaio	gʷā-gʷae-	‘armpit’
SES	Sa’a	pʷae-pʷae-	‘armpit’
SES	Arosi	bʷae-bʷae-	‘armpit’

POc *qapi-ŋa ‘armpit’ was a nominalisation (*-ŋa) of POc *qapi(n), *qapin-i- ‘hold or carry under the arm’ (§6.6.2.10).

PMP		*qabin	‘hold or carry under the arm’ (ACD)
POc		*qapi-ŋa	‘armpit’ (Geraghty 1983: PEOc *qaviŋa)
MM	Halia	apia(pits)	‘armpit, carry under the arm’
PSOc		*qaviŋa	‘armpit; carry under the arm’ (Lynch 2004d)
NCV	Mota	viŋa-i	‘armpit’
NCV	Raga	(mal)aviŋa-	‘armpit’
NCV	Paamese	hiŋo-	‘armpit’
Pn	Niuean	afine	‘armpit’ (n for †ŋ)
Pn	Tongan	fāʔefine	‘armpit’ (initial f- irregular)
Pn	Rennellese	ʔahiŋa	‘armpit’
Pn	East Futunan	ʔafiŋa	‘armpit’
Pn	Tikopia	afiŋa	‘armpit’

5.5. Chest⇫

POc *[Ruma]Ruma- ‘chest’ is perhaps derived from POc *Rumaq ‘house’ (vol.1:48). If a Lapita house is viewed as underlyingly a rough-hewn wooden framework (see the illustration on p53 of vol.1), then the metaphorical extension of ‘house’ to the chest cavity as a whole, bounded by the rib cage and the spine, is visually quite obvious. The same metaphor led to the extension of a reflex of POc *kaso ‘rafters’ to the upper rib cage reflected in PPn *kaso-kaso (§3.5.6).

POc		*[Ruma]Ruma-	‘chest’
PT	Molima	luma-luma-	‘chest’
PT	Dobu	luma-luma-	‘chest’
MM	Petats	lu-luma-	‘chest’
MM	Halia	lum-luma-	‘chest’
NCV	Araki	juma-	‘chest, sternum’
NCV	Nguna	na-rumʷa-	‘ribs, chest’
NCV	Atchin	ruma-	‘chest’
Pn	Tongan	uma	‘shoulder’
Pn	Samoan	uma	‘a wide chest’
Pn	Tikopia	uma	‘chest, breast area in general’
Pn	Māori	uma	‘breast, chest’

The term below appears to be a reduplication of the PPn *fata ‘shelf’, but the semantic connection, if any, is not obvious.

PPn		*fata-fata	‘chest’
Pn	Niuean	fata-fata	‘chest’
Pn	Tongan	fata-fata	‘chest’
Pn	Rennellese	hata-hata	‘chest’
Pn	Samoan	fata-fata	‘chest cavity’
Pn	Tikopia	fata-fata	‘chest’

5.6. Rib cage⇫

Probably there was no POc word that meant ‘rib’. Instead, POc speakers, like the speakers of a good many Oceanic languages, had a term for ‘rib cage’, and used a composite term meaning ‘bone of rib cage’ or ‘bone of side’ for rib.³⁶

Adm	Nyindrou	ⁿdruwi kabede-	[bone side]	‘rib’
NNG	Takia	giraŋe- tatu	[side- bone]	‘rib’
NNG	Dami	siri- tua	[side- bone]	‘rib’
NNG	Labu	ape alugu	[side bone]	‘rib’
MM	Patpatar	sur dade	[bone rib.cage]	‘rib’
MM	Roviana	susuri ragaraga	[bone rib.cage]	‘rib’
SES	Kwaio	suli kalao-	[bone rib.cage-]	‘rib’
Fij	Bauan	sui ni sarisari-	[bone of rib.cage-]	‘rib’
Pn	Niuean	hui kahokaho	[bone rib.cage]	‘side rib, rib bone’
Pn	Samoan	ivi ʔasoʔaso	[bone rib.cage]	‘rib’
Pn	Tikopia	ivi kasokaso	[bone rib.cage]	‘short ribs under arms’
Pn	Sikaiana	ivi vakavaka	[bone rib.cage]	‘rib’

As the glosses of some of the terms above imply, at least some Oceanic speakers evidently perceive the rib cage as two ‘sides’ of ribs (such that a rib is a ‘bone of side’). Thus Dami siri- above reflects POc *siriŋ ‘side’ (vol.2:246). The best candidate for reconstruction with the meaning ‘side of ribs’ is POc *kabe- ‘(lower?) rib cage, side’. Whether this also meant ‘side’ in a generalised locative sense is not clear.

POc		*kabe-	‘one side of rib cage’
Adm	Nyindrou	kabe(de-)	‘side, ribs’
NNG	Mapos Buang	kʷbe-	‘side, rib’
NNG	Labu	ape	‘side, rib cage’
PT	Gapapaiwa	ɣaba-ɣaba-	‘ribs’
MM	Nehan	kap-kapa-	‘side of body, ribs’

However, POc *kabe- is apparently not reflected in Eastern Oceanic languages. Here, certain more localised reconstructions are possible. If Bola karo- ‘ribs, side’ is cognate with PSES *[garo]garo- ‘ribs, side’ below, then POc *garo- can be reconstructed, but the available evidence is not strong. The Maringe term is probably borrowed from a SES source.

PSES		*[garo]garo-	‘one side of rib cage’
SES	Bugotu	gao-garo-	‘ribs’
SES	Ghari	garo-	‘ribs’
SES	Lau	ga-garo-	‘ribs, side of a person’
SES	’Are’are	karo-	‘rib, flank, side, loins, of humans’
SES	Sa’a	karo-karo-	‘ribs’
SES	Arosi	garo-garo-	‘side, ribs, of a man’
SES	Arosi	garo-	‘side of a house’

cf. also:

MM	Bola	karo-	‘ribs, side’
MM	Maringe	ga-garo-	‘rib’

There is a small set of terms in NGOc languages that displays formal similarities to the set above, but it is unlikely that the two sets are cognate.

NNG	Lukep	giri-gira-	‘rib’
NNG	Takia	giraŋe-	‘side (of boat, rib cage, garden, mountain)’
NNG	Manam	garaŋa	‘rib cage’
PT	Dawawa	giri-giri	‘ribs’

Some languages distinguish between the (upper, shorter) ribs of the chest (Arosi rakerake-toʔo, Wayan Fijian -saro) and the (lower, longer) ribs at the side and bottom of the rib cage (Arosi garogaro-, Wayan Fijian -sakesake), and this distinction may have been present in POc. In the Arosi term rakerake-toʔo ‘upper rib cage’, toʔo means ‘true’. That is, one side of the upper rib cage is the ‘true rakerake’, whilst rakerake- alone is the whole side of ribs. The implication here is that *[rage]rage- denoted a side of the upper rib cage, but was also used to mean a whole side of the rib cage. However, this supposition requires confirmation with more data.

POc		*[rage]rage-	‘one side of the upper rib cage’; ‘one side of the rib cage’ (?)
Adm	Lou	rak, rakɛ-	‘rib’
NNG	Sio	rage(ni)	‘rib cage’
MM	Ramoaaina	rei-	‘rib’
MM	Roviana	raga-raga	‘rib cage’
SES	Arosi	rake-rake-	‘side’
SES	Arosi	rake-rake(toʔo)	‘short ribs’ (toʔo ‘true’)
Mic	Woleaian	ẓaxe-ẓax, ẓaxe-ẓexa-	‘ribs’

cf. also:

MM	Halia	liki-liki	‘side of body, ribs’
MM	Teop	riki-rikii-	‘rib’
MM	Banoni	ri-riki-	‘ribs’

Two PPn terms are reconstructable, namely *kaso-kaso ‘ribs, upper side’ and *kao-kao ‘ribs, flank, side (of a canoe), upper side of person’. Despite their formal similarity, the evidence indicates two unrelated terms with very similar meanings. PPn *kaso-kaso is almost certainly derived from POc *kaso ‘rafter’ (vol.1:53). If Mwotlap (NCV) na-ɣaɣah ‘ribs’ is cognate, then the term is of PROc antiquity.

PPn		*kaso-kaso	‘ribs, upper side’
Pn	East Futunan	ivi kasokaso	‘rib’ (‘bone of rib cage’)
Pn	Niuean	kahokaho	‘side of a person’s body (refers to the area under the arm and above the hips)’
Pn	Pukapukan	ivi kayokayo	‘rib’ (‘bone of rib cage’)
Pn	Samoan	ivi ʔasoʔaso	‘rib’ (‘bone of rib cage’)
Pn	Tikopia	ivi kasokaso	‘short ribs under arms’ (‘bone of rib cage’)
Pn	Tokelauan	ivi kahokaho	‘rib’ (‘bone of rib cage’)
Pn	Tuvalu	kahokaho	‘rib bones’

cf. also:

NCV	Mwotlap	na-ɣaɣah	‘ribs’
Pn	Tongan	kahoki	‘rafters, ribs of umbrella, spokes of wheel’

PPn		*kao-kao	‘ribs, flank, side (of a canoe), upper side of person’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	kaokao	‘side of a boat or ship, or of a cart etc’
Pn	Samoan	ʔaoʔao	‘inner sides of canoe; armpit’
Pn	Anutan	kaokao	‘armpit’
Pn	East Futunan	kaokao	‘side of canoe’
Pn	Ifira-Mele	kaokao	‘side, ribs’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	kaokao	‘side’
Pn	Tuvalu	kaokao	‘side, coast ; armpit’
Pn	Luangiua	ʔaoʔao	‘ribs’
Pn	Pileni	kaokao	‘side’
Pn	Rennellese	kaokao	‘side (human, animal)’
Pn	Tikopia	kaokao	‘ribs, flank’
Pn	Pukapukan	kaokao	‘side of body or object’
Pn	Mangarevan	kaokao	‘side, flank’
Pn	Marquesan	kaokao	‘ribs, flanks’
Pn	Rarotongan	kaokao	‘side (of person or thing), rib’
Pn	Tahitian	ʔaoʔao	‘side (of a person, animal or object)’
Pn	Tuamotuan	kaokao	‘ribs, sides’
Pn	Hawaiian	ʔaoʔao	‘side, boundary’
Pn	Rapanui	kaokao	‘side’

5.7. Breast⇫

POc *susu- was polysemous, its meaning commonly extending to ‘milk’. The root *susu evidently also formed a verb ‘suck (at the breast)’ (see §4.3.2.3), but *susu- ‘breast’ was formally distinct from it as it was a directly possessed noun, i.e. it took a possessor suffix.

PAn		*susu	‘breast’ (Blust 1999)
POc		*susu-	‘breast, milk’
POc		*susu	‘suckle’
Adm	Mussau	susu-	‘breast’
Adm	Tenis	susu-	‘breast’
Adm	Wuvulu	tutu-	‘breast’
Adm	Lou	susu-	‘breast’
Adm	Loniu	susu-	‘breast’
Adm	Loniu	sus	‘milk’
NNG	Mindiri	su-	‘breast’
NNG	Gedaged	su-	‘breast’
NNG	Matukar	susu-	‘breast’
NNG	Medebur	yuy	‘breast’
NNG	Manam	ruru-	‘breast’
NNG	Ali	sus	‘breast’
NNG	Sirak	sus	‘breast’
NNG	Numbami	susu-	‘breast’
NNG	Buang	rur	‘breast’
NNG	Dambi	lul	‘breast’
PT	Muyuw	sus	‘breast’
PT	Iduna	huhu-	‘breast’
PT	Dobu	susu-	‘breast’
PT	Gapapaiwa	susu-	‘breast’
MM	Nakanai	susu-	‘breast, milk’
MM	Nakanai	susu	‘suckle’
MM	Tigak	susu-	‘breast’
MM	Nalik	sus	‘breast; suck’
MM	Tolai	u-na-	‘breast’
MM	Roviana	susu-	‘breasts, milk’
SES	Gela	susu-	‘breasts, milk’
SES	Lau	susu-	‘breasts, milk’
SES	Arosi	susu-	‘breasts’
NCV	Raga	huhu-	‘breast’
NCV	Tamambo	susu-	‘breast, milk’
SV	Kwamera	na-s	‘breast’
SV	Anejom̃	ne-θeθ, na-θe-	‘breast’
NCal	Dehu	θi	‘breast’
Mic	Woleaian	tʉtʉ-	‘breast’
Fij	Bauan	suðu-	‘breast’
Fij	Wayan	-ðuðu	‘breast’
Fij	Rotuman	susu	‘breast’
Pn	Tongan	huhu	[V] ‘suck the breast’; [N] ‘breast’
Pn	Samoan	susu	[V] ‘suck the breast’; [N] ‘breast’

5.8. Nipple⇫

‘Nipple’ was denoted by a phrase that combined the terms for ‘eye’ and ‘breast’ with a linking particle. Daughter languages display a variety of linkers, but in POc the linker was probably *qi, as this was used with a directly possessed possessum (§3.1.1).

PMP		*mata ni susu	‘nipple’ (eye + breast; ACD in a note on PWMP *qulu ni susu)
POc		*mata qi susu	‘nipple’
Adm	Seimat	mata susu	‘nipple’
PT	Dobu	susu mata(na)	‘nipple’
MM	Roviana	mata susu	‘nipple’
SES	Ghari	mata na tsutsu	‘teat’
Mic	Mortlockese	məsa-n tɨ̄t	‘nipple’
Fij	Wayan	mata ni ðuðu	‘nipple’
Fij	Bauan	mata ni suðu	‘nipple’
Pn	Tongan	mata ʔi huhu	‘nipple’
Pn	Samoan	matā susu	‘nipple’

5.9. Belly⇫

PAn *tiaN, ancestral to POc *tia- ‘belly’, also provided the base for POc *tian-an ‘pregnant’, discussed in §4.2.2.3. This suggests that POc *tia- referred principally to the external shape of the belly. Terms for the corresponding internal organ, the stomach, are presented in §3.7.4.

In the comparative literature reflexes of POc *tia- are sometimes confused with those of POc *taqe- ‘faeces’ or POc *tinaqe- ‘intestines’, but slight formal resemblance between *tia- and the two latter terms is due to chance.

PAn		*tiaL	‘belly’ (Blust 1999)
POc		*tia-	‘belly’
Adm	Lou	tia-	‘abdomen’
Adm	Seimat	tīa-	‘abdomen’
NNG	Kairiru	tie-	‘belly’
NNG	Mengen	tia-	‘belly’
PT	Tubetube	dia-	‘belly’ (d- for †t-)
PT	Molima	dia-	‘intestines’ (d- for †t-)
MM	Nakanai	tia-	‘belly’
MM	Meramera	tia-	‘belly’
MM	Tolai	tia-	‘belly, skin of the stomach; part of the body from ribs to thighs’
MM	Torau	tia-	‘belly’
MM	Roviana	tia-	‘abdomen’
SES	Sa’a	ie-	‘belly, stomach, bowels, womb’
SES	Ulawa	ia-	‘belly, stomach, bowels, womb’
PNCV		*tia-	‘belly’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Nokuku	tia-	‘belly’
NCV	Merei	tia-	‘belly’
NCV	Labo	ni-sia-	‘belly’
NCV	Namakir	tia-	‘belly’
PMic		*tia-	‘stomach, belly, abdomen’
Mic	Marshallese	cəy, ciye-	‘belly, stomach, innards’
Mic	Pulo Annian	θīa, θia-	‘stomach’
Mic	Ulithian	sie-	‘stomach’

Reflexes of POc *kapʷa are the most widespread terms for ‘belly’ in NNG, but there is evidence from one SE Solomonic language that the term is of POc antiquity.

POc		*kapʷa	‘belly’ (ACD)
NNG	Mamusi	kapa-	‘belly’
NNG	Atui	kopo-	‘belly’
NNG	Kove	apo-	‘belly’
NNG	Bariai	(i)apa-	‘belly’
NNG	Tuam	apo-	‘belly’
NNG	Gitua	apʷa-	‘belly; pregnant’
NNG	Malalamai	apo(m)	‘belly; intestines’
NNG	Maleu	apʷa-	‘belly’
NNG	Sio	kapʷa-	‘belly’
NNG	Mangap	kopo(no)	‘belly’
NNG	Barim	kau(n)	‘belly’
NNG	Lukep	kapo(no)	‘belly’
NNG	Malasanga	kapo-	‘belly’
NNG	Hote	kapo	‘belly’
PT	Dawawa	kapo-	‘belly’
SES	Sa’a	apʷa-	‘belly’

cf. also:

Adm	Lou	kopu(ŋ)	‘satiated’
Mic	Ponapean	kapet	‘belly, guts’

5.10. Navel, umbilical cord⇫

Four reconstructions for ‘navel, umbilical cord’, apparently formally related, are candidates for POc status: *puso-, *piso-, *bʷito-, *buto-. Although reasons for this proliferation of forms are far from clear, we suggest that there were two POc forms, *puso- (from PMP *pusej) (§3.5.10.1) and *bʷito- (§3.5.10.2), and that forms reflecting apparent **piso- and **buto-³⁷ are descended from *puso- and *bʷito- respectively. They are accounted for as follows:

Because POc *puso- and POc *bʷito- were similar in form and meaning, contamination affected the vowel of the first syllable, so items reflecting apparent **piso- actually reflect *puso- but with the vowel from *bʷito-.³⁸
The direct evidence for *bʷ- of POc *bʷito- is Drehet pʷitie, Tamambo bʷito-. However, bʷ was an unstable phoneme. In some languages rounding was lost and *bʷito- became *bito-; in others rounding spread to the following vowel, giving forms that seem to reflect **buto-.

To maintain clarity in the face of the complications here, each of the two reconstructions is assigned its own subsection, and have listed forms that appear to reflect **piso- and **buto- separately from *puso- and *bʷito-. A third subsection handles **(b,bʷ)iso- and **buso-, displaying a conflation that cannot be assigned unambiguously to either of the reconstructed POc forms.

5.10.1. POc *puso- ‘navel, umbilical cord’⇫

PMP		*pusej	‘navel’ (ACD: PWMP *talih pusej ‘umbilicus, navel cord’)
POc		*puso-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
NNG	Kilenge	puso-	‘navel’
NNG	Uvol	uto-	‘navel’
PT	Gumawana	puso-	‘a person’s navel; twine wound round magical leaves on a net used to call fish’
PT	Sinaugoro	uro-	‘cord of navel’
PT	Kilivila	puso-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
PT	Suau	huso-	‘navel’
PT	Roro	poto-	‘navel’ (also reflects *buso-)
PT	Mekeo	fuko-	‘navel’
MM	Bali	puzo-	‘navel’
MM	Vitu	puðo	‘navel’

**piso- ‘navel, umbilical cord’ (< POc *puso- via contamination by *bʷito-)

NNG	Bariai	piso-	‘navel’
NNG	Kove	piso-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
NNG	Malai	piso-	‘navel’
NNG	Gitua	piso-	‘navel’
NNG	Sio	piso-	‘navel’
NNG	Lukep	piso-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
NNG	Roinji	piso(a-no)	‘navel’
NNG	Wab	pise-	‘navel’
NNG	Bilibil	piso-	‘navel’
NNG	Akolet	pse-	‘navel’
Fij	Bauan	viðo-viðo-	‘navel’

The following, all from the southern Huon Gulf, reflect either *puso- or **piso-.

NNG	Vehes	vro(o)-	‘navel’
NNG	Mangga	varo-	‘navel’
NNG	Mapos Buang	vro-	‘navel’
NNG	Patep	plu-	‘navel’
NNG	Zenag	vlu-	‘navel’
NNG	Piu	pru-	‘navel’

5.10.2. POc *bʷito- ‘navel, umbilical cord’⇫

Lenakel nəprəŋə ‘navel’, under *buto- below, implies that POc *bʷito- should be reconstructed with final *-ŋ. In the absence of corroboratory evidence, we have not reconstructed the final consonant, but note the possibility of doing so.

POc		*bʷito-	‘navel, umbilical cord’ (Blust 1984b: *bito)
Adm	Mussau	bito-	‘navel’
Adm	Drehet	pʷitie	‘his/her navel’
MM	Tigak	vito-	‘navel’
MM	Patpatar	bito-	‘navel’
MM	Tolai	bito-	‘navel’
MM	Torau	bito-	‘navel’
NCV	Tamambo	bʷito, bito-	‘navel’
NCV	Tamambo	asi i-bʷito	‘umbilical cord’ (asi ‘rope’)
NCal	Dehu	pit	‘navel’
Pn	Niuean	pito	‘navel, umbilical cord’
Pn	Tongan	pito	‘navel’
Pn	Rennellese	pito	‘navel, umbilical cord’
Pn	Pukapukan	pito	‘navel, umbilical cord’
Pn	Samoan	pito	‘end of’
Pn	Tokelauan	pito	‘end of’
Pn	Tikopia	pito	‘navel’
Pn	Tahitian	pito	‘navel, navel cord’
Pn	Hawaiian	piko	‘navel, umbilical cord’

**buto- ‘navel, umbilical cord’ (Biggs 1965: PEOc; Milke 1968, ACD) < POc *bʷito- via rounding spread

Adm	Seimat	puto-	‘navel’
Adm	Lou	puro-	‘navel’
Adm	Loniu	(ko)putu-	‘navel’
NNG	Manam	buto-	‘navel’
NNG	Wogeo	buto-	‘navel’
MM	Tabar	buto-	‘navel’
MM	Sursurunga	but-	‘umbilical cord’
MM	Siar	buto-	‘navel’
MM	Label	buto-	‘navel’
MM	Tinputz	puto-	‘navel’
MM	Teop	buto-	‘navel’
MM	Varisi	buto-	‘navel’
MM	Nduke	buto-	‘navel’
MM	Kia	buto-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
SES	Gela	buto-	‘umbilical cord’
SES	Lengo	buto-	‘navel’
SES	Longgu	bō-	‘navel’
SES	Kwaio	bō-, bou-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
SES	’Are’are	pō-	‘navel’
SES	Sa’a	pō-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
SES	Kahua	pō-	‘navel’
NCV	Mota	puto(i)	‘navel’
NCV	Ambae	buto-	‘navel’
SV	Ura	yobut	‘navel’
SV	Anejom̃	nopʷo-	‘umbilical cord’
SV	Lenakel	nəprəŋə	‘navel’ (< *butoŋ)
SV	Kwamera	nə-preŋi, nə-pureŋi-	‘navel’
NCal	Iaai	bi-bikV-	‘navel’
Mic	Kiribati	puto-	‘navel’
Mic	Ponapean	pʷūs	‘navel’
Mic	Woleaian	pʷūse	‘navel’
Fij	Rotuman	pufa	‘navel, umbilical cord’
Fij	Wayan	buto	‘navel’ (wāwā ni buto ‘umbilical cord’)
MM	Banoni	pocu-	‘navel’ (reflects *potu-)

5.10.3. Conflated forms⇫

Here are presented forms that appear to reflect a conflation of *puso- and *bʷito- and cannot be readily assigned to either. Thus **(b,bʷ)iso- and **buso-, the former with WOc reflexes only, take *(b,bʷ)- from *bʷito- and *-s- from *puso-.³⁹

PWOc **b(w)iso- ‘navel, umbilical cord’

NNG	Mato	bisu-	‘navel’
NNG	Bing	biso-	‘navel’
NNG	Mindiri	besu(o-n-foko-n)	‘navel’
NNG	Gedaged	biso-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
NNG	Kaiwa	biro-	‘navel’
MM	Solos	biso-	‘navel’

POc **buso- ‘navel, umbilical cord’ (Milke 1965: PNGOc)

NNG	Malasanga	boso-	‘navel’
NNG	Singorakai	busu-	‘navel’
NNG	Bing	buso-	‘navel’
NNG	Megiar	boso-	‘navel’
NNG	Takia	buso-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
NNG	Numbami	busu(lu)	‘navel, umbilical cord’
PT	Minaveha	buo-	‘navel’
PT	Gapapaiwa	buo-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
PT	Tawala	buho(ho)-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
MM	Bulu	buro-	‘navel’
MM	Nakanai	buso-	‘navel, umbilical cord’
MM	Meramera	buso-	‘navel’
MM	Halia	buso(so)-	‘navel’
MM	Selau	busu-	‘navel’
SES	West Guadalcanal	boso-	‘navel’
SES	Lau	buto-	‘navel’
SES	Kwara’ae	buta-	‘navel’

5.11. Lower abdomen⇫

There are PROc and PPn terms for the lower abdomen, below the navel, but single words for this part of the body have not been found further west.

PROc		*kona-	‘lower abdomen’
NCV	Ambae	(taku)hona-	‘gall bladder’ (taku ‘behind’)
Fij	Rotuman	ʔona-	‘lower part of abdomen’

PPn		*kona	‘lower abdomen’
Pn	Tongan	kona	‘lower part of the abdomen’
Pn	East Futunan	kona	‘lower abdomen’
Pn	Samoan	ʔona	‘lower abdomen’
Pn	Tikopia	kona	‘area of belly below navel’
Pn	Māori	kona	‘lower abdomen’

PPn		*paka-	‘lower part of trunk’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Niuean	paka-pula	‘loins’ (pula ‘hip’)
Pn	Tikopia	paka-atolo	‘buttocks, lumbar region of the back’ (tolo ‘bottom, backside’)
Pn	Rapanui	paka-kona	‘thigh’ (PPn *kona above)

5.12. Buttocks⇫

The reconstruction of a POc term for ‘buttocks’ encounters difficulties similar to those discussed in association with the reconstruction of terms for ‘navel’ (§3.5.10). Three POc forms are supported: *bʷisi-, *(b,bʷ)oto- and *buru ‘buttocks’. The reconstructed forms begin with a labial or labiovelar and have medial *-s-, *-t- or *-r-. Unfortunately the data are insufficient to tell a story that would unite any of the cognate sets below, but it is perhaps no coincidence that POc *bʷisi- ‘buttocks, anus’ was identical in form to POc *bʷisi ‘fart’ (§4.3.7.3).

POc		*bʷisi-	‘buttocks, anus’
PT	Tawala	pie-	‘buttocks. base of plant’
MM	Petats	pus	‘buttocks’
MM	Teop	pisi-	‘buttocks’
PNCV		*bʷisi-	‘buttocks, anus’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Nguna	na-pisi-	‘buttocks, anus’
NCV	Southwest Bay	ni-ᵐbis	‘buttocks’
NCV	Nāti	ne-ᵐpis	‘anus’
NCV	South Efate	pis-	‘bottom, rear end of a person’

cf. also:

MM	Barok	biti-	‘buttocks’
MM	Patpatar	biti-	‘buttocks’
MM	Tolai	biti-	‘buttocks’

POc		*(b,bʷ)oto-	‘buttocks’
MM	Lavongai	voto-	‘buttocks’
PSOc		*(b,bʷ)oto-	‘buttocks, bottom’ (Lynch 2004d)
NCV	Mota	pʷote-	‘buttock’
NCV	Raga	boro-	‘buttocks, bottom’
NCV	Paamese	voto-	‘buttocks, bottom’
NCV	Lewo	pʷere-	‘buttocks’
SV	Ura	boh(ni-)	‘base’
NCal	Pije	puo(ho-n)	‘buttocks’
NCal	Nemi	pue(ho-n)	‘buttocks’
Mic	Kiribati	poto	‘tree trunk, stock, base, foundation’

cf. also:

NNG	Mangap	putu-	‘buttocks’
MM	Siar	putu-tu-	‘buttocks’

POc		*buru	‘buttocks’
MM	Tolai	buru-buru-	‘buttocks’
SES	Gela	(ka)buru-	‘buttocks, loins’
SES	Tolo	boro-	‘bottom (of anything)’
NCV	Ambae	boro-	‘buttocks, bottom’
Mic	Woleaian	buẓu(a)	‘buttocks, hip’

5.13. Genitalia⇫

POc *kʷala- denoted the male genitals.

POc		*kʷala-	‘male genitals’ (Ozanne-Rivierre 1995:65: PROc *kala- ‘male genitals’; (V) ‘beget’)⁴⁰
MM	Nehan	kolo	‘testicles’
MM	Halia	kol	‘testicles’
Fij	Bauan	gala	‘scrotum’
Fij	Wayan	gʷala	‘male genitals, testicles’
Fij	Rotuman	kala	‘penis’
Pn	Tikopia	kala	‘male genitalia’

5.13.1. Penis⇫

POc *quti- ‘penis’ continues a PAn etymon, and is widely reflected in Oceanic. However, it is not reflected in Micronesian or Polynesian languages and has been replaced throughout Polynesia and parts of Micronesia by reflexes of PROc *ule- ‘penis’.

PAn		*qutiL	‘penis’ (ACD)
POc		*quti-	‘penis’
Adm	Loniu	uti-	‘penis’
Adm	Seimat	uti-	‘penis’
NNG	Malai	uti-	‘penis’
NNG	Sio	kuti-	‘penis’
NNG	Roinji	ɣuli-	‘penis’
NNG	Wab	uli-	‘penis’
NNG	Manam	uti-	‘penis’
NNG	Ali	uti(ŋ)	‘penis’
NNG	Gedaged	uti-	‘penis; handle; point’
NNG	Hote	uli(ŋ)	‘penis’
PT	Motu	usi-	‘penis’
PT	Dobu	ʔusi-	‘penis’
PT	Kilivila	kusi-	‘penis’
PT	Minaveha	ui-	‘penis’
PT	Muyuw	kus	‘penis’
MM	Nakanai	huti-	‘penis’
MM	Nakanai	va-huti-huti	‘copulate’
MM	Tigak	uti-	‘penis’
MM	Mono-Alu	uti-	‘penis’
SES	West Guadalcanal	uti-	‘penis’
SES	Talise	uti-	‘penis’
SES	Longgu	ui-	‘penis’
TM	Buma	ise-	‘penis’
TM	Asuboa	kue-	‘penis’
NCV	Raga	usi-	‘penis’
NCV	Nguna	na-uti-	‘penis, after circumcision’
SV	North Tanna	(n)usə-	‘penis’
SV	Kwamera	(kwa-n)ihi-	‘penis’
NCal	Dehu	ku	‘penis’
Fij	Bauan	uti-	‘penis’

PROc		*ule-	‘penis’ (ACD)
PMic		*wule	‘penis’
Mic	Marshallese	wəl	‘penis’
Mic	Mokilese	wil	‘penis’
Mic	Chuukese	wuɾu-	‘penis’
PPn		*ule	‘penis’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	ule	‘penis’
Pn	Niuean	ule	‘male genitals’ (vulgar. Respectful term is euphemistic: fū-uho)
Pn	Samoan	ule	‘penis’ (not in decent use)
Pn	Rennellese	uge	‘penis’
Pn	Anutan	ure	‘penis’
Pn	Rarotongan	ure	‘membrum virile; used figuratively to denote a man or a male’
Pn	Tikopia	ure	‘penis’
Pn	Māori	ure	‘membrum virile; man, male; courage’
Pn	Hawaiian	ule	‘penis; tenon for a mortise: pointed end of a post which enters the crotch of a rafter’

5.13.2. Scrotum and testicles⇫

There are two reconstructions for scrotum and/or testicles. POc *lasoR is widely reflected.

POc		*lasoR	‘scrotum and/or testicles’
Adm	Mussau	laso-	‘testicles’
NNG	Tami	laso-	‘scrotum’
PT	Mekeo	lako-	‘penis’
PT	Kuni	ado-	‘penis’
MM	Sursurunga	losa-	‘scrotum’ (metathesis)
SES	Lau	lato-	‘testicles’
SES	’Are’are	rato-	‘testicles’
SES	Kwaio	lato-	‘testicles’
NCV	Tamambo	laso-	‘testicles’
NCV	Araki	laso-	‘testicles’
NCV	Raga	laho-	‘testicles and/or scrotum’
Pn	Tongan	laho	‘scrotum and testicles’
Pn	Māori	raho	‘testicles’; ‘labia majora’

Reflexes of POc *kʷawa- are much more restricted, but their distribution nonetheless supports the reconstruction.

POc		*kʷawa-	‘scrotum, testicles’
NNG	Mengen	kava-	‘scrotum’
PT	Molima	kowa-	‘scrotum’
PT	Dobu	kʷawa-	‘testicles’
SES	Gela	koa-	‘testicles’

5.13.3. Female genitalia⇫

POc *puki- ‘vagina’ and PPn *tole- ‘female genitalia’ can each be derived from a PMP term, but in the case of *tole- only if some phonological deformation is allowed in the derivation, perhaps as a result of euphemism.

PAn		*puki	‘vulva’ (ACD)
POc		*puki-	‘vagina’
Adm	Titan	βwi-	‘female genitals’
NNG	Gitua	puɣi-	‘vulva’ (Goulden 1996)
NNG	Kilenge	pui-	‘vulva’ (Goulden 1996)
NNG	Buang	vwi-	‘vagina’
NNG	Patep	vəwi-	‘vagina’
NNG	Mangseng	pi-	‘vagina’
NNG	Mengen	pi-	‘vagina’
PT	Gumawana	ui-	‘vagina’
PT	Ubir	vi-	‘vagina’
PT	Kilivila	vi-	‘vagina’
PT	Maisin	ui-	‘vagina’

Such deformation seems to underlie the three PMP forms reconstructed by Blust (ACD). If PPn *tole is indeed cognate with one of these, then it reflects yet another variant, PMP †*telay.

PMP		teli, tila, *tilay	‘female genitalia’ (ACD)
POc		*tole-	‘female genitalia’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	cāla(t)	‘clitoris, vulva’
NCal	Nemi	cane-	‘clitoris, vulva’
NCal	Cèmuhî	ɛ̄ne-	‘clitoris, vulva’
PPn		*tole	‘female genitals’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Niuean	tole	‘a woman’s private parts’
Pn	Tongan	tole	‘private parts of a woman’
Pn	Pukapukan	tole	‘vagina’
Pn	Samoan	tole	‘clitoris’
Pn	Māori	tore	‘external female sex organs’

cf. also:

MM	Nakanai	tiri-	‘clitoris’
Mic	Woleaian	tora-	‘genitals’
Fij	Bauan	tele-	‘female genitals’

POc (?) *keRe- is not well attested, and may be due to chance resemblance.

POc		*keRe-	‘female genitals’
NNG	Kove	kere-	‘female genitals’
SES	Gela	kele-	‘vagina’
SES	Ghari	kele-	‘vagina’

In Central Pacific languages a reflex of POc *buku- ‘mound, knob, joint’ (§3.6.8.1.2; vol.1:85, vol.2:50) is used to refer to the genital area (probably a metonym based on the mons veneris).

PCP		*buku	‘female genitals’
Fij	Vanua Levu	buku-	‘female genitals’
Pn	Tikopia	puku	‘male genitals’
Pn	Mangarevan	puku	‘clitoris’
Pn	Rapanui	puku	‘pubes’

6. Limbs⇫

Terms relating to the limbs are ordered as follows. First come terms associated with the arms and hands, then terms associated with the legs and feet, and finally terms associated with both pairs of limbs (finger/toe, finger-/toenail, elbow/knee and palm/sole).

6.1. Hand, arm⇫

The monomorphemic POc terms listed below evidently referred to the hand and arm as one unit, although some languages limit their reflex to the hand and lower arm (e.g. Iduna (PT) fowa-na nima- [scrotum-its arm-] ‘muscle of lower arm’), and POc *[l,n]ima- may well have had the more specific POc sense ‘forearm and hand’ as well as the larger sense ‘arm and hand’. Monomorphemic terms for parts of the arm are much harder to find, but terms for ‘upper arm’ and ‘hand’ are reconstructed in §3.6.2.

Reflexes of POc *lima and *nima ‘hand’ are numerous throughout the Austronesian world, most referring at the same time to ‘five’.

Reflexes of the Meso-Melanesian and Eastern Oceanic subgroups largely support *l-, while those from the Admiralties support *n-. The NNG and PT subgroups show no clear pattern. Either *l- was sometimes nasalised to n- before a nasal-initial syllable, or both forms existed as doublets in POc.

PAn		*[qa]lima	‘hand’ (Blust 1999)
PMP		*lima	‘hand’
POc		lima-, nima-	‘forearm and hand, arm and hand; five’
Adm	Mussau	nima-	‘hand, arm’
Adm	Tenis	uma-	‘hand’
Adm	Loniu	nime-	‘hand’
NNG	Kove	lima-, nima-	‘hand’
NNG	Malai	nima-	‘arm’
NNG	Malai	ima-	‘hand’
NNG	Gitua	nima-	‘hand’
NNG	Bilibil	nima-	‘hand’
NNG	Gedaged	nima-	‘hand’
NNG	Medebur	nima-	‘hand’
NNG	Bam	lima-	‘hand’
NNG	Wogeo	lima-	‘hand’
SJ	Sobei	ima-	‘hand’
PT	Dobu	nima-	‘complete arm, upper arm and hand’
PT	Minaveha	nima-	‘arm, handle, hand’
PT	Muyuw	nim	‘hand, arm’
PT	Motu	ima-	‘arm, hand; five’
PT	Lala	ima-	‘lower arm’ (vou ‘upper arm’)
MM	Vitu	lima-	‘hand, arm’
MM	Bali	lima-	‘hand, arm’
MM	Bulu	lima-	‘hand, arm’
MM	Bola	lima-	‘hand, arm’
MM	Nakanai	lima-	‘hand, arm’
MM	Meramera	lima-	‘hand, arm’
MM	Notsi	lima-	‘hand’
MM	Tabar	rima-	‘hand’
MM	Lihir	lima-	‘hand’
MM	Tangga	nima-	‘hand’
MM	Tolai	lima-	‘hand, arm’
MM	Siar	lima-	‘hand’
MM	Roviana	lima-	‘hand, arm’
SES	Bugotu	lima-	‘hand, wing’
SES	Gela	lima-	‘hand, arm’
SES	Kwaio	nima-	‘hand, arm’
SES	Sa’a	nima-	‘hand, arm, foreleg of animals’
SES	Arosi	rima-	‘hand, arm’
NCV	Araki	lima-	‘hand, arm from shoulder to fingers’
NCV	Ambae	lima-	‘hand, arm’
NCV	Raga	lima-	‘hand’
NCV	Tamambo	lima-	‘hand’
NCV	Namakir	lima-	‘hand’
SV	North Tanna	ne-lmə-	‘hand, arm’
SV	Lenakel	ne-lmə-	‘hand, arm’
SV	Anejom̃	ni-cma-	‘hand, arm’
NCal	Nengone	nin	‘hand’
Mic	Ponapean	lime-	‘arm, hand’
Mic	Woleaian	rima-	‘hand, instrument, weapon’
Fij	Wayan	-lima	‘hand, arm’
Pn	Tongan	nima	‘arm, hand’
Pn	Rennellese	gima	‘hand, arm’
Pn	Samoan	lima	‘upper limb, arm (incl. hand)’
Pn	Tikopia	rima	‘hand, wrist, arm’

A second form, POc *paRa ‘hand, arm’ is reconstructable, based on non-Oceanic cognates together with cognates from Central Vanuatu. Blust (ACD) writes that it is possible that these forms should be assigned to PMP *[qa]baRa ‘shoulder’ with parallel semantic shifts that create the illusion of an independent comparison, but he regards this hypothesis as unlikely. We agree with him, as there are a number of reflexes of POc *[qa]paRa ‘shoulder’ which lack the first syllable, and all consistently denote ‘shoulder’. The gloss ‘arm, hand’ here suggests that PMP *baRa/POc *paRa was a distinct if nearly homophonous etymon.

It is possible that PMP *paRada/POc *paRara ‘handle of an axe or adze’ has played some role in the history of this form. Western Oceanic and SE Solomonic reflexes are trisyllabic, but Clark (2009) reconstructs PNCV *vara ‘handle’. The disyllabic form may be the result of contamination by *vara ‘hand, arm’, and may in turn have led to the preservation of the latter. But this is a speculation.

PMP		*baRa	‘hand, arm’ (ACD)
POc		*paRa-	‘hand, arm’ (ACD: ‘hand’)
PNCV		*vara-	‘hand, arm’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Lendamboi	na-vara-	‘hand’
NCV	Labo	ne-vaxa-	‘hand, arm’
NCV	Uripiv	ne-vre-	‘hand’
NCV	Lonwolwol	vā-	‘arm, hand’
NCV	Paamese	hē-	‘limb’
NCV	Nguna	na-aru-	‘hand, arm’

The use of reflexes of POc *banic and *kaba- for ‘arm’ in some daughter languages is an extension of their core meaning ‘wing’ (vol.4:132–133, 275). We add ‘arm, hand’ to the glosses of ‘wing’ reconstructions with a question mark, as it is possible that extensions of meaning to ‘arm’ have occurred independently in daughter languages.

PMP		*pani(j)	‘wing’ (ACD)
POc		*banic	‘wing, fin (probably pectoral); (?) arm, hand’
Adm	Wuvulu	pani-	‘hand’
Adm	Aua	pani-	‘hand, fin’
Adm	Kaniet	pani-	‘wing, hand, fin’ (Dempwolff)
NNG	Takia	bani-	‘forelegs, hand and arm’
PT	Balawaia	vane-	‘wing, fin’
MM	Vitu	banit-	‘upper arm, wing’ (van den Berg)
PNCV		*bani-	‘wing, armlet; (?) arm, hand’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Mota	pani(-u)	‘hand and arm of person, wing of bird, pectoral fin of fish, shoulder of pig’
NCV	Raga	bani-	‘k.o. bracelet’
NCV	Namakir	bani-	‘armbands (worn by chief’s wife)’
NCal	Iaai	beñi-	‘hand, arm, fin’
Mic	Ulithian	pal	‘ventral fin, hand’

PMP		*kapak	‘wings; flutter’ (Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*kaba-	‘wing; (?) arm, hand’
NNG	Bukawa	aba-	‘hand’
PT	Iduna	aba-	‘do by hand’ (PREFIX)
PT	Gumawana	aba-	‘forearm’
MM	Uruava	kabe-	‘hand’
SES	Lau	ʔaba-	‘arm, foreleg, wing, frond’
SES	Kwaio	ʔaba-	‘arm, leaf’

6.2. Parts of the arm⇫

Terms for the elbow, the fingers and fingernails and the palm of the hand are discussed in §3.6.8 together with the corresponding parts of the leg.

Oceanic languages typically distinguish terminologically between the upper arm (from shoulder to elbow), the forearm (from elbow to wrist), the wrist, and the hand, but the terms referring to them are often compounds or phrases. There is some evidence, however, that POc *nima/lima denoted in its more specific sense the forearm and hand, whilst early Oceanic speakers also had single-word terms for the upper arm and for the hand.

PWOc		*towas	‘upper arm’ (?)
NNG	Takia	tuo-	‘arm (whole limb from shoulder to hand)’
NNG	Kairiru	tawo-	‘arm’
PT	Misima	(níma)tovaha	‘top part of the arm’
MM	Torau	tua-	‘hand’

PAn		*kamay	‘hand’ (ACD)
POc		*kame-	‘hand’
NNG	Mamusi	kama-	‘hand’
NNG	Mengen	kama-	‘hand’
NNG	Hote	-kam	‘shake hands’
MM	Kia	kame-	‘hand’
MM	Kokota	kame-	‘hand’
MM	Maringe	khame-	‘hand’

POc		*minV-	‘hand’
Adm	Nyindrou	mine-	‘hand’
Adm	Lou	mina-	‘hand’
NNG	Mangseng	meni-	‘hand, arm’
NNG	Bebeli	mini-	‘hand’
NNG	Atui	mini-	‘hand’

6.3. Left hand and right hand⇫

The three POc terms for ‘left-hand’, *kauRi, *mawiRi and *mauRi, reflect a single PAn/PMP root *wiRi ‘left’. POc *kauRi reflects PMP *ka-wiRi, where *ka- formed a stative verb (‘be on the left’). PMP *ma-wiRi was the actor voice form of this verb, and is reflected in POc *mawiRi and its variant *mauRi. The POc forms *mawiRi and *mauRi are reconstructed separately below, but it is quite likely that at least some of the forms listed under *mauRi are descended from *mawiRi, the sound change *-wi- to *-u- having occurred independently in various languages.

The pairs *kawanan/*mawanan ‘right’ and *kataqu/*mataqu, also ‘right’, below, have similar origins, but here the unaffixed roots *wanan and *taqu evidently also survived into POc (Evans 2001:343).

It is probable that at least the terms in *ma- were also used as verbs in POc. Grammatical information about their reflexes is hard to find, but Lichtenberk (2008) glosses To’aba’ita (SES) mauli as an intransitive verb ‘be on the left’, which is also used attributively (e.g. maa mauli nau [eye be.on.left I] ‘my left eye’). The attributive use of stative verbs is normal in Oceanic languages (Ross 1998c). However, there is evidence that these terms also functioned as nouns in phrasal constructions, as in Kwaio (SES) gula i mooli [side LINKER left] ‘lefthand side’ and Wayan Fijian lima i matau [hand LINKER right] ‘right hand’. Both phrasal expressions reflect the POc nonspecific possessor construction where the item after *qi was a noun (§3.1.1). For example, the Wayan example reflects POc *lima qi mataqu, lit. ‘hand on/ of/at right’.

Note that in the glosses below, hyphenated ‘left-hand’ and ‘right-hand’ indicate that the term appears to be an adjective or a stative verb.

PAn		*ka-wiRi	‘be on the left’ (ACD)
PMP		*ka-wiRi	‘be on the left’
POc		*kauRi-	‘left-hand, be on the left’
PT	Motu	kauri	‘left-handed’
PT	Lala	(e)ʔali	‘left side’
PT	Molima	keli	‘left hand, left-handed’
PT	Gumawana	ke-keli	‘left-hand’
MM	Notsi	kayal	‘left-hand’
MM	Tabar	keari	‘left-hand’
Pn	Rarotongan	kauī	‘left, on the left side’
Pn	Tahitian	ʔaui	‘left-handed’

PMP		*ma-wiRi-	‘be on the left’
POc		*mawiRi	‘left-hand, be on the left; left side or direction’
Adm	Wuvulu	mawi-	‘left (side)’
Adm	Seimat	(kala)maw	‘left side, left-handed’
Adm	Leipon	(ka)maw	‘left (side)’
SJ	Sobei	mawar	‘left hand’
MM	Tolai	maira	‘left, as opposed to right; left hand’
MM	Kia	mairi	‘left’
MM	Maringe	mairi	‘left side or direction’
SES	Talise	maili	‘left side’
SES	Tolo	maili	‘left (direction)’
PNCV		*mawiri	‘left hand, left side’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Raga	mʷairi	‘left hand, left side’
NCV	Nakanamanga	mawiri	‘left side’
NCV	Ambae	mawiri	‘left’
SV	Anejom̃	mʷau	‘left-handed’
SV	North Tanna	maul	‘left hand’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	mʰa	‘left hand’
Fij	Bauan	mawī	‘be left-handed’
Fij	Bauan	i-mawī	‘left-hand side; left’
Fij	Wayan	mawī	[V] ‘be left-handed’; [ADJ] ‘left’; [N] ‘left side’
Fij	Wayan	i-mawī	[ADV] ‘on the left’
Pn	Rarotongan	mauī	‘left, on the left side or hand’
Pn	Māori	mauī	‘left, on the left hand; left hand’

POc		*mauRi-	‘left hand; left side or direction’
PT	Bwaidoga	(ai)mauli	‘left (side)’
PT	Dobu	ma-maula	‘left hand, left handed’
MM	Vitu	mauri	‘left (side)’
SES	Ghari	mauli	‘left’
SES	Gela	mauli	‘left hand’
SES	To’aba’ita	mauli	‘be on the left, left-hand’
SES	Lau	mauli, mouli	‘left hand; left handed’
SES	Lau	(i)mouli	‘on the left’
SES	Kwaio	(gula i) mooli-	‘left side’ (side of left.hand)
TM	Buma	mouro	‘left hand’
NCV	Nakanamanga	mauri	‘left hand’
NCV	Uripiv	mair	‘left hand, left side’
Mic	Nauruan	(eda)mauw	‘left side’
Mic	Kiribati	mai(ŋ)	‘left hand’
Mic	Ponapean	mɛy(ŋ)	‘left hand’
Pn	Rennellese	maui	‘right, right hand’

cf. also:

MM	Nakanai	meru-	‘on the left, left-handed’ (r for †l)
SV	Lenakel	mu	‘left-handed’

PAn *wanaN ‘right (side, hand, direction)’ likewise is reflected in three POc forms *wanan, *kawanan and *mawanan, all ‘right side’.

PAn		*wanaL	‘right (side, hand, direction)’ (ACD; Blust 1999)
POc		*wanan	‘right side, right-hand’
NNG	Gedaged	waŋ	‘right hand, right side, dextral’
NNG	Bing	wan	‘right-hand’
NNG	Malalamai	wana	‘right-hand’
NNG	Lukep	wana	‘right-hand’
NNG	Megiar	wan	‘right-hand’
NNG	Manam	wana	‘right (side), right hand’
NNG	Wogeo	wana	‘right (side)’
NNG	Medebur	wa	‘right-hand’
NNG	Bam	wan	‘right-hand’

PAn		*ka-wanaL	‘be to the right’ (ACD)
POc		*kawanan	‘right side’ (Evans 2001)
NNG	Bebeli	kiana	‘right hand’
PT	Misima	awon	‘right side’
NNG	Tami	kanoŋ	‘right hand’ (metathesised < *kanawan)

PAn		*ma-wanaL	‘be to the right’
POc		*mawanan	‘right side’ (Evans 2001)
Adm	Seimat	manau	‘right side’ (metathesised < *manawan)
Adm	Mussau	muena	‘right side’
NNG	Ali	mawaŋ	‘right side’
NNG	Kairiru	mouwon	‘right side’
MM	Tigak	muan	‘right side’
MM	Kara	ma-muwən	‘right side’
MM	Notsi	mua	‘right side’
Mic	Kiribati	mea(ŋ)	‘right side; north’ (Grimble 1972: 43)
Mic	Puluwatese	(yii)mwān (eey)	‘right side’ (eey ‘demonstrative’)

Evolved in the same threefold way are POc *taqu, POc *ka-taqu and POc *ma-taqu, all ‘right hand’, with the added twist that *ma-taqu metathesised to PSOc *ma-tuqa.

PAn		*taqu	‘right side’ (ACD)
POc		*taqu	‘right hand’
NNG	Kove	tau-	‘right hand’
MM	Tangga	to-	‘right hand’
MM	Tolai	(lima) tu-	‘right hand’

POc		*kataqu	‘be on the right; right hand’
PT	Minaveha	atei	‘right, on the right hand’
PT	Molima	atai	‘right hand, be right-handed’
PT	Kilivila	ka-kata	‘right side’
PT	Dobu	ʔatai	‘right hand’
Pn	Hawaiian	ʔākau	‘right’

PMP		*ma-taqu	‘right side’ (Blust 1993; ACD)
POc		*mataqu	‘right-hand’
Adm	Wuvulu	maʔau	‘right’
Adm	Aua	maʔau	‘right’
MM	Petats	matou	‘right’
MM	Teop	matau-	‘right (hand)’
MM	Mono	matau	‘right’
MM	Kia	mautu	‘right’
MM	Roviana	matao-	‘right’
Fij	Bauan	matau	‘be right-handed’
Fij	Bauan	i-matau	‘right-hand side; right’
Fij	Wayan	matau	[ADJ] ‘right’; [N] ‘right side’
Fij	Wayan	i-matau	[ADV] ‘on the right’
Fij	Wayan	(lima i) matau	‘right hand’ (hand of right.side)
Pn	Tongan	mataʔu-	‘be right-handed, right side’
Pn	Niuean	matau	‘right’
Pn	Samoan	matau	‘right’
Pn	Māori	matau	‘right’

PSOc		*matuqa	‘right hand, right side’ (vowel metathesis, for †*mataqu; Clark 2009: PNCV)⁴¹
NCV	Mota	matua-	‘right hand, belonging to the right hand’
NCV	Araki	marua-	‘right hand’
NCV	Ambae	matue	‘right’
SV	Lenakel	mʷatu-	‘be right-handed’
SV	Kwamera	mʷatuk	‘be right-handed’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	mʷāguk	‘right’
NCal	Iaai	metɔ	‘right’

6.4. Leg, foot⇫

Proto Oceanic speakers evidently used a single term for the leg and foot.

Blust (ACD) reconstructs both PAn *qaqay and PAn *waqay, and the two forms are both continued in Oceanic. POc *waqe- is reflected in Fijian and Polynesian and *qaqe- in Admiralties, Western Oceanic and SE Solomonic languages. There are no reflexes in Micronesia or Vanuatu. No language has reflexes of both forms.

PAn		*qaqay	‘foot, leg’ (ACD)
POc		*qaqe-	‘leg, foot’
Adm	Mussau	keke-	‘leg’
Adm	Seimat	ae-	‘leg, foot’ (toes excluded)
Adm	Kaniet	ae-	‘foot, leg’
Adm	Loniu	kaka-	‘foot, leg’
NNG	Bam	ve-	‘leg’⁴²
NNG	Wogeo	vai-	‘leg’
NNG	Maleu	ae(a)-	‘leg’
NNG	Kove	ahe-	‘leg, foot’
NNG	Tuam	age-	‘leg’
NNG	Gitua	age-	‘leg’
NNG	Malasanga	kae-	‘leg’
NNG	Numbami	ae-	‘leg, foot’
PT	Dobu	ʔae-	‘leg, foot and thigh as complete portion of the body’
PT	Molima	ae-	‘leg, foot’
PT	Motu	ae-	‘leg incl. foot’
PT	Roro	ae-	‘lower leg, foot’
MM	Ramoaaina	kaki-	‘leg’
MM	Siar	keke-	‘leg’
SES	Lau	ʔae-	‘leg’
SES	Kwaio	(ʔ)ā-ʔae-	‘leg’
SES	’Are’are	ʔaʔe-	‘leg’
SES	Sa’a	aʔe-	‘leg’

PAn		*waqay	‘foot, leg’ (ACD)
POc		*waqe-	‘leg, foot’
Fij	Bauan	we-	‘footprint; trace or scar of s.t.’
Fij	Bauan	(ma)wē	‘footprint’
Fij	Wayan	-wē	‘footprint’
Fij	Wayan	-(ma)wē	‘footprint’
PPn		*waqe	‘leg, foot’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Niuean	vē	‘leg, foot’
Pn	Tongan	vaʔe	‘foot, leg, wheel of car etc’
Pn	Rennellese	baʔe	‘leg, foot’
Pn	Samoan	vae	‘lower limb, incl. foot’
Pn	Tikopia	vae	‘leg, foot’
Pn	Hawaiian	wae	‘leg’

6.5. Parts of the leg and foot⇫

Terms for the toes and toenails and the sole and top of the foot are discussed in §3.6.8 together with the corresponding parts of the arm. A set of terms denoting the knee is discussed in §3.6.5.2, whilst terms denoting both elbow and knee are presented in §3.6.8.1.

6.5.1. Thigh⇫

The Proto Oceanic term for thigh was POc *paqa(l).

POc		*paqa(l)	‘thigh’ (Ross 1988)
NNG	Wampur	haga-	‘leg’
NNG	Adzera	faga-	‘leg’
NNG	Dangal	faga-	‘foot’
NNG	Dangal	fa-	‘thigh’
NNG	Kaiwa	va-	‘leg’
NNG	Vehes	vaɣa-	‘leg’
NNG	Buang	vaha-	‘leg’
NNG	Kumaru	vaɣa-	‘leg’
NNG	Kapin	vaɣa-	‘leg’
PT	Gapapaiwa	vaɣa-	‘thigh’
MM	Bola	vaɣa-	‘leg’
MM	Nakanai	vaha-	‘leg’
MM	Lavongai	vakal	‘thigh’
MM	Konomala	fa-	‘leg’
MM	Label	ha-	‘leg’
MM	Sursurunga	pəuə-	‘thigh’
MM	Patpatar	paua-	‘thigh’
SES	Lau	sa-safa-	‘thigh’ (metathesis)
SES	Kwaio	la-lafa-	‘thigh’ (metathesis)
SES	Sa’a	sa-saha-	‘thigh, lap’ (metathesis)
NCV	Namakir	va-a-	‘thigh’
NCV	Ambae	bala-	‘thigh’
SV	Sye	n-va-	‘thigh’
SV	Kwamera	nu-va-	‘thigh’
NCal	Nemi	pā-	‘thigh’
NCal	Nixumwak	pā-	‘thigh’
NCal	Iaai	(je)vǣ-	‘thigh’
Fij	Bauan	yava	‘foot, leg’ (ya- prefix added to some body part terms)

cf. also:

SES

Arosi

pʷā

[V] ‘slap the thigh’

6.5.2. Knee⇫

Terms meaning both ‘knee’ and ‘elbow’ are presented in §3.6.8.1. Other terms, presented here, appear originally to have meant ‘knee’, but are in some languages also applied to ‘elbow’.

More than one POc term beginning with *tu- is reconstructable with the meaning ‘knee’. Blust (ACD) reconstructs POc *tur. POc *turu- is also attested. PWOc *tuku- is reasonably well attested. A number of NW Solomonic languages reflect *tuŋu- (Banoni, Piva cuŋu- ‘knee’, Lungga, Nduke tu-tuŋu ‘knee, elbow’, Vangunu, Roviana tuŋu-tuŋu ‘knee, elbow’).

The relationships among these forms are only partially understood. The histories of PWOc *tuku- and NW Solomonic *tuŋu- are not known, but we can show how POc *tur and *turu- are related.

The PAn form for ‘knee’ was *tuduS (ACD). PAn *S became PMP *h, and a regular metathesis whereby PAn *-CV_S_ became PMP *-h_VC gave rise to PMP *tuhud_ ‘knee’. By regular sound change this became POc *tur (ACD), reflexes of which are shown below. Some of these reflexes are reduplicated as a means of creating the preferred canonic form, a disyllable, from monosyllabic *tur. The preferred strategy for creating a (suffixed) directly possessed noun (§3.1.1) from a root with a final consonant was to replace the final consonant with the suffix, as many reconstructions in this chapter illustrate, but in the case of monosyllabic *tur, a supporting vowel was added instead, giving disyllabic *turu-, a change which seems to have occurred at an earlier interstage than POc as Blust (ACD) reconstructs *turu- to PCEMP.⁴³

PAn		*tuduS	‘knee’ (ACD)
PMP		*tuhud	‘knee’ (ACD)
POc		*tur	‘knee’
NNG	Yalu	(a)du(t)	‘elbow’⁴⁴
NNG	Bukawa	du-	‘elbow’
NNG	Kela	du-	‘elbow’
PT	Wedau	ae-tutu-	‘knee’ (leg-joint-)
PT	Wedau	nima-tutu-	‘elbow’ (arm-joint-)
PT	Dobu	nima-tutu-	‘elbow’ (arm-joint-)
PT	Molima	ae-tutu-	‘knee’ (leg-joint-)
PT	Molima	nima-tutu-	‘elbow’ (arm-joint-)
PT	Minaveha	ae-tutu-	‘knee’ (leg-joint-)
MM	Mono-Alu	tū-	‘knee’
MM	Simbo	tu-tu	‘knee’
Fij	Rotuman	fū	‘knee’

PAn		*tuduS	‘knee’ (ACD)
PMP		*tuhud	‘knee’ (ACD)
PCEMP		*turu	‘knee’ (ACD)
POc		*turu-	‘knee, joint’
NNG	Takia	turu-	‘knee’
NNG	Lukep	turu-	‘knee’
NNG	Malasanga	turu-	‘knee’
NNG	Bing	turu-	‘knee’
PT	Saliba	turi-	‘knee’ (Capell 1943)
MM	Vitu	tu-tur	‘knee’
MM	Bali	turu-	‘knee’
MM	Bulu	tu-tulu-	‘knee’
MM	Bola	turu-	‘knee’
MM	Nakanai	tulu-	‘knee’
MM	Meramera	(pa)tulu-	‘knee’
SES	Bugotu	tu-turu-	‘knee, joint’
SES	Lau	uru-uru-	‘knee’
SES	Sa’a	uru-uru-	‘knee’ (uru ‘to bend the knee’)
NCV	Port Sandwich	(ciki)ndür	‘kneel down’
Mic	Woleaian	suẓu-	‘kneel, knee’
Fij	Bauan	duru	‘knee’
Fij	Bauan	duru-duru ni liŋa	‘elbow’ (joint of arm)
Pn	Tongan	tui	‘knee’
Pn	Tikopia	turi	‘knee’
Pn	Samoan	tuli	‘joint’
Pn	Samoan	tuli-lima	‘elbow’ (joint-arm)
Pn	Samoan	tuli-vae	‘knee’ (joint-leg)
Pn	Samoan	tuli-ulu	‘back of neck’ (joint-head)

PWOc		*tuku-	‘knee, elbow’
NNG	Sio	tuku-	‘knee’
NNG	Mato	tugu-	‘knee’ (g for †k)
NNG	Medebur	tuku-	‘knee’
NNG	Manam	tuku-	‘knee’ (k for †ʔ)
MM	Petats	tuk-tuk(rako)	‘knee’
MM	Halia	tuku(nu)	‘elbow’
MM	Halia	tuku(numu)	‘knee’

6.5.3. Calf and shin⇫

The calf is referred to by a compound meaning ‘liver of leg’ in widespread languages.

POc		*qate qi [q,w]aqay	‘calf’
Adm	Mussau	atea keke-	‘calf’ (liver leg-)
NNG	Bukawa	gahi- ate	‘calf’ (leg- liver)
NNG	Numbami	ae- ate	‘calf’ (leg- liver)
NNG	Sio	kate-	‘calf; liver’
PPn		*qate qi waqe	‘calf muscles of lower leg’
Pn	Tongan	ʔate ʔi vaʔe	‘calf’ (liver of leg)
Pn	Samoan	ate vae	‘calf’ (liver leg)
Pn	Rennellese	ʔate baʔe	‘calf, esp. back side of the calf’ (liver leg)
Pn	Māori	ate-ate	‘calf’

Western Oceanic languages have a set of semantically related compounds for the calf. In some languages the calf is ‘scrotum of leg’ or ‘testicle of leg’. In others ‘nut of leg’ is found, noting that ‘nut’, ‘seed’ and ‘testicle’ are often glosses of the same term in Oceanic languages. In a number of Papuan Tip languages it is ‘roe of leg’, where the term for ‘roe’ reflects POc *biRa- (vol.4:129).

NNG	Takia	ŋie- laben	[leg- scrotum]	‘calf’
NNG	Dami	y-e fāt	[leg- testicle]	‘calf’
PT	Iduna	fowa- age	[scrotum- leg]	‘calf’
MM	Ramoaaina	talia na kaki-	[nut of leg]	‘calf’⁴⁵
PT	Gapapaiwa	kae-bire-	[leg-roe-]	‘calf’
PT	Tawala	ae-bile-	[leg-roe-]	‘calf’
PT	Ubir	a- firi-n	[leg- roe-its]	‘calf’
PT	Misima	ae-bilabila	[leg-roe-]	‘calf’

Languages from Papuan Tip and Polynesia use the metaphor of a ridge to refer to the shin bone, albeit in non-cognate terms.

PT	Dobu	ʔae-bʷate-bʷatete	[leg-ridge]	‘shin and shinbone’
Pn	Tongan	hivi ʔi vaʔe	[ridge of leg]	‘shin’
Pn	Samoan	tua-sivi-vae	[ridge-bone-leg]	‘shin’

6.5.4. Heel⇫

Blust reconstructs PMP *tiked ‘heel’ (ACD), but no Oceanic reflexes have been found. Instead there are compounds. In NW Melanesia, the usual expression appears to be ‘occiput of foot’, using a reflex of POc *k(i,e)ju-/PNGOc *g(i,e)ju- ‘back of head, occiput’ (§3.4.5). Of the reflexes below, only Nakanai kisu and Ubir etu- are independently attested in the data with the back of the head as denotatum, but there is little doubt that all the items listed are reflexes thereof. In Tawala the reduplicated form, encoding ‘little occiput’, lacks a reflex of *g(i,e)ju-, probably once present as it is in closely related Gumawana.

POc		*k(i,e)ju (qi) qaqe	‘heel’ (lit. ‘occiput/nape of foot’)
Adm	Nyindrou	kusu- kati	[occiput-X foot] ‘heel’⁴⁶
PT	Gumawana	ae-gedu-gedu-	[foot-REDUP-occiput-X] ‘heel’
PT	Tawala	kedu-kedu-	[REDUP-occiput-X] ‘heel’
PT	Ubir	a- etu-	[foot-occiput-X] ‘heel’
MM	Nakanai	vaha-kisu-	[foot-occiput-X] ‘heel’

Takia speakers use the semantically corresponding expression ŋie- buro-n [leg-X occiput-its].

In at least some Oceanic languages the corresponding expression is ‘back of foot’, using the relational local noun POc *muri[-] ‘back part, rear, behind, space to the rear of, time after; (canoe) stern; space outside’ (vol.2:251) or its variant *buri- (vol.2:253).

POc		*[m,b]uri (qi) (w,q)aqe	‘heel’ (lit. ‘back of foot’) (ACD)
NNG	Bukawa	gahi bu	‘heel’ (foot back)
SES	Lau	buri ʔae	‘heel’ (back foot)
Pn	Rennellese	mugi wae	‘heel’ (back foot)
Pn	Kapingamarangi	muli wae	‘heel’ (back foot)

6.6. Footprint⇫

The addition of *-kV to the Nyindrou, Manam and Mota reflexes of POc *mʷale- ‘footprint’ is unexplained, but the addition of -ŋ(V) in the Neve’ei and Tape reflexes implies that *mʷale- was at some point a verb, to which nominalising *-ŋa was then added.

POc		*mʷale-	‘footprint’
Adm	Nyindrou	mʷele(ke)	‘trace, impression’
Adm	Nyindrou	mʷele(ke kati-)	‘footprint’ (kati- ‘foot, leg’)
NNG	Manam	male(ka)-	‘track; footprint’
PNCV		*mʷale-	‘sole, footprint’ (Clark 2009: *male)
NCV	Mota	male(ka)-i	‘sole of foot, foot, footprint, track’
NCV	Kiai	malele-	‘mark (trace left by)’
NCV	Raga	malele-	‘footprint’
NCV	Apma	male-	‘mark (of burn, cut)’
NCV	Port Sandwich	mele-	‘footprint’
NCV	Neve’ei	ne-mʷela(ŋ)	‘footprint’
NCV	Tape	məl(ŋe tili-)	‘footprint’ (tili- ‘leg’)
NCV	Namakir	mʷale-(lao-)	‘heel’ (lao- ‘foot’)
NCV	Nguna	na-mʷele-	‘foot’
NCV	Nguna	na-mʷele-(aru)	‘palm, hand’ (aru ‘hand, arm’)
NCV	South Efate	na-mʷle-(natu-)	‘footprint’ (natu- ‘foot’)
PSV		*na-mʷ(i,la)-	‘track (of s.t.), footprint’
SV	Lenakel	na-mwi-	‘footprint’

In a number of WOc languages the term for footprint is ‘back of leg’, or more logically ‘after foot’, with a reflex of *muri- or *buri- ‘back, be after’ (vol.2:311-312). Note that this compound means ‘heel’ in some Oceanic languages (§3.6.5).

NNG	Mutu	axe muri	‘footprint’ (axe ‘leg’)
NNG	Kove	muli-muli	‘footprint, track’
NNG	Lukep	ke- muri-m	‘footprint’
NNG	Bariai	ai- i mul	‘footprint’
PT	Misima	muli-n	‘footprint’
MM	Vitu	mudi(-ni-kabe)	‘footprint’
MM	Nakanai	puli	‘footprint, sole of foot’
MM	Meramera	puli	‘sole of foot, footprint’

Some Polynesian languages use a term meaning ‘standing-place of foot’ to refer to ‘footprint’.

Pn	Samoan	tulaŋa-a-vae	[standing-place of foot]	‘footprint’
Pn	Māori	tūraŋa-wae-wae	[standing-place-foot]	‘footprint’

6.7. Groin, crotch⇫

The POc term for the crotch was *saŋa-, which was also used for a forked stick or branch.

PMP		*saŋa	‘bifurcation, to branch’ (vol.3:96) (ACD)
POc		*saŋa-	‘crotch; fork (in tree), forked stick or branch’
Adm	Titan	cáŋa	‘crotch; fork in tree, straddle’
Adm	Lou	saŋ	‘crotch’
NNG	Gedaged	saŋa-	‘crotch, groin, bifurcation, fork’
NNG	Numbami	saŋa-	‘crotch’
NNG	Gitua	saŋa-	‘crotch’
PT	Iduna	haɣa-haɣa-	‘spread legs; groin; fork (in branch)’
MM	Nakanai	sala-	‘thigh, groin’
MM	Tabar	saŋa-	‘groin’
SES	Kwaio	taŋa-	‘groin’
SES	Arosi	taŋa-	‘a crotch; fork of the legs’
NCV	Mota	saŋa-	‘a fork, crotch, forked stick’
Fij	Bauan	saŋa-	[N] ‘a crotch’; [ADJ] ‘crotched’
Pn	Tongan	(ma)haŋa	‘branch, fork, crotch’

6.8. Parts common to arm/hand and leg/foot⇫

Note that ‘armpit’ is treated as part of the trunk (§3.5.4).

6.8.1. Elbow and knee⇫

This section has two parts to facilitate crossreferencing, particularly between the formally similar pairs of terms in §3.4.2 and §3.6.8.1.1.

POc also had terms that specifically denoted the knee. For these, see §3.6.5.2.

6.8.1.1. POc pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ and PSOc bʷau- ‘knee, joint’

The formal aspects of the two terms reconstructed here are discussed at length in §3.4.2.

POc *pʷatu[ka]- was evidently the general term for a knee or elbow joint, but not hip or shoulder. The seemingly optional *-ka- that is reflected in some members of the cognate set remains unexplained,⁴⁷ unless, as mentioned in §3.4.2, *pʷatu[ka]- originally meant ‘kneecap’ and is identical with putative *(p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘outer shell, skull’.

POc		*pʷatu[ka]-	‘elbow, knee; joint, node’
Adm	Mussau	patu-	‘joint (of elbow, knee); node (of sugarcane, etc)’
Adm	Mussau	patu (keke)	‘knee’ (keke ‘leg’)
Adm	Mussau	patu (nima)	‘elbow’ (nima ‘arm, hand’)
Adm	Tenis	patu-	‘elbow’
Adm	Tenis	pato(keke)	‘knee’ (keke ‘leg’)
Adm	Tenis	patu-ka-	‘shoulder’
NNG	Gitua	patu-	‘elbow, knee’
MM	Bulu	potu-ka-	‘elbow’
MM	East Kara	putu-	‘knee, head’
MM	Notsi	put-put	‘knee’
MM	Taiof	patu-k	‘elbow; knee’
MM	Teop	pasu-ka-	‘elbow; knee’
SES	Gela	patu	‘joint in bamboo, knot’
SES	Arosi	pʷa(ruru-)	‘elbow, knee’ (ruru- ‘elbow, knee’)⁴⁸

Whether and how PSOc *bʷau- ‘knee, joint’ is related to POc *pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ is not known. See the discussion in §3.4.2.

PSOc		*bʷau-	‘knee, joint’ (Lynch 2004d)
NCV	Mota	pʷau-i	‘knee’
NCV	Mwotlap	nu-bʷu-k, nʊ-bʷʊ-n	‘my knee’; ‘his knee’
NCV	Nokuku	pou	‘knee’
NCV	Tamambo	bau-	‘knee’
NCV	Kiai	pau-	‘knee’
NCV	Araki	pau-	‘knee’
NCV	Raga	bʷau-	‘knee’
NCV	Avava	bau-	‘elbow, knee’
NCV	Uripiv	bau-	‘knee’
NCV	Lonwolwol	bu-	‘knot, lump, joint’
NCV	Lonwolwol	bu(la-)	‘knee’ (lit. ‘joint of leg’; lā ‘leg’)
NCV	Nakanamanga	pʷa(tua)	‘elbow’
NCV	Namakir	bu(tua)	‘knee’ (tua ‘leg’)
NCV	Nguna	na-pʷa(tua)	‘knee’ (tua ‘leg’)
NCV	South Efate	pʷu(t)	‘knee’
SV	Sye	no-ᵐpu(noru)	‘shoulder’ (lit. ‘head of arm’)
NCal	Nyelâyu	bu-	‘joint’
NCal	Xârâcùù	bʷā(xẽ)	‘knee’ (xẽ ‘hand, foot’)
NCal	Iaai	bo(xulu)	‘joint’

6.8.1.2. Other terms for joint, elbow and knee

Reflexes of POc *buku ‘mound, knob, joint’ are also used in a number of Oceanic languages to refer to the elbow and/or knee. However, it is clear that *buku focussed on the shape of the referent,⁴⁹ whereas the central meaning of the terms reconstructed in §3.6.8.1.1 was the knee or elbow joint itself.

As elbows are more corner-like than knees, POc *s[i,u]ku, reflecting a PMP term that also meant ‘corner’, may have referred specifically to ‘elbow’.

PMP		*buku	‘node, knot, joint’ (ACD)
POc		*buku	‘mound, knob, joint; (?) elbow, knee’
NNG	Manam	buku	‘mountain, knuckle’
NNG	Wogeo	buku-	‘knee’
MM	Nakanai	buku(a)	‘swollen, protruding’
MM	Nalik	buk-buk	‘knee’
MM	Patpatar	buku-	‘joint, elbow, knee’
MM	Minigir	buku-buku-	‘elbow, knee’
MM	Tolai	buk na kau-	‘heel; knee’ (lit. ‘knob of foot/leg’)
MM	Tolai	buk na lima-	‘elbow’
MM	Siar	buk	‘elbow’
MM	Babatana	pu-puku-	‘elbow, knee’
MM	Blablanga	pu-puku-	‘knee’
NCV	Mota	puɣiu-	‘hip joints’
Mic	Chuukese	pʷɨkɨ-	‘node, joint, knot, knee’
Mic	Puluwatese	pʷɨkɨw	‘knee’
Mic	Kosraean	fuku-	‘joint’
Fij	Bauan	buku	‘anything knotted or humped’
Fij	Wayan	buku	‘knot; node; hinge’

PMP		*siku	‘elbow, corner’ (Dempwolff 1938)
POc		*s[i,u]ku	‘elbow, knee, angle’
NNG	Buang	ruku-	‘knee’
NNG	Mindiri	saku-	‘elbow’
NNG	Bilibil	suk-suk	‘elbow’
NNG	Gedaged	suku-suk	‘elbow; sharp turn in a road’
NNG	Kilenge	suke-	‘knee’
PT	Mekeo	kiu(a)	‘elbow’
PT	Mekeo	kiu(ga)	‘knee’
PT	Lala	diʔu-	‘elbow’
PT	Kuni	diu-	‘elbow’
MM	Tiang	suku(ru)	‘knee’
MM	Varisi	zi-ziku	‘elbow’
SES	’Are’are	suʔu-	‘elbow, angle, corner’
SES	Sa’a	suʔu-suʔu-	‘elbow, corner, angle’
NCV	Raga	sigu(i)	‘corner, angle’
NCV	Tamambo	suɣu-	‘elbow’
NCV	Araki	suhu-	‘elbow’
NCV	Ambae	huku(ne)	‘elbow’
Fij	Nadrau	suku-	‘hand, arm’
PPn		*siku	‘extremity, end; tail (esp. of fish)’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	hiku	‘tail; end’
Pn	East Futunan	siku	‘tail; end’

6.8.2. Fingers and toes, finger- and toenails⇫

Where data are from dictionaries rather than from wordlists, it is clear that the same term is typically used in Oceanic languages for ‘fingernail’, ‘toenail’ and ‘claw (of quadruped or bird)’, and this was presumably the case in POc too. However, wordlist sources tend to show a term only for ‘fingernail’.

POc *kuku- apparently also denoted ‘finger’. Both non-Oceanic (ACD) and Oceanic reflexes attest to this.

PMP		*kuSkuS	‘claw, talon, fingernail’ (ACD)
POc		*kuku-	‘finger, fingernail, toenail, claw (of quadruped or bird)’
Adm	Lou	kuɛ-	‘nail, claw’
NNG	Mangap	kuku(nu)	‘fingernail’
NNG	Lukep	kuku-	‘finger, claw’
NNG	Malasanga	kuku-	‘finger, claw’
NNG	Wab	koko-	‘fingernail, claw’
NNG	Bilibil	kuku-	‘finger’
NNG	Matukar	kuku-	‘finger’
NNG	Kaiwa	kuku-	‘finger’
NNG	Medebur	kuku-	‘fingernail’
NNG	Wogeo	kuku-	‘finger’
NNG	Numbami	kuku-	‘finger’
MM	Vitu	kuku-	‘finger’
MM	Vitu	kuku(buli)	‘thumb’
MM	Bali	kuku-	‘finger’
MM	Bola	kuku-	‘finger’
MM	Bola	ku(lima)	‘fingernail’
MM	Nakanai	kuku-	‘finger, toe, nail, claw’
MM	Meramera	ʔuʔu-	‘finger’
MM	Lihir	ku(acil)	‘fingernail’
MM	Konomala	ku-	‘hand’
MM	Lavongai	ku(ŋa)	‘hand’
MM	Label	ku-	‘hand’
MM	Label	(li)ku-	‘finger’
MM	Bilur	ku-	‘hand’
MM	Bilur	(lele)ku-	‘finger’
MM	Bilur	(kaba)ku-	‘shoulder’
SES	Bugotu	ɣuɣu-	‘hoof, claw’
SES	Gela	ɣuɣu-	‘finger or toenail, hoof’
SES	Longgu	ʔuʔu-	‘nail, claw’
SES	Lau	kuku-	‘finger, toe’
SES	’Are’are	ʔuʔu-	‘finger, toe, claw, paw’
SES	Kwaio	ʔuʔu-	‘toe, finger’
NCV	South Efate	na-ki-	‘finger, toe’
NCal	Pije	hi-n	‘hand’
Mic	Carolinian	kkii-	‘fingernails of humans, claws of birds and animals’
Mic	Woleaian	kku-	‘claw, nail, toe’
Fij	Bauan	kuku-	‘nail of finger or toe’
Fij	Wayan	-kuku	‘nail, claw of quadruped, hoof’
Pn	Tongan	kuku	‘grasp, grip, clutch, hold on to’
Pn	Samoan	(mai)ʔuʔu	‘fingernail’
Pn	Tikopia	kuku	‘clench hand’

PWOc		*ka(p,pᵂ)a-	‘fingernail, toenail, claw (of quadruped or bird)’
NNG	Tami	ka-kap	‘fingernail’
NNG	Sio	kaba(tete)	‘fingernail’
NNG	Gedaged	kafa-	‘fingernail’
NNG	Dami	kapa-	‘fingernail’
NNG	Adzera	af-afa-	‘fingernail’
NNG	Numbami	yawa-	‘fingernail’
NNG	Mapos Buang	qapɛ̄q	‘fingernail, toenail, claw’
NNG	Manam	kabo	‘finger, toe’
NNG	Mamusi	wa-	‘fingernail’
NNG	Hote	va-	‘fingernail, toenail’
PT	Motu	kahau-	‘claw, nail (finger or toe)’
MM	Vitu	kapa(nikuku)	‘fingernail’
MM	Harua	kapa-	‘fingernail’
MM	Meramera	kapa-	‘fingernail’
MM	Piva	kapa(i)	‘fingernail’

cf. also:

SES	Lau	kakau-	‘finger, toe’
SES	Arosi	kakau-	‘finger or toe’
SES	’Are’are	(karu)kapi	‘little finger’

The index finger (forefinger) in many Oceanic languages is denoted by a form that is identical with or includes the verb ‘point’. Indeed, *tusu- ‘forefinger’ is derived from a PMP term meaning ‘point’. In the Papuan Tip area forefinger terms sometimes allude to the fact that one dips the forefinger into food in order to taste it: Dawawa buta-remo (buta ‘salt’, remo ‘taste’), Tawala habaya-lemu (habaya ‘cooking pot’, lemu ‘taste’). Terms for the other digits are not reconstructable, but the thumb is ‘big digit’ in a number of languages: Misima gig-bʷaya (gigi ‘finger, toe’, bʷaya ‘big’), PNCV *bisu-laba (*bisu ‘finger’, *laba ‘big’; Clark 2009), Wayan kuku-levu (levu ‘big’).

PMP		*tuzuq	‘point at, point out, give directions’ (ACD)
POc		*tusu-	[N] ‘forefinger’
POc		*tusuq-i-	[VT] ‘point at’
PT	Motu	du-dui-	[VT] ‘point’
MM	Nakanai	tur-i	‘point to, point out’
MM	Tolai	tu	[VT] ‘show, point at’
MM	Kia	tuhu	‘point with finger’
MM	Kia	tuhu(tae)	‘forefinger’
SES	Gela	tuhu, tuhi	‘to point’
SES	Gela	tuhu (komu)	‘first finger’
SES	Longgu	usu	‘point’
SES	Longgu	usu (hanua)	‘index finger’
SES	Sa’a	usu, usu-i-	[VI] ‘point, accuse; tattoo’; [VT] ‘write’
NCV	Tamambo	ti-tisu-	‘pointer finger’
Mic	Woleaian	(xa)ttʉ-	‘finger’
Fij	Wayan	duði	‘point’
Fij	Wayan	-duði-duði	‘index finger’
Pn	Tongan	tuhu-	‘finger, esp. forefinger’
Pn	Tongan	tuhuʔ-i	[VT] ‘point’
Pn	Samoan	tusi	‘point with finger’
Pn	Tikopia	tusi	‘point, trace with finger; write’

PPn		*mata a lima	‘finger’ (mata ‘point, tip’, lima ‘hand’)
Pn	Niuean	matalima	‘finger’
Pn	Takuu	matārima	‘finger’
Pn	Pileni	mata lima	‘finger’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	madālima	‘finger’

6.8.3. Palm of hand and sole of foot⇫

PMP *palaj ‘palm of hand, sole of foot’ is widely reflected in western Malayo-Polynesian languages, but only a single Oceanic reflex occurs in the data. Most Oceanic languages support POc *lapʷar.

PMP		*palaj	‘palm of hand, sole of foot’ (ACD)
POc		*pala(j)	‘palm of hand, sole of foot’ (ACD)
PT	Motu	(ima) pala-pala-	‘palm’ (ima ‘hand’)
PT	Motu	(ae) pala-pala-	‘sole’ (ae ‘leg’)

POc *lapʷar ‘palm of hand, sole of foot’ appears superficially to reflect PAn *da(m)paN ‘palm of hand, sole of foot’,⁵⁰ but the latter would give rise to POc †*ra(p,b)an, so this is probably a chance resemblance.

POc		*lapʷar	‘palm of hand, sole of foot’
Adm	Mussau	lapa-lapa	‘(hand) palm; (foot) sole’ (lapalapa nima ‘palm’, lapalapa keke ‘sole’)
PT	Molima	(ae) yapa-yapa(na)	‘sole of foot’ (y- for †l-)
PT	Minaveha	(nima) yapa-yapa	‘palm of hand’ (y- for †l-)
PT	Minaveha	(ae) yapa-yapa	‘sole of foot’
PT	Wedau	(ae) lapa-lapa(na)	‘sole of foot’
MM	Tolai	lapara	‘main part of hand, incl. back and palm but not fingers; instep’
MM	Patpatar	lapar	‘sole of foot, palm of hand’
MM	Sursurunga	ləprə-	‘sole of foot, palm of hand’

Neither of these reconstructions has reflexes in Eastern Oceanic. The most common term in Eastern Oceanic, found also in the Admiralties, is a compound meaning ‘face of hand/foot’, containing a reflex of POc *qarop ‘front, face’ (vol.2:247) plus the term for hand or foot, contrasting with ‘back of hand/foot’ for the back of the hand and top of the foot (§3.6.8.4).

POc		*qarop qi [n,l]ima	‘palm of hand’
Adm	Lou	kar mɛna	‘palm of hand’
NCV	Ambae	qaqai lima(na)	‘palm of hand’
Pn	Tongan	ʔaof-i-nima	‘palm of hand’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔagoh-i-gima	‘palm of hand, inner surface of arm’
Pn	Samoan	alof-i-lima	‘palm of hand’
Pn	Tikopia	arof-i-rima	‘palm of hand’

POc		*qarop qi qaqe	‘sole of foot’ (lit. ‘front of foot’; qi LINKER)
Adm	Lou	kar-kɛ-	‘sole’
PPn		*qarof-i-waqe	‘sole of foot’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	ʔaof-i-vaʔe	‘sole of foot’ (lit. ‘front/face of foot’)
Pn	East Futunan	ʔalof-i-vaʔe	‘sole of foot’
Pn	Samoan	alof-i vae	‘sole of foot’
Pn	Tikopia	arof-i vae	‘sole of foot’

6.8.4. Back of hand and top of foot⇫

The top of the foot was apparently the ‘back of foot’ in POc, as it is in geographically distant modern languages. This seems odd in European thinking, until it is recognised that Oceanic speakers view feet and hands analogously: the palm of the hand and sole of the foot are perceived as ‘face, front’ (§3.6.8.3), the back of the hand and top of the foot as ‘back’.

NNG	Hote	dum saŋe-	[back foot-]	‘top of foot’
NNG	Takia	ŋie- patu-n	[foot- back-its]	‘top of foot’
PT	Gumawana	ae-tolu-	[foot-back-]	‘top of foot’
PT	Minaveha	ae upu-	[foot-back-]	‘top of foot’
MM	Siar	tar-un keke-	[back foot-]	‘top of foot’
Pn	Tongan	tuʔa vaʔe		‘top of the foot’
Pn	Rennellese	tuʔā baʔe		‘top of foot’
Pn	Tikopia	tua vae		‘top of foot’

Note that this term was distinct from POc *[m,b]uri (w,q)aqe ‘heel’ (§3.6.5.2) (lit. ‘back of foot’). POc *[m,b]uri was a relational local noun denoting the back of something (§3.1.2), but the terms for ‘back’ in ‘top of foot’ phrases denote a person’s back.

7. Internal organs⇫

7.1. Internal organs in general⇫

The internal organs are listed here roughly in order from the top of the trunk to the bottom. There is a certain amount of evidence that POc *qate- ‘liver’, regarded as the seat of the emotions and the centre of one’s being (§3.7.6), also served as a collective term for the internal organs. This is clear in terms from Nakanai (MM), where the liver itself is specified by adding a modifier (kuru) to the more general term hate-, reflecting POc *qate-.

MM	Nakanai	hate-	‘liver or solar plexus (seat of emotion); internal organs in general; sometimes spleen’
MM	Nakanai	la hate kuru	‘liver’ (kuru ‘dark-coloured’)

The terms below reveal a similar pattern: the reflex of *qate- denotes the internal organs, and various modifiers indicate the specific organ (see also the terms for ‘lungs’ in §3.7.3).

Kwaio	lae-, lae-fou	‘liver’
	lae-fula, lae-fulo	‘lungs and heart (conceived of as a single unit)’
Sa’a	sae-	‘heart, mind, liver, lungs, chest’
	sae huto-huto	‘lungs’ ( = ‘frothy liver’)
’Are’are	rae-	‘stomach, heart, liver, lungs, womb, mind, seat of affections, intention, will’
	rae nisu-na	‘lung’ (nisu- ‘opening, outlet’)
	rae ʔohoʔohu-na	‘lung’ (ʔoʔoho- ‘chest’ ??)
Bauan	yate-	‘the liver, considered as the seat of cowardice and courage’
	yate balavu	‘spleen’ (balavu ‘long’)
	yate vuso	‘lungs’ (vuso ‘to froth’)
Niuean	ate	‘liver’
	ate-fua	‘liver’ (fua ‘fruit’)
	ate-loa	‘spleen’ (loa ‘long’)
	ate-pili	‘spleen’ (pili ‘sticky’)
	ate-pala	‘lungs’ (pala ‘wet’)
	ate-vili	‘heart’ (vili ‘spin’)

7.2. Heart⇫

Blust (ACD) reconstructs POc *buaq ‘areca nut and palm; heart’. The only reflex listed in the ACD with the meaning ‘heart’ is Tolai buai-, which is in fact a reflex of PWOc *busa(q) ‘heart’, as -s- is lost in Tolai. However, Vitu, Bola and Nakanai have bua- ‘heart’, and these are regular reflexes of POc *buaq, not of *busa(q).

PMP		*buaq	‘fruit; areca nut and palm; heart’ (ACD) ⁵¹
POc		*buaq	‘areca nut and palm; heart’ (ACD)
MM	Vitu	bua-	‘heart’
MM	Bola	bua-	‘heart’
MM	Nakanai	bua-	‘heart’

The two reconstructions below, POc *pu(s,c)o ‘heart’ and PWOc *busa(q) ‘heart’ are similar in form (and *busa(q) is similar to *buaq above), and there is no semantic difference between them. The reflexes of both mean ‘heart’ with an occasional instance of ‘liver’. This is presumably an outcome of the fact that both the heart and the liver are regarded as seats of the emotions by speakers of various Oceanic languages. Where similar forms occur with similar meanings, there may be contamination of one by the other, and Wogeo buso- and Malai pus-pusa- both seem to illustrate this.

No convincing explanation can be offered for the fact that there are two terms, but note (i) that POc *puso- is also one of the forms reconstructed for ‘navel’ (§3.5.10) and (ii) that POc *puco(q) and POc *busa are both terms for ‘foam’ (vol.2:96–97) and that each has a PMP antecedent. Whilst it is easier to explain (i) as a semantic shift, it is more difficult to explain away (ii), the fact that the same two forms occur for both ‘foam’ and ‘heart’. One of the reconstructed terms for ‘lungs’ (§3.7.3) includes a word meaning ‘foam’ and, as the heart and lungs are in close relationship anatomically, it may be that an early meaning shift has occurred here.

POc		*pu(s,c)o-	‘heart’
MM	Patpatar	puso-puso	‘heart’
NCV	Nokuku	wiso-	‘heart, liver’
NCV	Araki	(ma)vusa-	‘heart; innards, guts’
NCV	Paamese	(hei)huse-	‘heart’
NCV	Namakir	wus	‘heart’

PWOc		*busa(q)	‘heart’
NNG	Manam	(a)buro-	‘heart’
NNG	Wogeo	buso-	‘liver’
NNG	Malai	pus-pusa-	‘heart’
NNG	Adzera	(nugu)buzu(n)	‘liver’
NNG	Patep	bʷola-	‘heart’
MM	Bulu	(ɣate)bura-bur(a)	‘liver’
MM	Tigak	vusa-	‘heart’
MM	East Kara	vusa-	‘heart’
MM	West Kara	busai-	‘heart’
MM	Notsi	buca-	‘heart’
MM	Lihir	buos	‘heart’
MM	Tangga	bus-busa-	‘heart’
MM	Tolai	buai-	‘heart’
MM	Bilur	buai-	‘heart’

cf. also:

Kia

busaka

‘blood, bleed’

7.3. Lungs⇫

Three reconstructions for ‘lungs’ are offered below. The first of these is technically unusual in that two possible pre-Oceanic source etyma can be posited, PAn *baRaq ‘lung’ and PMP *para ‘coconut embryo’, and therefore two alternative POc forms, *paRa(q) ‘lung’ and *paraq ‘spongy mass…’. At first sight it seems obvious to propose that PAn *baRaq ‘lung’ is ancestral to this cognate set below. However, the Micronesian reflexes listed below are interpreted by Bender et al. (2003) as containing a reflex PMic *fara ‘core (of breadfruit, coconut, pandanus)’, which reflects POc *paraq ‘spongy mass inside sprouting coconut; brain’ (vol.3:373). The Micronesian reflexes other than Marshallese have an additional element, and it is reasonable to infer that this reflects POc *uRat/PMic *ua ‘veins, arteries, tendons’, reflecting a possible (but not firmly reconstructable) POc *paraq qi uRat, meaning approximately ‘spongy mass of innards’, i.e. ‘lungs’. This does not mean that PAn *baRaq ‘lung’ has played no role in the derivation of Oceanic forms, but that at least in a number of early Oceanic languages POc *paRa(q) and *paraq were conflated.⁵²

PAn		*baRaq	‘lung’ (ACD)
PMP		*para	‘coconut embryo’ (ACD)
POc		*paRa(q)	‘lung’
POc		*paraq	‘spongy mass inside sprouting coconut; brain’
PEOc		*vaRa-	‘lungs’ (Geraghty 1990)
NCV	Mota	vara-i	‘liver, breast’
NCV	Port Sandwich	na-var	‘liver’
SV	Sye	ne-vre-	‘lungs’
PMic		*far[a,e]-	‘lungs’ (Bender et al. 2003)
Mic	Marshallese	yar	‘lungs’
Mic	Chuukese	fara(wa)	‘lungs’
Mic	Puluwatese	færa(wa)	‘lungs’
Mic	Carolinian	fære(wa), fære(wæ-)	‘lungs’
Mic	Woleaian	faẓe(wā)	‘native sponge’

cf. also:

NNG

Bariai

boroio

‘lungs’

Reflexes of PAn *baRaq/PMP *para are found only in languages of Vanuatu and Micronesia. Its place has often been taken elsewhere in Oceanic by compound expressions. Two of these can be reconstructed to POc, both compounds including reflexes of *qate- ‘liver’ (§3.7.6), which was apparently also used collectively to denote the major organs. The literal meaning of the first compound was ‘frothy liver’. Its second element was a reduplicated version of *busaq or *puco(q) ‘froth, foam’ (cf §3.7.2, and see footnote 44, p181). The reduplication formed an adjective (vol.2:206) ‘frothy’, referring to the appearance of the lungs when an animal is butchered. In several of the languages in the next set, the second element on its own has come to refer to ‘lungs’.

POc		*qate busa-busaq	‘lungs’
POc		*qate puco(q)-puco(q)	‘lungs’ (lit. ‘frothy liver’)
PT	Iduna	ase-buwa-buwa-na	‘lungs’ (ase- ‘liver’, buwa-buwa- ‘?’)
MM	East Kara	vusə-	‘lungs’ (Schlie and Schlie 1993)
MM	Teop	vu-vuha	‘lungs’ (vuha ‘breath’)
MM	Maringe	phoco	‘lungs; sponge’
SES	Sa’a	sae huto-huto	‘lungs’ (sae ‘liver’, huto-huto ‘frothy’)
NCV	Tamambo	vuso-	‘lungs’
Fij	Bauan	yate-vuso	‘lungs’ (yate ‘liver’, vuso ‘froth’)
Fij	Wayan	ate-vuso	‘lungs’ (ate ‘liver’, vuso ‘froth, foam’)

The following items are variations on the same semantic theme:

NNG	Bukawa	(ŋ)ate gasop	‘lungs’ (ŋate ‘liver’, gasop ‘spittle’)
PT	Dobu	nua buso-buso	‘lungs’ (nua ‘mind, thought, will, wish’, buso-buso ‘froth, foam’)
Fij	Bauan	yate-mawa	‘lungs’ (yate- ‘liver’, mawa ‘steam’)

The second element of the second compound reflects *maRaqa(n) ‘light of weight’, referring to the apparent lightness of the sponge-like material which makes up the lungs.

POc		*[qate] maRaqa(n)	‘lungs’ (qate ‘liver’; maRaqa(n) ‘light in weight’; vol.2:214)
PT	Sudest	ya-maiya-	‘lungs’ (maiya ‘lightweight’)
MM	Patpatar	kāt ma-maka-n	‘lungs’ (ma-maka- ‘lightweight’)
SES	Gela	mala-mala-	‘lungs’
NCV	Ambae	ate ma-marae-	‘lung’
Pn	Tongan	maʔa-maʔa	‘lungs; light (in weight)’
Pn	Niuean	mā-mā	‘lungs; light in weight’
Pn	Pukapukan	mā-mā	‘lungs; light in weight’
Pn	Samoan	mā-mā	‘lungs; light in weight’
Pn	Mangaia	ate mā-mā	‘lungs’
Pn	Hawaiian	ake-mā-mā	‘lung’

cf. also:

Fij	Rotuman	maʔ-maʔa	‘lungs’ (Polynesian loan)
Pn	Hawaiian	ake-makani	‘lung’ (lit. ‘wind liver’)

Araki (NCV) uses a similar, albeit non-cognate, metaphor, mavusa salesale, literally ‘innards/ heart light in weight’ to refer to lungs.

7.4. Stomach⇫

POc speakers probably made a terminological distinction between the stomach, i.e. the internal organ that they found when they butchered a pig, and the belly, i.e. a part of the body as viewed from outside. Terms for stomach are presented here, and terms for belly in §3.5.9.

POc *tobʷa has reflexes meaning ‘stomach’ across all major subgroups other than NNG, MM and Pn. In some languages it also refers to a bag or basket, and this appears to have been its primary meaning,⁵³ allowing derivation of the senses ‘bay’ and ‘area of sea enclosed by barrier reef’ (landscape features that depend on some other feature of the ‘bag’ metaphor; vol.2:46) and ‘stomach’, which appears bag-like when an animal is butchered. Reflexes with all these meanings are listed below. The Malakula reflexes under ‘cf. also’ point to a form *tobʷa(k,q)a-, but we do not yet understand whether such reflexes are conservative or innovatory.

PCP *kete ‘abdomen’ evidently reflects the same metaphor applied to a different form, as it reflects PROc *kete ‘basket’ (vol.1:78).

POc		*tobʷa-	‘stomach (internal organ)’ (cf *tobʷa ‘bag; bay, harbour’)
Adm	Tenis	tova-	‘belly’
Adm	Loniu	top	‘basket, string bag’
PT	Molima	tobʷa	‘cloth bag’
PT	Muyuw	toub	‘stomach’ (tobʷ)
SES	Gela	toba-	‘belly, stomach’ (within)
SES	Tolo	toba-	‘abdomen, belly’
SES	Longgu	obʷa-	‘stomach, belly’
SES	Lau	oga-	‘small intestines’
SES	Kwaio	oga-	‘belly; pith; mind’
SES	’Are’are	opa-	‘stomach, belly’
SES	Sa’a	opʷa-	‘belly, bowels, stomach’
SES	Kahua	obʷa-	‘belly’
TM	Tanibili	tobe-	‘belly’
PNCV		*tobʷa	‘stomach, belly’ (Clark 2009: tabʷa)
NCV	Mota	tobʷa-	‘belly, seat of the affections; condition of pregnancy; basket, pottle’
NCV	Raga	tobʷai-	‘stomach’
NCV	Ambae	tabʷa(ŋine)	‘belly, stomach’
PSV		*na-təpu-	‘stomach, belly’
SV	Sye	ne-tpo(lu)	‘stomach, gizzard’
SV	Southwest Tanna	təpu-	‘stomach, belly’
SV	Kwamera	təpu-	‘stomach, belly’
Fij	Bauan	toba	‘bay or gulf’

cf. also:

NCV	Neve’ei	ne-tabaʔa-	‘stomach’
NCV	Naman	daba(x)a-	‘stomach’
NCV	Larëvat	tabxa-	‘stomach’
NCV	Tirax	təbax	‘stomach’

PCP		*kete	‘abdomen; basket’ (from PROc *kete ‘basket’)
Fij	Rotuman	ʔefe	‘abdomen, belly; womb’
Fij	Bauan	kete	‘belly, stomach’
Pn	Tongan	kete	‘stomach, abdomen’
Pn	East Futunan	kete	‘basket, stomach’
Pn	Māori	kete	‘basket’

POc *bʷal(o,a)- is the most widely reflected term for ‘belly’ in MM and NCV, but in many languages its reflex is used as a relational local noun, ‘inside’ (§3.1.2 and vol.2:239), implying that its main referent was the internal organ. This interpretation is supported by the fact that it sometimes appeared as the first element in compounds referring to ‘intestines’. In South New Ireland languages it is also used in what was perhaps originally a colloquial term ‘carry stomach’ for ‘be pregnant, carry a child’.

POc		*bʷal(o,a)-	‘stomach; hollow space’; [N LOC] ‘inside’
NNG	Lamogai	bele-	‘belly’
MM	Notsi	bale-	‘belly’
MM	Sursurunga	bələ-	‘belly’
MM	Sursurunga	bəl-bələ-	‘intestines’
MM	Tangga	bala-	‘belly; navel; inside’
MM	Konomala	bal	‘belly; intestines’
MM	Lamasong	baia-	‘belly’
MM	Lamasong	ban(tine)	‘intestines’
MM	Madak	bele-	‘belly’
MM	Madak	ban(tain)	‘intestines’
MM	Barok	bala-	‘belly’
MM	Patpatar	bala-bala-	‘belly; intense feelings of many kinds’
MM	Minigir	bala	‘belly’
MM	Tolai	bala-	‘stomach, belly, abdomen, entrails; the intelligent and thinking part of man, the heart, mind’
MM	Tolai	bala-ŋāla	‘large intestine’
MM	Tolai	bala-iokilik	‘small intestine’
MM	Label	bala	‘belly’
MM	Kandas	bala	‘belly’
MM	Ramoaaina	bala	‘belly’
MM	Siar	bala	‘belly’
MM	Nehan	bala	‘belly, intestines’
NCV	Namakir	bʷele(n)	‘belly’
NCV	Nguna	na-pʷele	‘stomach, belly, abdomen, waist, genital region’

The principal PPn term for the stomach was *manawa ‘belly, stomach’, reflecting POc *[ma]ñawa (V) ‘breathe, rest, be alive’; (N) ‘breath, life, fontanelle’. The history of terms descended from POc *[ma]ñawa is complex and is discussed with a fuller set of reflexes in §4.5.1. We speculate that the semantic shift that gave rise to the meaning ‘belly, stomach’ may have first followed a path suggested by Blust (ACD): ‘…from the notion “breath; to breathe” there is a link to the “breath soul”, and from this to “soul; inner self, mind, feelings”…’. As the stomach is regarded as the seat of the emotions in some Oceanic cultures, it is only a short step from here to ‘stomach’. Nonetheless, the evidence amassed in ch.9 indicates that *[ma]ñawa did not occur in POc body-part metaphors denoting emotions, and that the changes that led to the meaning ‘belly, stomach’ occurred long after the break-up of POc. Three non-Polynesian reflexes with a meaning relating to the stomach are listed under ‘cf. also’. We take the Kiribati term to reflect Polynesian influence and the Papuan Tip terms to reflect a localised innovation that happens to be similar to Polynesian.

PAn		*LiSawa	‘breathe, breath’ (ACD)
PMP		*[ma]nihawa	‘breathe; breath’ (ACD; Ross 1988)
POc		*[ma]ñawa	[V] ‘breathe, rest, be alive’; [N] ‘breath, life, fontanelle’
PPn		*manawa	‘belly, stomach’ (POLLEX)⁵⁴
Pn	Tongan	manava	‘belly, stomach; womb; heart, bowels as seat of affections’
Pn	Niuafo’ou	manava	‘womb’
Pn	Niuean	manava	‘belly’
Pn	Samoan	manava	‘belly, abdomen’
Pn	Anutan	ma(a)nava	‘belly, stomach’
Pn	East Uvean	manava	‘belly, stomach’
Pn	Tuvalu	manava	‘belly, seat of the emotions, entrails’
Pn	East Futunan	manava	‘belly’
Pn	West Futunan	manava	‘belly’
Pn	Rennellese	manaba	‘abdomen, navel, navel-cord; centre of emotions’
Pn	Pileni	manava	‘stomach’
Pn	Luangiua	maŋava	‘belly, seat of the emotions, entrails’
Pn	Pukapukan	manava	‘abdomen, belly, stomach; heart, seat of emotions’
Pn	Sikaiana	manava	‘belly’
Pn	Tikopia	manava	‘belly, stomach; bowels; general location of womb; seat of thought and emotion’
Pn	Tokelauan	manava	‘belly, abdomen’
Pn	Takuu	manava	‘belly, seat of the emotions, entrails’
Pn	Tahitian	manava	‘belly’
Pn	Mangarevan	manava	‘innards’
Pn	Tuamotuan	manava	‘stomach’
Pn	Māori	manawa	‘belly, bowels, heart; anterior fontanel; mind, spirit; affections, feelings, disposition’
Pn	Māori	manawa-nui	‘stout-hearted’
Pn	Māori	manawa-kino	‘apprehensive’
Pn	Rapanui	manaba	‘abdomen, belly, stomach’

cf. also:

PT	Wedau	manawa-	‘belly, abdomen’
PT	Gapapaiwa	manawa-	‘stomach’
Mic	Kiribati	te-manawa-	‘pit of the stomach’

A similar semantic shift apparently derived PPn *qalo ‘belly’ from PCP *qalo ‘soul’. Note that this etymon is distinct from POc *qarop ‘face, front’ (§3.4.7).

PCP		*qalo	‘spirit, soul, insides’
Fij	Bauan	yalo	‘spirit, soul’
Fij	Wayan	alo	‘insides, inner part of body; heart, soul’
PPn		*qalo	‘belly, bowels; front, soft side of a thing’ (cf. tuqa ‘back, outer side’)
Pn	Niuean	alo-alo	‘belly, bowels’
Pn	Tongan	ʔalo	‘belly (of fish)’
Pn	East Uvean	ʔalo	‘stomach (of chief)’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔago	‘front; front of the human chest; interior’
Pn	Samoan	alo	‘belly (of fish or chief)’
Pn	Tikopia	aro, aro-aro	‘belly, stomach, womb; interior’
Pn	Māori	aro	‘bowels’
Pn	Anutan	aro-aro	‘belly, bowels’

7.5. Intestines⇫

A number of reflexes of the terms reconstructed for belly or stomach in §3.7.4 are glossed ‘intestines’ or ‘guts’. In some instances it is obvious that the term so glossed is a compound that includes a word for belly or stomach, but others may be the result of inadequate data collection. The same is true of terms in this section. It is not easy to identify the internal organs unless one has a butchered animal to refer to.

The most widely reflected POc etymon for intestines is *tinaqe, derived from a PAn nominalisation formed by infixing *⟨in⟩ into PAn *Caqi ‘faeces’.⁵⁵ Its reflexes have become relational local nouns in a few languages (§3.1.2 and vol.2:239).

PAn		*Cinaqi	‘guts’ (Blust 1999)
POc		*tinaqe	‘intestines’ (vol.2:239)
Adm	Mussau	tine-	‘intestines’
Adm	Drehet	kxine-	‘inner part, inside’
Adm	Nyindrou	drine-	‘intestine, stomach, guts, belly’
NNG	Takia	tiŋae-	‘intestines’
NNG	Manam	tinae	‘intestines’
NNG	Bam	tinai(u)	‘intestines’
NNG	Kairiru	tinake(-)	‘intestines’
NNG	Avau	tanah	‘intestines’
PT	Dawawa	tinaɣe-	‘intestines’
PT	Kilivila	sine(u)	‘intestine, bowels’
PT	Sinaugoro	sinaɣe-	‘stomach, intestines’
PT	Mekeo	ine-	‘bowels’
PT	Saliba	sinae-	‘bowels’
MM	Lavongai	nai-	‘intestines’
MM	Notsi	tini-	‘intestines’
MM	Tabar	tinai-	‘intestines’
MM	Lihir	tine-	‘intestines; belly’
MM	Lamasong	(ban)tine-	‘intestines’
MM	Madak	(ban)tina-	‘intestines’
SES	West Guadalcanal	tinae-	‘guts’
SES	Talise	tinae-	‘guts’
SES	Ghari	tinae-	‘bowels’
NCV	Namakir	tinaʔ	‘intestines’
NCV	Mota	tina(i)-	‘entrails, bowels; middle’
NCV	Tamambo	tine-	‘intestines, bowels’
SV	Lenakel	nə-sŋā-	‘intestines’
SV	Kwamera	(nan)inha-	‘intestines’

Blust (ACD) reconstructs PWMP *isaw and suggests that it may have referred exclusively to animal intestines. The Oceanic evidence suggests a more general gloss ‘innards, guts’ for POc *iso-. Some of its Polynesian reflexes include the senses ‘umbilical cord’ and ‘pith’, suggesting semantic contamination by the formally somewhat similar *puso- ‘navel, umbilical cord’ (§3.5.10.1) and/or POc *quto- ‘brain, pith, marrow’ (vol.3:374–375).

PMP		*isaw	‘intestines’ (ACD: PWMP)
POc		*iso-	‘innards, guts’
Adm	Drehet	isi-	‘insides, guts, faeces’ (o > i assimilation)
NNG	Sio	isi-	‘gall bladder’ (o > i assimilation)
Fij	Wayan	iso	‘innards, esp. gonads of gastropods’
PPn		*[i,u]so	‘pith, core; umbilical cord’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Niuean	uho	‘core, centre’
Pn	Tongan	uho	‘pith, navel cord’
Pn	Rennellese	uso	‘heart, seat of affections, centre’
Pn	Samoan	uso	‘pith, umbilical cord’
Pn	Tikopia	iso	‘spongy interior of sprouting coconut; umbilical cord’
Pn	Rarotongan	iʔo	‘core, marrow; umbilical cord’
Pn	Tahitian	iho	‘essence; umbilical cord’ (obsolete)
Pn	Māori	iho	‘pith; umbilical cord’
Pn	Tuamotuan	iho	‘kernel, pith, core, heart, inside; umbilical cord’; ‘kernel, pith, core, heart, inside, umbilical cord’
Pn	Hawaiian	iho	‘core, pith’
Pn	Tuamotuan	iho	‘kernel, pith, core, heart, inside; umbilical cord’; ‘kernel, pith, core, heart, inside, umbilical cord’

7.6. Liver⇫

The liver was evidently regarded by Proto Oceanic speakers as the centre of one’s being, the place in which feelings, emotions, desires, understanding, and knowledge were located (see the discussion in §9.2.1 of terms for emotions that refer to the liver). In terms of physical body parts, although POc *qate evidently refers primarily to ‘liver’, its meaning is frequently broadened in daughter languages to include other internal organs: ‘heart’, ‘chest’ and, less commonly, ‘lungs’ and ‘spleen’ (§3.7.1).

PAn		*qaCay	‘liver’ (ACD)
PMP		*qatay	‘liver; seat of the emotions, inner self: core, mind, will, desire, feeling, intelligence, understanding; to want or wish; hollow of the palm of the hand or sole of the foot’ (ACD)
POc		*qate	‘liver; seat of the emotions’ (ACD)
Adm	Mussau	ate(a)-	‘liver’
Adm	Aua	aʔe-	‘heart, liver’
Adm	Seimat	ate-	‘liver’
Adm	Penchal	kare-	‘heart’
Adm	Lou	karɛ	‘liver’
Adm	Likum	ate-	‘heart’
Adm	Bipi	ate-	‘heart’
Adm	Loniu	ete-	‘liver’
NNG	Kove	ate-ate-	‘liver’
NNG	Gitua	ate-	‘liver; chest’
NNG	Mangap	kete-	‘liver; chest; place of feelings, conscience’
NNG	Gedaged	ate-	‘heart (as will), the centre of one’s being; loyalty; surface, plane, area, breast, compound, floor’
NNG	Gedaged	nie-n ate-n	‘the sole of his foot’
NNG	Gedaged	nima-n ate-n	‘the palm of his hand’
NNG	Numbami	ate-	‘liver’
NNG	Kairiru	ate-	‘heart’
NNG	Tami	kat	‘liver’
NNG	Tami	aka-kat	‘heart’
NNG	Kaiwa	ate-	‘heart’
NNG	Mapos Buang	ate-	‘liver’
PT	Dobu	ʔate-	‘liver’
PT	Gapapaiwa	kate-kate-	‘liver’
PT	Misima	ate-	‘liver’
PT	Kilivila	kate-	‘lung’
PT	Mekeo	aʔe-	‘liver’
PT	Motu	ase-	‘liver’
MM	Vitu	ɣate-	‘frontside’
MM	Bali	ɣate-	‘liver’
MM	Bola	ɣate-	‘liver’
MM	Meramera	wate-	‘liver’
MM	Nakanai	hate-	‘liver or solar plexus (seat of emotion); internal organs in general; sometimes spleen’
MM	Patpatar	kāti-	‘liver, centre of being’
MM	Tigak	iat	‘liver’
MM	West Kara	ŋati-	‘liver’
MM	Nalik	iat	‘liver’
MM	Notsi	iet	‘liver’
MM	Lihir	iet	‘liver’ (yate ‘chest’)
MM	Tangga	ete-	‘liver or solar plexus, the seat of the emotions’
MM	Mono-Alu	ate-	‘chest, breast; liver’
SES	Bugotu	ate-	‘liver’
SES	Gela	ate-	‘liver’
SES	Lau	sae-	‘the core of a thing; carcass skinned, feathers removed; meat of an egg; peeled yam or orange; kernel of nut; think, suppose’
SES	Lau	sae(fou)	‘liver’ (fou ‘stone’)
SES	Kwaio	lae-, lae(fou)	‘liver’
SES	Sa’a	sae-	‘heart, mind, liver, lungs, chest’
SES	’Are’are	rae-	‘stomach, heart, liver, lungs, womb, mind, seat of affections, intention, will’
NCV	Raga	ate-	‘liver’
NCV	Ambae	ate-	‘liver’
NCal	Iaai	ak, aki-	‘liver’
NCal	Nengone	(gu)at	‘liver’
Mic	Marshallese	ac	‘liver; spleen; seat of bravery’
Mic	Carolinian	æse-	‘liver’
Mic	Woleaian	yase-	‘liver’
Fij	Rotuman	äfe	‘liver’
Fij	Bauan	yate-	‘the liver, considered as the seat of cowardice and courage’ (hence yate levu ‘coward’ (‘big liver’), yate dei, yate lialia ‘courageous; firm, unwavering/mad liver, foolish liver’)
Pn	Tongan	ʔate	‘liver’
Pn	Niuean	ate, ate-fua	‘liver’ (fua ‘fruit’)
Pn	Samoan	ate	‘liver’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔate	‘liver’
Pn	Rarotongan	ate	‘liver of man or animals or birds’
Pn	Tikopia	ate	‘liver, in man a seat of emotions in traditional belief’
Pn	Māori	ate	‘liver; the seat of the affections; heart; emotion; spirit, high feeling’
Pn	Māori	ate-ate	‘bosom’
Pn	Hawaiian	ake	‘liver; to desire, yearn (the emotions and intelligence were thought to be centered within the body)’

7.7. Gall bladder⇫

Blust (ACD) reconstructs POc *qasu ‘gall bladder’, but notes that it almost certainly does not reflect PAn *qapeju ‘gall, gall bladder’.⁵⁶ Its reconstruction here as *qasun with final *-n (reflected in Lukep and Nehan) confirms that he is correct.

POc		*qasun	‘gall, gall bladder, octopus sepia’ (ACD)
Adm	Mussau	kasu-	‘gall, gall bladder’
Adm	Wuvulu	aku-	‘gall, gall bladder’
Adm	Aua	aru-	‘gall, gall bladder’
Adm	Seimat	axu-	‘gall, gall bladder’
Adm	Penchal	kasu	‘gall, gall bladder’
Adm	Bipi	asu-	‘gall, gall bladder’
NNG	Kove	asu-	‘gall bladder’
NNG	Bariai	asu-	‘gall, gall bladder’
NNG	Lukep	kasunu-	‘gall bladder’
NNG	Mangap	kusu-	‘gall bladder’
PT	Motu	audu-	‘gall’
MM	East Kara	ɣəs	‘gall bladder’
MM	Nehan	kasunu-	‘gall bladder’
SES	Gela	ahu-	‘gall’
SES	Ghari	asu-	‘bile’
SES	Longgu	zasua-	‘gall bladder’
SES	Lau	sasu-	‘gall bladder; ink of cuttlefish’
Mic	Kiribati	ari-	‘gall, gall bladder; bitter; bitterness’
Mic	Marshallese	at	‘gall bladder; seat of brave emotions; seat of ambition; bile’
Mic	Puluwatese	yǣt	‘spleen, gall bladder; formerly the human spleen was cooked and used to poison a foe’
Fij	Rotuman	hasu	‘gall bladder’ (for †asu-)
Pn	Tongan	ʔahu	‘gall, gall bladder’
Pn	Niuean	ahu	‘spleen’
Pn	Samoan	au	‘liver, (esp. of pig)’
Pn	Samoan	au(-ʔona)	‘gall-bladder; bile’ (ʔona ‘poisonous, bitter’)
Pn	Rennellese	ʔau	‘bile, gall bladder; bitter meat, as of an ʔagigi turban shell’
Pn	Rarotongan	au	‘the gall of animals’
Pn	Tikopia	āu	‘gall bladder, of man, animals and fish’
Pn	Māori	au	‘gall’
Pn	Hawaiian	au	‘gall, bile; gall bladder’

7.8. Spleen⇫

The spleen is a significant organ in many Oceanic communities because malaria may lead to its enlargement, leading on occasion to its fatal rupture. Some languages have a word with a meaning relating to an enlarged spleen, e.g. Titan (Adm) map ‘condition of having an enlarged spleen’ (N), Iduna (PT) kʷada ‘enlarged spleen’, Gela (SES) bila ‘enlarged spleen’.

Although not widely attested in the data, there is sufficient representation across subgroups to attribute *bila- ‘spleen’ to POc.

POc		*bila-	‘spleen’
NNG	Lukep	wila-	‘spleen’
MM	Teop	bina-	‘spleen’
SES	Gela	bila-	‘big belly, enlarged spleen’

Two metaphoric expressions for ‘spleen’ have been reconstructed for PPn: *qate-loa (‘long liver’) and *qate-pili (‘sticky liver’). Bauan Fijian yate balavu echoes the former, with a non-cognate term for ‘long’.

PPn		*qate-loa	‘spleen’ (PPn qate ‘liver’, loa ‘long’; POLLEX)
Pn	Niuean	ate-loa	‘spleen’
Pn	Tahitian	ate-roa	‘milt or spleen’
Pn	Hawaiian	ake-loa	‘spleen’
PPn		*qate-pili	‘spleen’ (PPn qate ‘liver’, pili ‘sticky, adhere to’; POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	ʔate-pili	‘spleen’
Pn	Niuean	ate-pili	‘spleen’
Pn	East Uvean	ate-pili	‘kidney’
Pn	Samoan	ate-pili	‘spleen’
Pn	Tokelauan	ate-pili	‘spleen’

7.9. Kidney⇫

A term for ‘kidney’ cannot be reconstructed with any certainty. In many Oceanic languages the term for kidney is a metaphor that makes reference to an object that is perceived as kidney- shaped, typically a fruit or nut, or is preceded by a classifier for such objects. For instance, reflexes of POc *puaq ‘fruit’ occur in Adm, SES, NCV and Pn terms.

The most frequent metaphor equates a kidney with a Tahitian chestnut (Inocarpus fagifer), and this points to a possible reconstruction. One POc term for the Tahitian chestnut was *ipi (vol.3:318) and a very few languages reflect this or a reduplicated form *ip(i)-ipi in the sense of kidney.

POc		*ip(i)-ipi	‘kidney’ (?)
NNG	Lukep	ipip	‘Tahitian chestnut; kidney’
NNG	Mangap	ipip	‘Tahitian chestnut; kidney’
Fij	Rotuman	ififi	‘kidneys; testicles; small bunch or cluster, as of fruit’
Fij	Bauan	ivi	‘kidney; Tahitian chestnut, Inocarpus’
Pn	Niuean	fua-ifi	‘kidney’ (lit. ‘fruit of Tahitian chestnut’)
Pn	East Futunan	ifi-ifi	‘kidney’

There are also several other terms arising from the same metaphor, reflecting POc *mabʷe ‘Tahitian chestnut’ (vol.3:319).⁵⁷

SES	Arosi	kora i mabʷe	‘kidneys’ (‘fruit of Tahitian chestnut’)
NCV	Mota	wo mʷake-mʷake	‘kidney’ (woai ‘globular object, fruit, nut’, mʷake ‘Tahitian chestnut’)
NCV	Raga	mʷabʷe	‘kidney’
Pn	Rapanui	mape	‘kidney’
Pn	Tahitian	māpē	‘Tahitian chestnut; kidney’

A Tolai (MM) term is ela ‘chestnut tree; the kidneys’. In this instance it is not clear which was the original meaning.

Reflexes of POc *giri-giri ‘coral, coral rubble’ (vol.2:64) have in places varied their meaning to ‘pebble’ and thence to pebble-shaped objects like kidneys (Paul Geraghty, pers. comm.). Thus we find:

SES	Lau	ligi-ligi	‘kidneys’ (metathesis)
Fij	Wayan	(mō)gili-gili	‘kidney’
Fij	Nadrogā	gili-gili	‘kidney’

Examples embodying other metaphors for the kidneys based on shape are listed below. Where known the reconstructed POc antecedent of each element is given.

Adm	Seimat	hua-i nonu	‘kidney’ (puaq_ ‘fruit’, _ñoñu ‘Indian mulberry’, vol.3:408)
PT	Motu	nadi-nadi	‘kidneys; small stone, seed’ (nadi ‘stone’)
MM	Tolai	likā-	‘kidneys; slingstone’
MM	Teop	pauna	‘kidney; banana’ (*baqun ‘banana cultivar’, vol. 3:279)
MM	Kia	subuna	‘kidney’ (also ‘seed, tablet’)
SES	Gela	vua ni kola	‘kidneys’ (puaq_ ‘fruit’, _koRa ‘wild mango’, vol.3:341)
SES	Tolo	piu(na)	‘kidney; seed’
SES	Arosi	hua i ʔai	‘kidneys’ (puaq_ ‘fruit’, _kayu ‘tree’, vol.3:71)
SES	Sa’a	hoi daŋo	‘kidney’ (puaq ‘fruit’, daŋo* ‘tree, wood’)
Pn	Samoan	fatu-maʔa	‘kidney’ (patu ‘stone’, vol.2:62, maʔa* ‘stone’)
Pn	Samoan	fatu gaʔo	‘kidney’ (gaʔo ‘fat, lard’)

7.10. Bladder⇫

There is ample evidence for a POc compound meaning ‘bladder’ consisting of a first element that meant something like ‘bag’, ‘basket’ (in several languages a reflex of *taŋa ‘small bag’, vol.1:79) or similar round container and a second element mimi[q,s] ‘urine’ (§4.4.7), sometimes joined by a linker POc *qi or *ni.

Adm	Titan	ñamʷanu-mim	‘bladder’ (ñamʷanun ‘container’)
MM	Roviana	koro-mimi-	‘bladder’ (koro-koro ‘lungs’)
SES	Gela	kei ni mimi-	‘bladder’ (kei ‘round basket for food’)
SES	Sa’a	hau mimi-	‘bladder’ (hau ’classifier for compact round objects like stones??)
NCV	Ambae	taŋa mere-	‘bladder’ (mere- ‘urine’)
Fij	Wayan	kato-ni-mī	‘bladder’ (kato ‘carrying container’)
Pn	Tongan	taŋa-mimi	‘bladder’
Pn	Samoan	taŋa-a-mimi	‘bladder’
Pn	Hawaiian	ʔōpū-mimi	‘bladder’ (ʔōpū ‘belly’)

POc *p(i,u)pu- is reflected in Meso-Melanesian and Southern Oceanic.

POc		*p(i,u)pu-	‘bladder’
MM	Nakanai	pupu-	‘bladder’
MM	Halia	pipuhu-	‘bladder’
MM	Teop	vivi-	‘bladder’
MM	Tinputz	vi-	‘bladder’
NCV	Neve’ei	nu-vuvu-	‘bladder’
NCV	Paamese	(hei)hūhu-	‘bladder’
NCal	Pije	phūp	‘bladder’
NCal	Jawe	phūp	‘bladder’

Reflexes of PWOc *pʷ(a,o)ti- ‘bladder’ are well distributed across Western Oceanic languages.

PWOc		*pʷ(a,o)ti-	‘bladder’
NNG	Mangap	pot	‘bladder’
NNG	Lukep	pot	‘bladder’
PT	Are	poti-	‘bladder’
PT	Tawala	posi-	‘bladder’ (-s- for †-h-)
PT	Motu	posi-	‘bladder’
PT	Wedau	poti-	‘bladder’ (for †poi)
MM	Vitu	pati-	‘bladder’
MM	Tabar	puti-	‘bladder’
MM	Tolai	puta(vāna)	‘bladder’

7.11. Uterus, placenta and amniotic fluid⇫

No POc term is reconstructable for the uterus, but it is noteworthy that in scattered languages the term for ‘stomach’ is used, sometimes with a qualifier, e.g. ‘stomach of child’.

There is, however, a term for the placenta, POc *tapuni-. The loss of -n- or -ni- in a majority of reflexes may reflect reanalysis of -ni as a verbal transitive suffix. Robert Blust (pers. comm.) suggests that the practice of burying the placenta described in the Kwaio gloss prepares the way for the extension of meaning to the transitive verb ‘bury, conceal’ reflected in Arosi, leading to the resultant deletion of transitivising -ni from the noun form.

PMP		*tambuni	‘afterbirth, placenta’ (ACD)
POc		*tapuni-	‘placenta’
SES	Gela	tavu-	‘placenta’
SES	Longgu	tavu-	‘placenta’
SES	Kwaio	afuni-	‘placenta; in pagan childbirth must be buried under mother’s bed in childbirth hut to avoid supernatural danger to her’
SES	Arosi	ʔahui	‘placenta’⁵⁸
SES	Arosi	ahuni-	[V] ‘bury, cover, conceal, hide’
SES	Sa’a	ahui-	‘placenta’
NCV	Tamambo	tavu-	‘placenta’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	jap	‘placenta’
NCal	Iaai	koü	‘placenta’
Mic	Woleaian	sōʉ-	‘placenta’
Mic	Mokilese	cou-	‘placenta’

PPn *fanua, reflecting PMP *banua and POc *panua ‘inhabited area or territory’ (vol.1:62), referred also to the placenta.

PPn		*fanua	‘placenta’
Pn	Tongan	fonua	‘placenta’
Pn	Samoan	fanua	‘afterbirth’
Pn	Pukapukan	wenua	‘placenta’
Pn	Rennellese	henua	‘afterbirth’
Pn	Marquesan	henua	‘afterbirth’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	henua	‘afterbirth’
Pn	Māori	whenua	‘afterbirth’
Pn	Rapanui	henua	‘womb’

Terms for amniotic fluid are few and far between in the data sources, but those that occur have to do with ‘water’. Gela mbeimbeti ‘amniotic fluid’ is a reduplicated form of mbeti ‘fresh water’. The only reconstruction for ‘amniotic fluid’ is PPn *lanu, which is a reflex of POc *[dr,r]anum ‘fresh water’ and also meant ‘bathe or wash in fresh water’ (POLLEX).

PAn		*daLum	‘water, potable, drinking, fresh’ (Blust 1999)
POc		*[dr,r]anum	‘fresh water’ (vol.2:58)
PPn		*lanu	(1) ‘bathe or wash in fresh water’; (2) ‘amniotic fluid’
Pn	Niuean	lanu	‘clear liquid’
Pn	Niuean	(inu) lanu	‘suffocate through drinking amniotic fluid’ (inu ‘drink’)
Pn	East Uvean	lanu	‘amniotic fluid’
Pn	Pukapukan	lanu	‘amniotic fluid’
Pn	Samoan	lanu	‘amniotic fluid’
Pn	Tuvalu	lanu	‘amniotic fluid’
Pn	Takuu	nalu	‘amniotic fluid’ (metathesis)

8. Bodily emissions⇫

This topic of this section is substances that are emitted by the body (as opposed to those of which the body is composed; §3.3). They are listed in the same order as the body parts in §§3.4–3.5 with which their emission is associated, that is, roughly in order from the top of the trunk to the bottom. Verbs associated with bodily emissions are presented in §4.4.

The POc term for pus is presented in §5.3.2.2 in association with terms that have to do with health and sickness. A multiplicity of terms for the action of spitting and for spittle are included in §4.4.3. They are there rather than here because the terms for saliva/spittle appear to be derived from verbs of spitting. However, a possible compound for ‘saliva’ is mentioned in §3.8.4. Similarly the POc term for ‘sweat’ (both verb and noun) was originally a verb (*ma-qono) and is also to be found in §4.4.6. Terms for ‘urine’ and ‘urinate’ also employ the same roots and are located in §4.4.7.

8.1. Tears⇫

Terms for ‘tears’ are typically compounds, as in PEOc *suRu qi mata ‘tears’, literally ‘fluid of eye’ or PROc *wai(R) ni mata, literally ‘water of eye’, in which the first item denotes a fluid⁵⁹ and the second reflects POc *mata ‘eye’ (§3.4.9.1). Because the ‘fluid’ item has been replaced at various times, some members of the cognate sets below may be outcomes of independent replacement. Thus PPn *lo-qi-mata ‘tears’ is well attested, suggesting that Hawaiian wai maka and Marquesan vai-mata may reflect local innovations independent of PROc *wai(R) ni mata. (On *qi, see §3.1.1, Hooper 1985, Ross 1998c.)

PEOc		*suRu qi mata	‘tears’ (POc *suruq ‘juice, fluid’)
SES	Lau	sulu i mā	‘tears’ (sulu ‘liquid, oil, juice, sap’)
PNCV		*suRu(i) mata	‘tears’ (Clark 2009)
NCV	Nume	sur-mata	‘tears’
NCV	Mota	sur-mata	‘tears’
NCV	Uripiv	sue-n-mete-k	‘tears’
NCV	Paamese	sii-meto	‘tears’

PROc		*wai(R) ni mata	‘tears’ (POc *waiR ‘water’)
NCV	Ambae	wai ni mata	‘tears’
Fij	Wayan	wai ni mata	‘tears’
Fij	Bauan	wai ni mata	‘tears’
Pn	Hawaiian	wai maka	‘tears’
Pn	Marquesan	vai-mata	‘tears’

PPn		*lo-qi-mata	‘tears’ (POLLEX; lo- perhaps from PPn lolo ‘coconut oil’ or from lolo (V) ‘flood, submerge’)
Pn	Tongan	lo-ʔ-i–mata	‘tear(s)’
Pn	Samoan	lo-i-mata	‘a tear’
Pn	East Futunan	lo-ʔ-i–mata	‘tears’
Pn	East Uvean	lo-i-mata	‘a tear’
Pn	Kapingamarangi	ro-i-mata	‘a tear’
Pn	Tikopia	ro-i-mata	‘tear(s)’
Pn	Pukapukan	lo-i-mata	‘a tear’
Pn	Rennellese	go-ʔi-mata	‘a tear’
Pn	Sikaiana	lo-i-mata	‘a tear’
Pn	Tahitian	ro-i-mata	‘a tear’
Pn	Tuamotuan	ro-i-mata	‘tear(s)’
Pn	Māori	ro-i-mata	‘tear(s)’

The Roviana and Bugotu phrases below reflect a semantically similar compound.

MM	Roviana	kolo mata	‘tears’ (kolo ‘water, liquid’)
SES	Bugotu	koðo i mata	‘tears’ (koðo ‘oil, liquid’)

The terms below represent somewhat different phrasal strategies for expressing ‘tears’. Bileki ma-sali apparently reflects a stative form of POc *saliR ‘to flow’ (vol.2:94), where ma- is the stative prefix (ma- does not reflect *mata- ‘eye’).

PT	Motu	iruru-mata	‘tears’ (iruru ‘track left by movement of s.t.’)
MM	Bileki	ma-sali	‘tear drops’
MM	Babatana	sosopoe-mate	‘tears’ (sosopoe ‘to drip, a drop’)

8.2. Earwax and deafness⇫

The association between earwax and deafness in the glosses of POc *tul(i,e) below is an obvious one, but the cognate set raises the question, What did POc *tul(i,e) mean? ‘Earwax’ or ‘deaf’ or both?⁶⁰ A key to the answer lies in the fact that ‘he is deaf’ is usually expressed in the Oceanic languages of New Guinea and the Bismarcks as ‘his ears are deaf/blocked/closed’, i.e. by an expression in which ‘ears’ is the subject. In Dobu and Muyuw, at least, reflexes of *tul(i,e) are also the predicate of such a construction, i.e. ‘his ears are earwaxed’. Thus if *tul(i,e) was used as a noun, it meant ‘earwax’ (and perhaps ‘deafness’); if it was used as a verb with ‘ears’ as subject, then it meant ‘be deaf’. In PPn the sense ‘deaf’ was retained and ‘earwax’ became *taqe-tuli ‘excrement of deafness’. Samoan has a compound verb faʔa-taliŋa-tuli ‘turn a deaf ear’ [lit. ‘cause ear deaf’].

Another term for ‘deaf’ was POc *pʷapo (§5.3.14), but this appears to have meant ‘deaf and dumb’.

PMP		tuli, tilu	‘earwax’ (ACD)
POc		*tul(i,e)	‘earwax; be deaf’ (ACD: tule ‘earwax’, tuli ‘deaf’)⁶¹
NNG	Mangap	tīli	‘earwax’
PT	Dobu	(tena) tui	[ear be.deaf] ‘deafness’
PT	Kilivila	tuli	‘deaf, crazy’
PT	Muyuw	tuy	‘deaf (of ears)’
PT	Misima	tui	‘deaf’
MM	Nakanai	tule	‘earwax’
NCV	Mota	tul	‘earwax’
NCV	Ambae	dule	‘earwax’
NCV	Paamese	a-ruli	‘earwax’
NCV	Nakanamanga	tūle	‘earwax’
Fij	Bauan	dule	‘earwax’
Fij	Wayan	tule	‘earwax’
Fij	Rotuman	fuli	‘be deaf’
PPn		*tuli	‘deaf’
PPn		*taqe-tuli	‘earwax’ (POLLEX; *taqe- ‘excrement’; §3.8.6)
Pn	Tongan	tuli	‘deaf’
Pn	Tongan	teʔe-tuli	‘wax in the ear’
Pn	Samoan	tuli	‘deaf’
Pn	Samoan	tae-tuli	‘earwax’
Pn	Tikopia	tuli	‘deaf’
Pn	Tikopia	tae-tuli	‘earwax’
Pn	Rennellese	tugi	‘deaf, hard of hearing’
Pn	Rennellese	taʔe-tugi	‘earwax’
Pn	Anutan	tu-turi	‘deaf’
Pn	Anutan	tae-turi	‘earwax’
Pn	Hawaiian	kuli	‘deaf’
Pn	Hawaiian	kō-kuli	‘earwax’
Pn	Māori	turi	‘deaf’
Pn	Māori	tae-turi	‘earwax’

8.3. Snot, nasal mucus⇫

Three POc terms for ‘snot’ are reconstructed. It seems probable that POc *ŋorok ‘snot’ is historically the same root as *ŋorok ‘grunt, growl, snore’ (§4.5.3) and the root of POc *ŋoro-ŋorok ‘channel above upper lip’ (§3.4.11), the more so as the visible manifestation of snot is above the upper lip of small children. Wayan Fijian distinguishes three kinds of mucus: drove ‘phlegm, thick mucus in the throat or lungs’, a reflex of POc *(dr,d)ap(e,i) below; dakwa ‘snot’; and drakwa ‘white mucus secreted by the eye’, but it is impossible to provide more specific glosses for the POc reconstructions below.

POc		*ŋorok	‘snot; grunt, growl, snore’
NNG	Amara	(o)ŋur	‘nasal mucus’
NNG	Arawe	(la)ŋur-ŋur	‘nasal mucus’
NNG	Malalamai	ŋor-ŋoro	‘nasal mucus’
NNG	Sio	ŋo-ŋolo	‘nasal mucus’
MM	Madak	ŋo-ŋo	‘nasal mucus’
MM	Tangga	ŋor(lo)	‘nasal mucus’
MM	Babatana	ŋuru	‘mucus, nasal discharge’
MM	Roviana	ŋuru	‘discharge of mucus from nose’
NCV	Mota	ŋor	‘mucus of nose’

cf. also:

NNG	Bing	ŋur-ŋur	‘cold, sick’
PT	Molima	nelu	‘nasal mucus’
PT	Dobu	nelu	‘nasal mucus’
PT	Wedau	neru(bai)	‘nasal mucus’
PT	Minaveha	nenu	‘snot’
PT	Motu	kuru	‘nasal mucus’

POc		*bʷaŋoR	‘snot’
Adm	Lou	puŋop	‘nasal mucus’
Adm	Titan	βuŋa(tut)	‘mucus, snot’
NNG	Ali	pañur	‘nasal mucus’
NNG	Tumleo	paŋur	‘nasal mucus’
NNG	Sissano	pakur	‘nasal mucus’
PT	Iduna	bʷana	‘phlegm’
MM	Vitu	baraŋoŋo	‘snot’ (metathesis)
MM	Sursurunga	biŋ	‘nasal mucus’ (?vowel)
SES	Longgu	bʷaño(i)	‘snot’
SES	Lau	gʷaŋo	‘mucus in nose’
SES	Sa’a	pʷaŋo-	‘mucus in the nose’
SES	To’aba’ita	gʷaŋo-	‘nasal mucus’
SES	Arosi	bʷaŋo	‘nasal mucus’
SES	’Are’are	pano	‘nasal mucus’
NCV	Nduindui	gʷaŋo	‘nose’
NCV	Baetora	bʷaŋo	‘nose’

POc		*(dr,d)ap(e,i)	‘snot, nasal mucus’
MM	Tabar	dave	‘snot’
MM	Barok	depe	‘snot’
NCV	Mota	nav	‘snot, nasal mucus’
NCV	Tamambo	divi	‘snot, nasal mucus’
NCV	Raga	davi	‘mucus’
NCV	Namakir	dav	‘snot, nasal mucus’
NCal	Nêlêmwa	dewã(-t)	‘snot, slimy thing’
Fij	Wayan	drove	‘phlegm, thick mucus in the throat or lungs’ (-o- for †-a-)

Other NCV languages refer to ‘nasal mucus’ with reflexes of POc *suRuq ‘juice, fluid’ (Lolovoli suru, NE Ambae suru).

PPn		*isu-peqe	‘nasal mucus’ (POLLEX; lit. ‘overripe nose?’)
Pn	Tongan	ihu-peʔe	‘nasal mucus’ (peʔe ‘overripe, of breadfruit’)
Pn	East Futunan	isu peʔe	‘dirty nose, snot’
Pn	Pukapukan	yū-pē	‘nasal mucus’
Pn	Rennellese	isu-peʔe	‘nasal mucus’
Pn	Samoan	isu-pē	‘nasal mucus’
Pn	Tikopia	su-pē	‘mucus from the nose’
Pn	Tokelauan	isu-pē	‘snot’

No form is reconstructed to account for the following terms but it seems likely that they are somehow related to PAn *Siŋus / PMP *hiŋus ‘sniff, sniffle (as with a runny nose)’ (ACD).

Adm	Mussau	maŋusa	‘snot’ (ŋusu ‘nose, to smell’)
Adm	Lou	roŋus	‘snot’ (aŋus ‘blow the nose’)
NNG	Buang	aŋʷis	‘mucus, nasal secretion; slimy sap’
NNG	Mangseng	ŋus	‘snot’
NNG	Atui	e-ŋus	‘snot’
NNG	Bebeli	musu	‘snot’
MM	Meramera	ŋoso	‘snot’
MM	Solos	niŋus	‘snot’
MM	Petats	liŋus	‘snot’

8.4. Saliva⇫

Most terms for ‘saliva’ appear specifically to denote spittle, and are found in §4.4.3, as they are identical with or derived from a verb meaning ‘spit’. However, it is possible that POc speakers labelled saliva ‘water of mouth’, as this expression is found at widespread locations. It is, however, such an obvious compound that it may have arisen independently at different times and places.

Adm	Drehet	weyi pʷehea	[water mouth]	‘saliva’
NNG	Mengen	kao- mena	[mouth- water]	‘saliva’
NCal	Nemi	we-hwa-	[water-mouth-]	‘saliva’

8.5. Semen, smegma⇫

Blust (ACD) reconstructs PMP *biRas or *biRaq ‘semen, smegma’, both resulting in POc *biRa, but each rests on a single non-Oceanic reflex⁶² plus the Oceanic reflexes below whose meanings most consistently denote stale or unwanted material such as sediment left after processing. No Oceanic reflex denotes ‘semen’, but Polynesian reflexes include reference to smegma (penile mucus) and vaginal mucus, suggesting that these were among its POc denotations.

PMP		biRas, biRaq	‘semen, smegma’ (ACD)
POc		*biRa	(1) ‘roe, fish eggs’; (2) ‘sediment, dregs’; (3) ‘smegma’ (?)
PT	Molima	bila	[N] ‘fat’
MM	Tolai	bira	‘fat, grease, lard’
SES	Lau	bila	(1) ‘stale, musty’; (2) ‘body smell’; (3) ‘sediment in washing tapioca’
SES	Kwaio	bila	‘rotten or decaying vegetable matter’
SES	Arosi	bira	‘dregs, starch, sediment as in making tapioca’
NCV	Mota	pia(i)	‘coagulated vegetable sap’
Fij	Bauan	bia-bia	‘sediment’
PPn		*[pia]pia	‘sticky secretion’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Niuean	piapia	‘be smudgy, messy, sticky’
Pn	Pukapukan	pia	(1) ‘white substance found in sexual organs of both sexes’; (2) ‘starch’
Pn	Rarotongan	piapia	‘gummy excretion from eye’
Pn	Rennellese	piapia	‘mucus-laden, as vagina or penis’
Pn	Samoan	pia	‘smegma, secretion of the sexual organs’
Pn	Tikopia	pia	‘mucus secretions associated with sexual intercourse’
Pn	Māori	pia	‘gum or exudation of trees’
Pn	Hawaiian	piapia	‘discharge from eyes; smegma’
Pn	Marquesan	pia	‘smegma’

POc		*moro	‘mucus, semen’
NNG	Mengen	molo	‘pus (in eye)’
PT	Gumawana	molo-	‘semen, nasal mucus’
PT	Iduna	molo	‘semen’
PT	Gapapaiwa	moro-	‘semen’
PT	Tawala	molo	‘semen’
Fij	Eastern Fijian dialects	moro	‘white mucus under foreskin’⁶³

Euphemistic labels for semen seem to be quite common, and PCP *sī perhaps originated in this way.

PCP		*sī	‘semen, that which spurts out’
Fij	Bauan	sī-	‘semen’
Fij	Wayan	-sī	‘semen’
Pn	Tongan	hī	‘semen’
Pn	Samoan	sī	‘semen, vaginal fluid, traditionally believed also to be part of what makes babies’ (Andrew Pawley, pers. comm.)
Pn	Tuvalu	hī	‘spurt’
Pn	Tongarevan	hī	‘gushing flow of water, blood or other liquid’
Pn	Tahitian	hī	‘flux, the bloody flux’
Pn	Māori	hī	‘have diarrhoea’
Pn	Hawaiian	hī	‘dysentery, diarrhoea’

NCV languages use reflexes of POc *suRuq ‘juice, fluid’ to refer to a range of bodily fluids including variously snot, tears and semen: (Avava a-sur ‘semen’, Raga hu- ‘oil, liquid, juice, semen’). Some languages refer to semen euphemistically as ‘his water’, e.g. Nyindrou (Adm) gʷa ta-n [water PREP-his], ’Are’are (SES) wai-na [water-his]. Other euphemisms include Lukep (NNG) gorenge (from POc *g(o.u)reŋ ‘coconut milk, coconut cream’; vol.3:372), Kwaio bula-bula- ‘saliva’ and Lonwolwol (NCV) atu- ‘seed’

8.6. Faeces, excrement⇫

Two terms are reconstructed. POc *taqe- ‘faeces’ was primarily a noun. POc *pekas was a verb, ‘defecate’, but seems also to have been used as a noun meaning ‘faeces’. The cognate set reflecting *pekas is given in §4.4.8.

PAn		*Caqi	‘faeces’ (Given in acd without supporting evidence.)
POc		*taqe-	‘faeces’
Adm	Lou	te	‘faeces, defecate’
Adm	Loniu	te	‘faeces’
Adm	Mussau	teka	‘faeces, to defecate’
NNG	Bukawa	taʔ	‘faeces; stomach’
NNG	Kilenge	tae	‘faeces’
NNG	Kove	tahe	‘faeces’
NNG	Gedaged	taen	‘dung, excrement; ashes, remnant; entrails’
PT	Lala	kaʔe	‘faeces’
PT	Motu	taɣe	‘excrement’
PT	Wedau	tae	‘excrement’
MM	Vitu	taɣe-	‘excrement’
MM	Bali	taɣe	‘excrement’
MM	Bulu	taɣe	‘excrement’
MM	Bola	taɣe	‘excrement’
MM	Harua	taɣe	‘excrement’
MM	Nakanai	ta-tae	‘excrement’
MM	Meramera	tae	‘excrement’
MM	Lavongai	tai	‘excrement’
MM	Tigak	tai	‘excrement’
MM	West Kara	tai(t)	‘excrement’
MM	Nalik	tai	‘excrement’
MM	Roviana	tae-	‘excrement’
NCV	Mota	tae(na)	‘excrement, dung’
NCV	Tamambo	tae	‘excrement’
NCV	Raga	tae	‘excrement’
NCV	Namakir	taʔe(n)	‘excrement’
PSV		*nə-taqi	‘excrement’ (Lynch)
SV	Lenakel	nəs	‘excrement’ (no specific possessor)
SV	Kwamera	nihi	‘excrement’ (no specific possessor)
NCal	Iaai	tī	‘excrement’
Fij	Wayan	-tā	‘excrement’
Fij	Bauan	dā-, dē-	‘excrement’
Pn	Tongan	taʔe	‘excrement’
Pn	Tikopia	tae	‘waste matter; excrement’

The following point to a PMM variant:

PMM		*tak(e,i)	‘excrement’
MM	Tabar	take	‘excrement’
MM	Lihir	tek	‘excrement’
MM	Tangga	tek-tek	‘excrement’
MM	Tangga	teke	‘buttocks’
MM	Konomala	tek	‘excrement’
MM	Konomala	mantek	‘buttocks’
MM	Patpatar	take	‘excrement’
MM	Minigir	take	‘excrement’
MM	Tolai	taki-	‘faeces, excrement’
MM	Label	teke	‘excrement’
MM	Bilur	tike	‘excrement’
MM	Ramoaaina	taki	‘excrement’
MM	Siar	(man)tek	‘excrement’
MM	Tomoip	tek	‘excrement’

9. Incorporeal parts⇫

This section presents reconstructions for ‘incorporeal parts’, i.e. nouns denoting concepts that, despite their lack of physicality, are treated as if they were body parts, i.e. are directly possessed.

9.1. Shadow, reflection, image, likeness⇫

It is clear from the glosses below that POc *[qa]nunu and POc *qata(r) meant more than ‘shadow, reflection, image’. They also denoted a person’s soul/spirit/personality.⁶⁴

PAn		*qaLiŋu	‘shadow, reflection’ (ACD)
PMP		*qaninu	‘shadow, reflection’ (ACD)
POc		*[qa]nunu	‘shadow of person, likeness, reflection’
NNG	Mangap	kunu-	‘one’s own shadow, reflection, image, soul, personality’
NNG	Manam	anunu(ka)	‘shadow, image’
NNG	Kove	anunu-	‘shadow, reflection’
NNG	Kaulong	enu-	‘shadow, reflection, image; ghost, soul, (inner) substance’
NNG	Mengen	kannu-	‘shadow, reflection (of a person); spirit (within a person)’
NNG	Mapos Buang	qnu-	‘shadow, image; spirit which may leave the body in sleep; ancestor’
NNG	Patep	knu-	‘shadow, image; (person’s) spirit’
NNG	Yabem	kanuʔ	‘darkness, shadow’
NNG	Aria	ano-	‘spirit, soul; shadow; breath’
PT	Kilivila	ʔanu-ʔanunu-	‘shadow of person’ (ʔ for †k)
PT	Molima	ʔanunu-	‘shadow, reflection’
PT	Minaveha	anua-	‘shadow of a person, image, reflection; centre of feeling or emotion’
PT	Iduna	anunu-	‘shadow, reflection; soul; ancestor ten generations back’
PT	Misima	kakanun	‘shadow, image’
MM	Vitu	hanunuk	‘shadow, reflection’
Proto Willaumez		*hanu-	‘soul, shadow, reflection’ (Goodenough 1997)
MM	Bola	xanu-	‘soul, shadow, reflection’
MM	Nakanai	halulu-	‘shadow, reflection, occasionally spirit of a human being’
MM	Tolai	nono	[VI,VT] ‘to shade, shadow’
MM	Nduke	nuni-	‘shadow’
MM	East Kara	ɣəlu-	‘shadow’ (-l- for †-n-)
SES	Kwaio	nunu(-)	‘shadow, image, picture’
SES	Lau	nunu(-)	‘shadow, shade; likeness, image’
SES	Sa’a	nunu-	‘shadow of persons, reflection, likeness, soul, consciousness’
SES	To’aba’ita	nū-, nunu	‘shadow, reflection, likeness’ (nū preferred with personal suffix)
SES	Arosi	nunu-	‘image, shape, reflection’

PSOc		*nunu	‘shadow, image, reflection, soul’ (Lynch 2004d)
NCV	Mota	nunua-i	‘the mental impression of sound or force, rather than actual impression, but taken to be real’
NCV	Mwotlap	nini-	‘shadow, reflection’
NCV	Nokuku	nun, nuniu-	‘shadow’
NCV	Tamambo	nunu-	‘reflection, picture, photo’
NCV	Raga	nunu-	‘shadow, picture, representation’
NCV	Paamese	ninu-	‘spirit, soul, shadow’
SV	Kwamera	nanu(mu)	‘spirit, ghost; shadow, reflection; likeness’
NCal	Iaai	(ha)nu-	‘soul, spirit (of dead person), silhouette, appearance’
Mic	Kiribati	nunu-	‘to cover, to shade (incantation)’

It is not clear what the meaning difference between *[qa]nunu and *qata(r) may have been, but it is possible that the basic sense of the former was ‘shadow’, of the latter ’image’ or ‘soul’.

POc		*qata	‘soul, spirit; shadow, reflection’
TM	Buma	ata	‘soul, spirit’ (François 2009: 107)
TM	Tanema	ae	‘soul, spirit’
NCV	Mota	ata(i)	‘soul’
NCV	Lehali	n-ɛta-n	‘soul (of s.o.)’ (François 2013: 211)
NCV	Namakir	ʔata-	‘(person’s) spirit’
NCal	Iaai	hate	‘mark, shadow’
Fij	Rotuman	afa	‘make a mark or impression’
PPn		*qata	‘spirit, soul; shadow (not shade), reflection, image’ (POLLEX)
Pn	Tongan	ʔata	‘image, shadow, reflection’
Pn	Niuean	ata	‘shadow, reflection’
Pn	Samoan	ata	‘shadow, reflection’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔata	‘shadow, reflection; ghost, spiritual self’
Pn	Tikopia	ata	‘shadow, reflection, representation of person or spirit’
Pn	West Uvea	ata	‘reflection, spirit (of dead), soul’
Pn	West Futunan	ata	‘soul, image’
Pn	Emae	ata	‘soul, spirit’
Pn	Hawaiian	aka	‘shadow, reflection, image, likeness’

9.2. Name⇫

Oceanic terms for ‘name’ are also usually directly possessed. Two similar POc forms, *[q]aca(n,ŋ)/*[q]aca- and *i(s,c)aŋ/*i(s,c)a-, are reconstructable. To our knowledge, no language has reflexes of both, but quite commonly where one language reflects *[q]aca(n,ŋ), its close relative reflects *i(s,c)aŋ (e.g. Tuam vs Malai, Suau vs Kakabai, Tigak vs Tolai, Mwotlap vs Araki). We have no explanation for this.

Reconstructing the initial consonant of POc *[q]aca[n,ŋ] ‘name’ has proved problematic. The PMP form was evidently *[ŋ]ajan, with the loss of initial *ŋ- occurring prior to POc. Proto Eastern Admiralties reflexes actually reflect PEAd *nq-, and reflexes of ‘name’ have the same initials as other *nq-initial items. Evidence that *q- is not an Admiralties innovation, however, lies with Apalik kasaŋ. John Lynch adds that evidence from Tanna languages suggests that *q was ancestral to these forms too (pers. comm. and see also Lynch 2001c:120).

PAn		*ŋajan	‘name’ (Blust 1999)
PMP		*[ŋ]ajan	‘name’ (ACD)
POc		[q]acaŋ, [q]aca-	‘name’
Adm	Wuvulu	aka-	‘name’
Adm	Seimat	axa-	‘name’
Adm	Ere	ŋira-	‘name’ (ŋ- < n- ‘ART’ + q-)
Adm	Lou	ŋara-	‘name’ (ŋ- < n- ‘ART’ + q-)
Adm	Bipi	kaxa-	‘name’
Adm	Loniu	ŋaʔa-, piliŋaʔa-	‘name’ (ŋ- < n- ‘ART’ + q-)
NNG	Apalik	kasaŋ	‘name’
NNG	Kove	eza-	‘name’
NNG	Manam	ara-	‘name’
NNG	Kairiru	asa-	‘name’
NNG	Kaiwa	are-	‘name’
NNG	Numbami	ase-	‘name’
NNG	Hote	aðeŋ	‘name’
PT	Motu	lada-	‘name’ (l- is regular accretion)
PT	Mekeo	aka-	‘name’
PT	Kuni	ada-	‘name’
PT	Suau	asa-	‘name’
PT	Dobu	esa-	‘name’
PT	Misima	ala-	‘name’
MM	Nehan	haŋa-	‘name’
MM	Tigak	ŋasa-	‘name’ (ŋ- is regular accretion)
MM	Taiof	asaŋ	‘name’
MM	Tabar	asa-	‘name’
MM	Tangga	asa-	‘name’
MM	Nehan	haŋa-	‘name’
MM	Banoni	vasaŋa-	‘name’ (v- is regular accretion)
MM	Kokota	n-aŋha-	‘name’
SES	Gela	aha-	‘name’
SES	Kwaio	lata-	‘name, reputation’ (l- is regular accretion)
SES	’Are’are	rata-	‘name’ (r- is regular accretion)
SES	Sa’a	sata-	‘name’ (s- is regular accretion)
SES	Arosi	ata-	‘name’
NCV	Mwotlap	na-ha-	‘(his) name’
NCV	Löyöp	n-sa-	‘(his) name’
SV	Kwamera	n-ahaŋ	‘name’
SV	Southwest Tanna	n-haŋə-	‘name’
NCal	Jawe	yat	‘name’
Mic	Kiribati	ara-	‘name, title, noun’
Mic	Marshallese	yat	‘name, reputation’
Fij	Rotuman	asa-	‘name, reputation, honour’
Fij	Bauan	yaða-	‘name’ (y- is regular accretion)
Fij	Bauan	yaða	‘namesake’ (indirectly possessed)

The Dami/Matukar/Takia form yaŋa- appears to reflect *i(s,c)aŋa- rather than the expected *i(s,c)a-, i.e. the consonant-final form with an extension to accommodate the possessor suffix.

POc		i(s,c)aŋ, i(s,c)a-	‘name’
NNG	Malai	iza-	‘name’
NNG	Tami	it	‘name’
NNG	Mamusi	ia-	‘name’
NNG	Dami	yaŋa-	‘name’
NNG	Matukar	yaŋa-	‘name’
NNG	Takia	yaŋa-	‘name’
NNG	Takia	ya-k	‘namesake’ (-k < *-ki ‘not possessed’)
PT	Kakabai	isa-	‘name’
MM	Vitu	(ɣ)iða-	‘name’ (ɣ- irregular accretion)
MM	Bali	iza-	‘name’
MM	Nakanai	isa-	‘name’
MM	Tigak	isa-	‘name’
MM	Minigir	isa-	‘name’
MM	Tolai	iaŋi-	‘name’
NCV	Araki	(h)ica-	‘name’
NCV	Tamambo	(ɣ)isa-	‘name’
NCV	Raga	iha-	‘name’
NCV	Lonwolwol	ih	‘name’
NCV	Southeast Ambrym	ise-	‘name’
SV	Sye	(n)i-	‘name’
SV	Anejom̃	n-iθa-	‘name’
Mic	Woleaian	ita-	‘name’
Mic	Puluwatese	yīt	‘name’

Notes⇫

We are grateful to Paul Geraghty who has commented on an earlier version of this chapter and made a number of additions to the data.↩︎
Terms for parts of animals are reconstructed in volume 4 (ch.2, §66; ch.5, §7; ch.6, §2); terms for parts of plants in chapter 5 of volume 3; and relational local nouns in volume 2 (ch.8, §2.3).↩︎
PSV had two terms for both ‘blood’ and ‘excrement’, one of which involves a specific possessor while the other refers to the substance in isolation without being linked to any possessor (Lynch 2001c:259).↩︎
Blust (ACD) takes *tuqelan ‘bone’ to have no Oceanic reflexes but reconstructs POc *tuqa with the sense ‘back’. Our data do not support this as the primary gloss.↩︎
Blust (1993, 2009) reconstructed PCEMP *zuRi ‘bone’ as parent of POc *suRi, but the ACD now attributes its CMP reflexes to PMP *duRi ‘thorn, splinter, fishbone’, continued as POc *(dr,r)uRi ‘thorn’ (vol.1:125).↩︎
The Patpatar microgroup includes the Patpatar, Minigir and Tolai languages, the Label microgroup Label and Bilur, the Kandas microgroup Kandas and Ramoaaina, the Buka microgroup Solos, Halia and Selau.↩︎
A significant part of NW Solomonic is missing from the list because Torau, Mono-Alu, Nduke, and the Santa Isabel languages reflect *suma ‘bone’.↩︎
Proto Korap was ancestral to Barim, Lukep and Malasanga.↩︎
This form could also reflect POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), but the gloss suggests that it reflects POc *puRu-.↩︎
This form could also reflect POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), but the gloss suggests that it reflects POc *puRu-.↩︎
This form could also reflect POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), but the gloss suggests that it reflects POc *puRu-.↩︎
This form could also reflect POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), but the gloss suggests that it reflects POc *puRu-.↩︎
This form could also reflect POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), but the gloss suggests that it reflects POc *puRu-.↩︎
This form could also reflect POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), but the gloss suggests that it reflects POc *puRu-.↩︎
This form could also reflect POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ (§3.3.8), but the gloss suggests that it reflects POc *puRu-.↩︎
This form may reflect PMP *palpal ‘bald’ (Dempwolff 1938). If it does, however, it is irregular, as the expected POc form would be †*papal.↩︎
A number of modern languages have a compound that implies the presence of the POc phrase *pulu qi manuk ‘*pulu of bird’, i.e. ‘feathers’ (Motu (PT) manu hui(na) and the Polynesian languages Nukuoro hulu manu, Anuta puru o manu, Hawaiian hulu manu).↩︎
In Vitu -k has been added to certain inalienables (van den Berg & Bachet 2006), perhaps reflecting the POc free noun suffix *-ki, added to inalienables that were not possessed (Ross 2001b:273–274).↩︎
The gloss suggests that this form reflects a conflation of POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ and POc *puRu- ‘head hair’ (§3.3.7) resulting from a merger of the reflexes of POc *-l- and *-R-.↩︎
The gloss suggests that this form reflects a conflation of POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ and POc *puRu- ‘head hair’ (§3.3.7) resulting from a merger of the reflexes of POc *-l- and *-R-.↩︎
The gloss suggests that this form reflects a conflation of POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ and POc *puRu- ‘head hair’ (§3.3.7) resulting from a merger of the reflexes of POc *-l- and *-R-.↩︎
Laghu pulu- could also reflect POc *puRu ‘head hair’, but the sense ‘pubic hair’ suggests that it reflects *pulu.↩︎
The gloss suggests that this form reflects a conflation of POc *pulu- ‘body hair’ and POc *puRu- ‘head hair’ (§3.3.7) resulting from a merger of the reflexes of POc *-l- and *-R-.↩︎
This inference seems more plausible than Blust’s (ACD) that the CMP items reflect PMP *batu ‘stone’ rather than PMP *batuk.↩︎
An alternative is that we have misread the sound correspondence, as there are very few Bougainville reflexes of terms that include *bʷ.↩︎
Only found in BPMs in our data.↩︎
Bugotu pau appears to have no other SES cognates and is perhaps borrowed from Maringe.↩︎
Blust (ACD) treats PMP *hutek and POc *qutok as ‘a remarkable chance similarity’, but the fact that final *-k is reflected in Lenakel speaks against this interpretation and in favour of an idiosyncratic acquisition of POc initial *q.↩︎
The meaning of PEPn *-ariŋa is unknown, but note NNG: Bukawa aliŋ ando ‘cheek’.↩︎
Blust (ACD) reconstructs *bahaq, but his discussion implies that reduplication occurred in early Malayo-Polynesian as a result of reduction to *baq.↩︎
It is not clear exactly what this gloss means.↩︎
For a brief discussion of *qa-, see §3.5.3.↩︎
The gloss ‘flat object or surface’ was omitted in volume 1.↩︎
A few nouns which label plants or animals display the same pattern: PWOc *[qa]pwasu ‘taro leaves’ (?) (vol.3:269), PEOc *[qa]ŋaRi ‘canarium almond’ (vol.3:315), POc *[qa]paliR ‘surgeonfish’ (vol 4:103), POc *[qa]nupe ‘caterpillar or k.o. sea cucumber’ (vol.4:206), POc [qa]yawan ‘strangler fig’ (vol.3:303), POc *[qa]pator ‘sago grub, edible’ (vol.4:404), POc *[qa]liliŋ ‘tapestry turban shell’ (vol.4:182), POc *[qa]lipan ‘centipede’ (vol.4:406). Some of these are reconstructed without the *qa-less alternant, but reflexes reflect absence of *qa-. The only discernible regularity regarding the presence or absence of *qa- in reflexes is that it is apparently always absent in Gela, with a tendency towards absence in other Guadalcanal languages and in New Ireland languages—but absences also occur elsewhere.↩︎
Final *-k- probably the Vitu reflex of POc *-ki ‘not possessed’. See footnote 12.↩︎
A term with the gloss ‘rib’ does occur in a number of sources. In some cases at least this appears to be an error for ‘ribs’ or ‘rib cage’.↩︎
A double asterisk (**) is used here for forms that appear to be reconstructable but which we explain here as due to post-POc changes.↩︎
A more complicated explanation involving vowel dissimilation is also possible, but there is no other evidence for this in POc.↩︎
Note that the converse conflation, taking *p- from *puso- and *-t- from *bʷito-, i.e. †**puto/pito, is not attested.↩︎
We cannot locate the source of Ozanne-Rivierre’s cited reconstruction.↩︎
We owe to John Lynch the insight that this was a PSOc innovation.↩︎
Bam ve- and Wogeo vai- are regular reflexes of POc *qaqe. Cf. Wogeo vawa- ‘mouth’ < POc *qawa-, valiŋa- ‘voice’ < POc *qaliŋa-, vato ‘thatch’ < POc *qatop.↩︎
There were very few monosyllabic POc nouns, so we do not know whether this was a general POc strategy for creating disyllabic directly possessed nouns from monosyllabic roots. Blust (ACD) rejects (rightly, in our view) an alternative analysis whereby POc *turu- continues PAn *tuduS via PMP †*tuduh. His grounds are (i) that -CVS metathesis was regular and (ii) that PMP †*tuduh is not reflected in western MP languages.↩︎
Final -t reflects Proto Huon Gulf *-c, a formative added to directly possessed nouns lacking a possessor (Ross 1988:144) which was apparently an irregular reflex of POc *-ki (Ross 2001b).↩︎
Ramoaaina talia ‘nut of Terminalia catappa’, reflecting POc *talise (vol.3:324).↩︎
X represents the human possessor of the heel.↩︎
Fijian examples include levu-ka- ‘middle’, tolo-ka- ‘trunk’, vatu-ka- ‘shape’ (P. Geraghty, pers. comm.)↩︎
Glosses in Fox (1978) show no semantic difference between pʷa-ruru- ‘elbow, knee’ and ruru- ‘elbow, knee’.↩︎
Thus POc *buku is glossed ‘node (as in bamboo or sugarcane); joint; knuckle; knot in wood, string or rope’ in vol.1:85; ‘mound, knob, joint’, possibly also ‘hill’ in vol.2:51; and its PCP reflex denotes ‘female genitals’ in §3.5.13.3.↩︎
PAn *dapaN is reconstructed on the basis of (Formosan) Tsou caphə ‘foot’, Saaroa sapale ‘foot’, Thao sapað ‘sole, footprint’, Pazih sa-sapal ‘sole’ and (Philippine) Ilokano, Bikol, Pangasinan dapan ‘sole’ (among other reflexes).↩︎
The full gloss in the ACD is ‘fruit; areca palm and nut; grain; berry; seed; nut; endosperm of a sprouting coconut; kidney; heart; finger; calf of the leg; testicle; various insects; scar tissue; roe; bud; flower; blossom; bear fruit; words, speech, or songs; meaning, contents of discussion; numeral classifier for roundish objects; buttock; Adam’s apple; nipple of the breast; button; marble; tattooing’↩︎
There is no non-Oceanic evidence for the final *-q of POc *paraq ‘spongy mass…’, and its apparent presence may be the result of conflations with *paRa(q) ‘lung’.↩︎
POc *tobʷa ‘bag’ should have been included in vol.1, ch. 4, §2.3, but it was omitted there.↩︎
Cf. PPn *mānawa ‘breathe; breath’ (§3.4.6, §4.5.1).↩︎
If *⟨in⟩ was a nominaliser, then *Caqi would also be expected to have served as a verb (‘defecate’), but there is no evidence of this.↩︎
He writes, ‘Since PMP *qalejaw ‘day’ apparently has become POc *qajo …, it is conceivable that a parallel change in PAn *qapeju ‘gall, gall bladder’ could have given rise to the forms cited here. … [T]his hypothesis fails to explain why languages such as Bipi, Lindrou, Likum, Papitalai, Pak, Penchal, and Nauna, which distinguish PAn/POc *s from *j, point to POc *s as the medial consonant in this form. PAn *qapeju and POc *qasu thus appear to have no historical connection.’↩︎
In many languages of Vanuatu, evident reflexes of *mabʷe mean ‘liver’, resulting in the reconstruction of PNCV *mʷabʷe ‘liver’ (Clark 2009) and PSV *mabʷV- ‘liver’ (Lynch 2001).↩︎
The unetymological ʔ- here perhaps results from a transcription error.↩︎
POc *suRuq ‘sap, soup, drinkable liquid derived from plants, fruits or trees’ (vol.3:369). POc *waiR ‘water’ (vol.2:57).↩︎
Blust (ACD) asks the same question with regard to PMP *tuli. Because there are other terms for ‘deaf’ but nor for ‘earwax’, he concludes that it meant the latter, and that an extension to ‘deaf’ has happened more than once at various times and places.↩︎
Although Blust (ACD) glosses these POc reconstructions as shown here, he labels them as doublets, implying that they are alternant forms with the same meaning, i.e. both ‘earwax’ and ‘deaf’.↩︎
PMP *biRas rests on Sangir bihaseʔ ‘semen, smegma, vaginal fluid’, *biRaq on Maranao bigaʔ ‘semen, sperm, egg’.↩︎
Paul Geraghty, pers. comm., language not identified.↩︎
This aspect of POc *[qa]nunu or *qata(r) is not investigated here, as it properly belongs in volume 6.↩︎

Chapter 5.3 The human body

1. Introduction⇫

1.1. Direct possession⇫

1.2. Relational local nouns⇫

2. The body⇫

2.1. The ‘complete skin’, metonymically the body⇫

2.2. The trunk⇫

3. Bodily materials⇫

3.1. Flesh⇫

3.2. Fat⇫

3.3. Blood⇫

3.4. Bone⇫

3.5. Skin⇫

3.6. Scar⇫

3.7. Head hair⇫

3.7.1. Grey hair⇫

3.7.2. Bald⇫

3.8. Body hair⇫

3.9. Veins, arteries, sinews and tendons⇫

4. The head and its parts⇫

4.1. *qulu ‘head’⇫

4.2. *(p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘outer shell, skull’, *bʷatu(k) ‘head, top of’ and *pʷau- ‘head’⇫

4.2.1. *(p,pʷ)atu(k) (vs *bʷatu(k))⇫

4.2.2. *bʷatu(k) and *pʷau-⇫

4.3. Forehead⇫

4.4. Brain⇫

4.5. Back of head, nape⇫

4.6. Top of head, fontanelle⇫

4.7. Face⇫

4.8. Side of face, cheek, temple⇫

4.9. The eye and its parts⇫

4.9.1. Eye⇫

4.9.2. Eyelash, eyebrow hair⇫

4.9.3. Eyebrow ridge⇫

4.9.4. Eyelid⇫

4.9.5. Eyeball⇫

4.10. Ear⇫

4.11. The nose and its parts⇫

4.11.1. Nose⇫

4.11.2. Channel above the upper lip⇫

4.11.3. Nostrils⇫

4.12. The mouth and its parts⇫

4.12.1. External mouth⇫

4.12.2. Lips⇫

4.12.3. Inner mouth⇫

4.12.4. Tongue⇫

4.12.5. Teeth⇫

4.12.6. Gums⇫

4.13. Chin, jaw and beard⇫

4.14. Neck, throat, voice⇫

5. Parts of the trunk⇫

5.1. Back⇫

5.2. Flat of back⇫

5.3. Shoulder⇫

5.4. Armpit⇫

5.5. Chest⇫

5.6. Rib cage⇫

5.7. Breast⇫

5.8. Nipple⇫

5.9. Belly⇫

5.10. Navel, umbilical cord⇫

5.10.1. POc *puso- ‘navel, umbilical cord’⇫

5.10.2. POc *bʷito- ‘navel, umbilical cord’⇫

5.10.3. Conflated forms⇫

5.11. Lower abdomen⇫

5.12. Buttocks⇫

5.13. Genitalia⇫

5.13.1. Penis⇫

5.13.2. Scrotum and testicles⇫

5.13.3. Female genitalia⇫

6. Limbs⇫

6.1. Hand, arm⇫

6.2. Parts of the arm⇫

6.3. Left hand and right hand⇫

6.4. Leg, foot⇫

6.5. Parts of the leg and foot⇫

6.5.1. Thigh⇫

6.5.2. Knee⇫

6.5.3. Calf and shin⇫

6.5.4. Heel⇫

4.2. (p,pʷ)atu(k) ‘outer shell, skull’, bʷatu(k) ‘head, top of’ and *pʷau- ‘head’⇫

4.2.1. (p,pʷ)atu(k) (vs bʷatu(k))⇫

4.2.2. bʷatu(k) and pʷau-⇫

6.8.1.1. POc pʷatu[ka]- ‘elbow, knee; joint, node’ and PSOc bʷau- ‘knee, joint’