New Free Rice Words--International Words

My list of these terms in the Free Rice levels 51-55 is pretty extensive. I would venture to say that unless you are a specialist dealing with many of these things, you simply won't know them. But after this page you will have little excuse for continued ignorance. After beginning with one more verb from the preceding essay, I will look at some of the following: kiekie, bonze, Foism, koradji, kagu, gidgee, oomiak, moshav, chalutz, pombe, raga, piupiu, kahawai. Later essays will finish this list and bring you to many others.

But, first, a word on the verb detrude. I didn't want it to obtrude or protrude here, so as not to intrude on you, but there really wasn't room for it in the preceding essay. So, let's begin with detrude. If you know that trudere means to "thrust" and de means "down," then detrude is simple: it means to thrust or drive down. A detrusor is, in anatomy, a muscle that ejects or expels. Locke, in his Essay on Human Understanding, knew the word:

"Those philosophers who allow of transmigration are of opinion that the souls of men may, for their miscarriages, be detruded into the bodies of beasts."

Instead of singing "Awake my soul and with the sun," someone might by mistake sing, "Detrude my soul...." Hope not. Because of its directional force (down), it was a favorite word for theologians and divines. From a 1555 exposition on the Psams (38): "Detrude me not." From a few years later, "They detrudit the ministarie of Goddis word." Or, from the next century, in Miltonian-type language, "To be detrude Heaven (not "from heaven"?) for his meerly pride and malice."

Now, to the International Words

A koradji is, amongst the Australian Aborigines, a medicine-man. The word originated as "Car-ra-dy-gans" in 1793 but it was not until the 20th century that its spelling became more regularized. Indeed, the OED article on the word spells it at least five ways. The Century as well as the Unabridged, wisely, avoid the controversy by not listing the word. Here is a web site that sells little koradji dolls. I think it is much more fun to learn words when you can see them. They are colorful smiling figures with a cable running from the tip of the hat to their waist.

A piupiu is a Maori skirt made of a fringe of treated dried flax-blades attached to a waistband, now worn by both men and women but primarily on ceremonial occasions. Here is a great web site with a description and picture of the piupiu--not something that will catch on in Salem in the immediate future, I don't believe. While we are on Island dress, lets look at the kiekie, which the OED lists as a "New Zealand climbing plant," but the Free Rice web site had as a Tongan outfit with an ornamental girdle around the waist and worn mainly by women on semiformal occasions. But, in our liberated world today, men also wear it at times. This article describes and pictures not only the kiekie, but describes other Tongan garments--which I will not enter into now..

Bonze and Foism take us to the East again, but this time with the emphasis on Buddhism. A bonze is neither the Fonz or Bonzo, but is a term applied by Europeans, since the missionaries first went to Japan in the 16th century, to describe the Buddhist clergy of Japan, China and adjacent countries. It represented the Portuguese pronunciation of the Japanese "bosso." And, with the ever-inventive English language, we also have the word bonzery, a "Buddhist monastery." This is to be distinguished from a lamasery, where Tibetan Buddhist priests (lamas) are housed. Foism is a very rare word, but it is used to describe the Buddhism of China. It appears neither in the OED nor the Unabridged.

Pombe, Raga and Others

Pombe, the OED informs us, is derived from a Swahili word which first came ino Portuguese in 1625. "Both Cafres and Portugals are entertained by him with wine of Mays, or their wheate, called Pombe, which the must drinke, although against stomacke, not to contemne the Kings bountie." Thus, it is a fermented alcoholic drink in Central and East Africa made from many kinds of grain and fruits. This article nicely describes how pombe, tembo (or tombo) and mawa are traditional drinks of Eastern Africa. Richard Francis Burton, the English explorer and linguist of the 19th century, wrote this in his 1860 book The Lake Regions of Central Africa: A Picture of Exploration: "In East Africa every man is is own maltster; and the 'iwanza' or public house of the village, is the common brewery. In some tribes, however, fermentation is the essential occupation of the women. The principal inebriant is a beer without hops, called pombe." Then he goes on to describe the traditional beers of other lands. Worlds gently open when you take some time with the words.

Leaving Africa for a moment, let's return to East Asia, where we find raga, from the Sanskrit raga, meaning, in Indian music, "a melodic type which provides a framework for improvised melodies." Here is a Youtube video where a woman, playing the sitar, strums a "morning raga." You never really forget it once you hear its mournful and longing tone.

Continuing and Concluding

You really begin to see that every word, no matter how difficult for you at first attempt, is really very simple for someone else. This should be an encouragement to you--to try hard to make difficult and obscure concepts simple to yourself. After watching a video on raga, it is clear. After sipping a pombe, you will never forget what it is. We only have space for a few more terms. Let's go with gidgee. The OED has it meaning two things (as well as spelled also as giddea, gidya). It can be either a "somewhat scrubby Australian acacia (Acacia cambagei) that grows chiefly in inland dry regions with a foul-smelling blossom or a long spear made from this wood, used by the Australian Aborigines. From 1878: "Gid-jee, hardwood spear, with fragments of quartz set in gum on two sides..." I really think I am going to have to go to Australia pretty soon, just to discover the world...

Let's conclude with oomiak, leaving the rest for a future essay. An oomiak is an Alaskan skin boat. Here is a picture of a whaling crew pulling an oomiak across the ice near Point Barrow, Alaska. I grew up in a home where my dad was always talking about "Univacs," but he meant the early computers and not Alaskan vessels. The only problem with the word is that it is listed in the OED as umiak, which is also the preferred spelling in the Unabridged. So hard is it when we borrow international words--we don't know exactly how to transliterate them into English. But now you know something about this "family canoe."

Much more remains. Thank you for joining me on this little jaunt.

3298