Buli Series 3 - Common Words E - H

Ni ngaangaa! Maa puusi waa-meena ale a jam Buli biika zamsika dewa jigni la, alaa nye ni meena tia. Jinla taa yaali ayen ti zamsi ka Buli daa-meena wa ngaai te ti baga a ngmarisi a nyini 'E' ta ga pari 'H' la gela. Ase ti daam le nye dii la, ti le piilim ale ka Baba Akröger Buli wei wiik sinsanga:

Fi dan kan mai karim karungkui ale sai buyewa la, va vuukude ate fi karim ku.

Piilimka karungku me bo dela 

[Dear readers, you're once again welcome to the Buli Language Series, Today, we are learning a few common words from the alphabets E - H. 

If you have not read lesson 2; alphabets A-D, follow this link.

The Introductory lesson may also be accessed here.

As usual we begin with Dr. Franz Kröger's pronunciation guide:]

a [a] ga (to go)  aa [a:] maari (to help)

e [e, e] metik (thin)  ee or ie [e:, ie:, je:] meena, miena (all)

i [i, W] poli (to think)      ii [i:] biik (child)

o [o, B] pok (wife)      oo [o:, B:] boosuk (grave)

u [u, _] zuk (head)   uu [u:] buuk (goat)"

E

Ee – ee (exclamation expressing a response),

Ei – ei (exclamation of surprise).

F

Fa – faari (to take a wife), fagi (to heap up, pile up, congest), fanoai (harvest time), fara-fara (nearby, quite near, quite close), faasing (lightweight, weightless), fatim (to smear, coat, plaster).

Fe – fe (to force, compel), felik (white person, important/modern person), felini (English language, Whiteman's language), feritete (far away, completely), feok (season of plenty, after harvest).

Fi – fi (you, your), fielim (to spoil, rot, damage, rotten), fii-fiik (a little, small portion), fifiok (force, compulsion, suppression, authoritarian), finfiisa (fart), fing (whip, cane), fiiri (scratch, bruise), fiok (baboon).

Fo – foaini, fotuk (naughtiness, troublesomeness – of a child), foari (fat without strength, flabby), fob(i) (to slap, thrash, thresh), fobli (to complain, supplicate, implore, beseech), foli (to untie, loosen, unharness), foluk (lazy, slovenly, sloppy, negligent), foruk (bag, suitcase, briefcase, portfolio), foti (scald, burn by hot liquid, peel off).

Fu – fuubi (totally, entirely, wholly), fug (to fan, blow), fuuli (to blow –by mouth), funfobla (complaints, protests, grumblings), fuusi (to swell, blown up, swollen).

G

Ga – gaa (ebony fruits), gaab (ebony tree), ga-duok (bed), gala (left hand, left side, left), gagli (stammer, stutter, speak indistinctly), ga-liik, garuk (dress, shirt), gami (leper), gaari (to separate, isolate), gaari, gaani (garden), gaa-basika (subtraction), gaaruk (cobweb), gaasa (wickedness, viciousness, malevolence, malice), gatiak (cloth, piece of wax print), gaaung (dumb person, mute person).

Ge – gebi (to cut – with a blade), geli (half), gelik (short), gelinti (to struggle with many things), geri (to block, obstruct), gerung (trade, business, transaction).

Gi – gigiluk (circular, round, oval), ginggaung (cylindrical drum), ginggelung (tongue), gisi {to search (for), to seek (for), to look (for)}.

Go – goa (to sleep, to slumber), goai (bush, forest), goadaasima (dreams, nightmares), goa-naaperik (cattle egret), goom (sleep, slumber (noun), gogo (watch, clock, time), gok (to dance), gokta (dance (noun), gogroa (dancer), gomsi (to prepare, be prepared, get ready), goori (cola nut), goruk (hump, hunchback, humpback).

Gu – gu (to bury), gugoruk (corner), guuk (hill, hillock, ruins, ruined settlement), gulum (to harrow a field), gum (add, sum), gumka (additions, sums), gunggong (hourglass drum), gung-gung (cotton wool), guri (mallet, wooden hammer), guti (to dig up, exhume).

 

Gb

Gba – gba-gba (duck), gbain (skin, hide, leather), gbaluk (spear, lance, javelin), gbaning (lame person, cripple, person handicapped in one leg only), gbanta (divining, soothsaying), gbang (book), gbang (gamble, lotto, game of chance), gbang-viok (a sheet of paper), gbaruk ( person paralyzed in both legs, cripple).

Gbe – gbe (to trim, cut edges), gbe (to knock a person’s head with your knuckles), gbeli (ball (football), gberi (to have sexual intercourse, have sex, to copulate), gbesi (to pluck by hand).

Gbi – gbieli (to tease with something desirable, show off), gbiera (jokes, fun, jest), gbini (to tie, to make a knot), gbiruk, gburuk (blunt, dull edge).

Gbo – gbong (flat roof of a room, each floor of a storey building), gbonlong (kitchen, cooking room).

 

H

Haai – Sound used to drive away the hovering hawk (usually said repeatedly)

Hei – Word used to draw a person’s attention without calling their name or if name is not known (but considered impolite).

Reference

1. Franz Kröger (1992). Buli-English Dictionary: With an Introductory Grammar and an Index English-Buli. Münster and Hamburg: Lit Verlag.