[Lexicog] What is a bat? - natural and unnatural terms

[Chinedu Uchechukwu]

This is the entry for BAT in an Igbo-English dictionary [the two vowels
have subdots]:
"Usu 1.n. (a) bat; (b) person who hangs about; (c) person of an
undefined stand in a situation; person who sits on the fence; (d) person
who is exceptionally fond of fruits...Usu awughi anuelu, wughi anuala"
(Igwe 1999. Igbo-English Dictionary)

The Igbo sentence at the end of the quotation was not explained by the
author, but it literally means: "The bat is not an animal of the air,
neither is it an animal of the ground." The meanings (b)  to (d) from
Igwe's dictionary are simply extensions of the identified
characteristics of the bat to the human being.

Chinedu Uchechukwu
Otto-Friedrich Universität
Bamberg, Germany.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lexicography/attachments/20040816/f5fbe55c/attachment.htm>