Sila[ ]

[John Lynch]

Paul Geraghty and I are looking for possible cognates of Fijian /silaa/
'Job's tears, Coix lachryma-jobi', which has also taken on the meaning
'corn' in Fijian, and from there seems to have spread, probably via early
Melanesian Pidgin, into at least Paamese and Lau (Malaita) with only this
latter meaning.

Anejom (Aneityumese) /nadej/ 'Job's tears' is a perfectly regular
development of an earlier *sila (with preceding article), but is the only
cognate of Fijian /silaa/ that we are aware of with what must have been the
original meaning.

Does anyone know of any other cognates?

John Lynch

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John Lynch
Pro-VC and Director Pacific Languages Unit
Emalus Campus - USP
PMB 072
Port Vila. Vanuatu.
Phone: +678 22748.  Fax:  +678 22633

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