Part 10

[43] The name Calyarâ (native name of the town of Carigara, Leyte) has been probably originated from Cangara (placed of one called Garâ). A similar explanation might be given for the formation of the names Calbigà and Calbáyog (towns of Sámar).

Besides the particle can the pronoun hira was probably used for similar cases. We think that the word Hiraite (Bisayan name of the word Leyte, applied to a town of the island of the same name) is formed by the said pronoun hirá and Ite. probably the name of the ancient owners of that place.

[44] Mano and mana are probably a corruption of the Spanish “hermano,” “hermana.”

[45] See page 12 et seq. of this book.

[46] The word capin sogóng, uraura, in some localities are replaced by the Spanish word duro (hard). So they say “duro ca maopay”, maópay ng̃a duro, or maopay hin duro (very good). It is proper to adopt foreign words when there are not words coresponding in Bisayan, but we do not see why the pure Bisayan words should be forgotten when they are expressive, pure and original. The preposition cundí (but) is suffering the same fate, by the introduction of the Spanish pero.

[47] Instead of uraura, the word masiado, a corruption of the Spanish demasiado, is much in use. Read the preceeding note.

[48] It must be noted that the accent in the superlative is on the last syllable, masiromstróm, while in the dimunitive (which has exactly the same form, except the accent) the accent is upon the pennit, masiromsírom. The meaning is different in the phrases masiromsírom pa, and masiromsiróm pa; the first means “it is a dark yet”; the second “it is very dark yet”.

[49] The Bisayan cardinal show that the original system of Bisayan people in counting was the decimal. So napulo is a compound word from na (made) and pulò (pile, island). Napulo means “one pile made”, wherefrom the decimal system clearly shows.

[50] This word cag (and) is used in the island of Panay, but not in Sámar or Leyte where ngan, ug are employed for the said conjunction.

In the southern part of Leyte it is said: napala ug osá.

[51] A collective noun formed by the prefix ca and the primitive duha whose d is transformed into r, and by the affix an. It means the reunion of two piles.

[52] There seems to be no doubt that this word ribo has the same origin as the Tagalog “libo”; but each one has a different meaning: while the Bisayan libo means ten thousand, the Tagalog libo means only one thousand. To express ten thousand, the Tagalogs have the word lacsá.

[53] This word may have been derived from lagtuc which means the swelling of a thing due to dampness, humidity, or water.

[54] An onomatopoetic word bearing the idea of littleness.

[55] An onomatopoetic word meaning a thing that makes noise (caradul).

[56] As it will be seen later there are despective verbs, as; of lacat (to walk) laag; of yacán (to talk), yaquimbot.

[57] See page 31 of this book.

[58] These nouns are originated, in our opinion, from Spanish. See the note on pape 31. supra.

[59] We also believe that these nouns are Spanish.

[60] See “Collective,” supra.

[61] This is the origin of “Borong̃an” a town on the eastern coast of the island of Samar, on account of the fact that during certain epoch of the year, that place is more or less covered with fog.

[62] See “Vowels”, page 5 of this book.

[63] See “Rule”, page 3 of this book.

[64] However, the correct and proper form is the first, Panalaron, a verbal derived from panalad a plural infinitive of the verb pagsálad which means “to sound”. The said suburb of Tacloban, it is believed took this name from the fact that, anciently, the people used to sound (panálad) in such place which was then covered by the sea.

[65] Quita means “we”, the listener included; camí means “we”, the listener excluded.

[66] Only used after the verb.

[67] Hiyá and siyá are the same. See the note 2 on page 7 of this book. The same may be said about hirá and sirá.

[68] Contracted from ni (of) and ácon (mine).

[69] Contracted from da and ácon. This particle da is used in some places as equivalent to the preposition ha or the contraction han. So in Carigata, Leyte, they say dahani (at old times), instead of hanhaní used in Tacloban and other towns of Leyte. The forms damon, daton, dimo, diyo, diya, dira have the same explanation.

[70] Quita is frequently used for “acó”, as when we say tagui quitá hin salapî, (give me money), instead of tagui aco hin salapî.

[71] See “Personal pronouns” page 47.

[72] See the note 2 on page 7. We use apostrophe and not hyphen, because hin’o, sin’o are contracted from hi ano and si ano.

[73] However in this form in which the substantive precedes the adjective the suppression of ng̃a is permissible in poetry.

[74] This is another irregularity of the pronoun quita. Here it is equivalent to nimo; but this last form is inadmissible in such phrase, naton being the special pronoun for the same.

[75] In Dulag and other places of Leyte, this word is pronounced didínhi.

[76] See “Other classes of verbs”, infra.

[77] See “Potential Form”, infra.

[78] In Basay, Sámar the m is frequently suppressed, the first vowel becoming long on account of said suppression. So they say there: sínurat, ínabot.

[79] This form is taken from the subjunctive, as in the Spanish language.

[80] In the towns of Dúlag, Burauen, and Abúyog, of the island of Leyte, these forms are always contracted, the first syllable of the verb so formed becoming long on account of the said contraction. Thus it is said in the mentioned places: nágsurat instead of nagsúsurat.

[81] See the note on page 65.

[82] See the note on page 63.

[83] See page 65 et. seq.

[84] It is not doubled some places, See note on page 65.

[85] See page 64 et seq.

[86] It is not doubled some localities. See note on page 65.

[87] See page 61.

[88] See page 65.

[89] See page 68.

[90] See page 62 et seq.

[91] See page 68.

[92] See page 69.

[93] The translation made in those conjugations is literal. We try to express in English the exact idea contained in these forms.

[94] See note on page 65.

[95] See page 70 et seq.

[96] See page 71.

[97] Page 61 of this book.

[98] The future of this form is the same as in the regular Tagalog form, where it is said susulat aco (I shall write), bucas aco susulat (tomorrow I shall write).

[99] See page 61.

[100] In Dúlag and other places of Leyte, the accent is transposed to the penult. So it is said: dididâ, etc.

[101] See the page 10.

[102] This conjunction is seldom used, at present, for the disjunctive or. The English or and the Spanish o are difficult to translate into Bisayan with cun. For this reason the Spanish o is frequently employed in Bisayan, as well as in Tagalog for the English or.

[103] It also conveys the idea of “Saying”, as in the example: nasiring an catsila, ngalaong: “págame”, abi tapa: “bayari acó”.

[104] There is another, viz: susmaryosep or susmarosèp the corrupted Spanish “Jesús, María y José”.

[105] The fact that there are three classes of passive voice in Bisayan show the great importance of the said voice in this tongue. Thus if we wish to say “I love you”, it is more expressive to say: hinihigugma co icao (literally: you are loved by me) than to say: nahigugma aco ha imo.

[106] In Bisayan, there is no construction similiar to that of the English tongue, consisting in putting the subject in the objective case, and its verb in the infinitive: which is an exact Latin syntax, as

he wishes me to come Ille vult me venire

Such sentence is expressed in Bisayan with the aid of the conjunction ng̃a, the subject in nominative case, and the verb in subjunctive mood, thus

caruyag niya ng̃a acó camánhi.

[107] See “Foreign words necessarily adopted in Bisayan”, infra.

[108] We do not refer to those Chinese words imported to Philippines with Chinese objects. Such words are to be kept necessarily in Bisayan, because their equivalent vernacular expressions, either are lost, or never existed.

[109] Derived from the Spanish “cantar” (to sing)

[110] A: We use in these lists the orthography proposed in the first page of this book, as an orthography practically the same is now being much used in Tagalog. But we employ only three vowels: a, i, o.