Palauan Language Online: Palauan-English Dictionary

mei
/me

, v.i.

come; arrive.

mei

a

okedongel

a

chad;

mei

er

tiei,

mei

me

kulekoi,

ka

mei.

v.imp.

be

a

ta

er

a

telengtengil

a

tekoi

el

mengai

er

a

tekoi

el

mei;

be

bong,

be

metengel.

ble

v.s.hypo.

mera

cont.

mei er a

merekung
/merkung

v.i.pred.

is about to come or arrive.

mermang
/meremang

v.inch.

meremang

a

merael

mei;

ngar

er

a

omerolel

el

mei;

dumiang

er

a

dmuil.

mlei
/mle

v.past

came; arrived.

mlei

a

mla

mei

me

ngar

tiang;

skoki

a

mlei

er

a

tutau.

mle

a

melekoi

er

a

rrekui;

Bung

a

mle

tmuu;

ng

mle

mekerang?

mlera

cont.

mlei er a

be kbong

expr.

goodbye; I'm leaving.

me e mong
/memong

expr.

pass by; go on; "(in a direction) towards me and then keep going (past me)."

nguu el mei

expr.

bring.

ta el buil er mla me e mong

expr.

one month ago.

Examples:

mle

ngii

tang

ngelekek

chiliis.

> My child ran away by himself.

mtuu!

> Come in!

medinges

udoud

klalo.

> They have plenty of money and possessions.

mla

tmuk

kloklel

kleblilliu

aike

beluu

dirk

medechel

aike

beluu

mla

mengai.

> I have assigned as the possession of your tribes the land of the nations that are still left, as well as of all the nations that I have already conquered.

Aki

mle

chadecheduch

betok

mondai.

> We talked about lots of problems.

Proverbs:

Beriber

Chemaredong.

> It's like the case of Beriber and Chemaredong (who for a long time lived in adjacent caves unaware of each other's existence but who finally discovered each other and began to share their surpluces).

People wasting things and not sharing or cooperating as they should. Cooperative reciprocity among equals should be patterned on that exemplified by these two men. Beriber, who harvested coconut syrup, and Chemaredong, who was an expert fish trapper, lived in two small caves near the village of Oikuul in Airai (central Palau). These caves are side by side, separated by a natural wall about one foot thick. However, for a long time the neighbors did not know that the other existed. Finally, they discovered one another, and from that time on they engaged in mutually profiitable exchange of their surpluses in fish and syrup. An elder source said that this is more than a proverb (blukul a tekoi) and referred to it as ollach idnger, the "law of neighborliness."

Tia

ngii

terrob

Mekaeb.

> It's as if I've submerged my head into Mekaeb (the channel between Peleliu and Agaur).

A term to describe a dish that is really salty.

Ngar

eseos

olengimech

mera

dalem.

> From the mature tree the sapling dribbles.

Eseos is a mature tree, dalm is a sapling; olengimech means to drip, drizzle, or dribble. Application is to the similarity of the child to its parents, generally its father.

meruul

kau

terudel?

> I build it and you destroy it?

May be applied to a person who feels his aims or projects are being destroyed by the actions of another.

uel

kuk

meremang

omeklatk

uchul

klengitereng

> When the purple swamp hen appears, it brings remembrance

There is a song (Oumachas) from which this saying derives: Once there was a young couple who made love in a secluded spot in the taro garden. While they were lying together a purple swamp hen darted out of the brush startling the couple. Eventually love cooled, but thereafter whenever the girl saw a purple swamp hen while she worked in the gardens, she recalled her lover. Hence any occurrence that brings back fond memories.

More Examples:

chuleku