Glossary - Page 3 of 5
(English version of “Noli Me Tangere”)
- hermano mayor
- The manager of a fiesta.
- husi
- A fine cloth made of silk interwoven with cotton, abaka, or pineapple-leaf fibers.
- ilang-ilang
- The Malay
flower of flowers,
from which the well-known essence is obtained.
- Indian
- The Spanish designation for the Christianized Malay of the Philippines was indio (Indian), a term used rather contemptuously, the name Filipino being generally applied in a restricted sense to the children of Spaniards born in the Islands.
- kaingin
- A woodland clearing made by burning off the trees and underbrush, for planting upland rice or camotes.
- kalan
- The small, portable, open, clay fireplace commonly used in cooking.
- kalao
- The Philippine hornbill. As in all Malay countries, this bird is the object of curious superstitions. Its raucous cry, which may be faintly characterized as hideous, is said to mark the hours and, in the night-time, to presage death or other disaster.
- kalikut
- A short section of bamboo in which the buyo is mixed; a primitive betel-box.
- kamagon
- A tree of the ebony family, from which fine cabinet-wood is obtained. Its fruit is the mabolo, or date-plum.
- kasamá
- Tenants on the land of another, to whom they render payment in produce or by certain specified services.
- kogon
- A tall, rank grass used for thatch.
- kris
- A Moro dagger or short sword with a serpentine blade.
- kundíman
- A native song.
- kupang
- A large tree of the Mimosa family.
- kuriput
- Miser,
skinflint.
- lanson
- The langsa, a delicious cream-colored fruit about the size of a plum. In the Philippines, its special habitat is the country around the Lake of Bay.
- liam-pó
- A Chinese game of chance (?).
- lomboy
- The jambolana, a small, blue fruit with a large stone.
- Malacañang
- The palace of the Captain-General in Manila: from the vernacular name of the place where it stands,
fishermen’s resort.
- mankukúlan
- An evil spirit causing sickness and other misfortunes, and a person possessed of such a demon.
- morisqueta
- Rice boiled without salt until dry, the staple food of the Filipinos.