bulong-ita

Tagalog

Alternative forms

Etymology

From bulo (“hair; filament”) +‎ -ng- +‎ Ita (“Aeta; dark-skinned person”), likely named for its black, hairy flowers. It is worth noting that the tree's species name, pilosanthera, is derived from Latin pilōsa (“hairy”) and anthēra (“anther”).

An alternate etymology suggests that the name derives from bulong (“whisper”) +‎ Ita (“Aeta”) instead. The tree was said to serve as a gateway to the enchantment and beauty of the forest. Aeta ancestors would approach it closely, faces almost touching the bark, and softly whisper a prayer for guidance and permission to enter the forest.

See also Sambali bolong (“leaf”).

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Tagalog) IPA(key): /ˌbuloŋ ˈʔita/ [ˌbuː.loŋ ˈʔiː.t̪ɐ]
  • Rhymes: -ita
  • Syllabification: bu‧long-i‧ta

Noun

bulong-ita (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜎᜓᜅ᜔ᜁᜆ)

  1. medium-sized tree with oblong leaves with fascicled flowers and subellipsoid fruit (Diospyros pilosanthera)
    Synonyms: dambuhala, alintataw, balatinaw, katilma, talang-gubat

Derived terms

  • magbulong-ita
  • mamulong-ita
  • mapagbulungan-ita

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.