Also Tagalogbánaʔ ‘husband’. The meaning of this etymon is problematic. PAn *ma-RuqaNay clearly meant ‘male’ with reference to human beings, a meaning which persisted in PMP. Moreover, PMP *qasawa clearly meant ‘spouse’, a meaning which persisted in PWMP. It follows that PWMP had co-existing terms *qasawa ‘spouse’ (either husband or wife) and *bana ‘husband’. Whether such a situation obtained earlier than PWMP, however, is unclear. The similarity of Vartavo (Vanuatu) vana ‘husband’ to the above forms apparently is due to chance.