ACD - Austronesian Comparative Dictionary Online

*bubu₂ conical bamboo basket trap for fish

PAN bubu₂ conical bamboo basket trap for fish ⇫ ¶

Form.
Kavalan	bubu	conical bamboo basket trap for fish
Amis	fofo	a fish trap for catching fish and crabs in rivers
WMP
Ilokano	bóbo	kind of large bow net used to catch fresh-water shrimps; it is made of fine wickerwork (heavy bamboo) and is about one yard long with a diameter of one foot at the mouth; its funnel-shaped entrance has a double row of sharp points; bag of a seine
Tagalog	búbo	fish trap
Hanunóo	búbu	large round bamboo wicker fish trap used only at sea
Aklanon	bóbo	fish trap
Moken	bubey	fish trap
Cebuano	búbu	box-like trap woven from bamboo slats allowing entrance but no egress, used to catch fish or monkeys; (set in rivers for fish); make into such a trap; catch things with the
Palauan	ŋikəl əl bub	fish caught with a trap
	o-múb	catch fish with a trap; go out to check fishtrap
	bub	trap (usually for fish)
Mansaka	bobo	to fish with trap (set in a shallow part of the sea)
Supan	bubu	conical bamboo fish trap
Berawan (Long Terawan)	bukkuh	conical bamboo fish trap
Acehnese	bubèë	kind of fish trap (many named varieties)
Bintulu	buvəw	conical bamboo fish trap
Kenyah	bubu	fish trap
Kelabit	bubuh	bamboo basket trap for fish, placed with mouth upstream
Sangir	buwu	fish trap
Melanau (Mukah)	bubew	conical bamboo wickerwork fish trap
Dairi-Pakpak Batak	bubu	basket trap for fish
Toba Batak	mar-bubu	catch fish with a trap
	bubu	fish trap
Karo Batak	bubu	a fish trap which is placed with the mouth facing upstream
Iban	bubu	any fish trap having a narrow opening so that the fish can enter but cannot get out. Usually conical, of rattan and creeper, with an inner cone of sharp spikes fitted in the frame of the mouth (many named varieties)
Malay	bubu	basket-trap for fish. Etymologically, a baited basket-trap with an entrance surrounded by spikes (, , ) that allow ingress but prevent egress; in contrast to traps that rely on the current (many named varieties)
Tontemboan	niindo im buwu	caught with a large fish trap
	wuwu	fish trap of large dimensions used in river or sea
Nias	buwu	fish trap
Mongondow	bubu	fish trap
Kayan	buvoʔ	circular fish trap with conical entrance
Bare'e	man-taʔa wuwu	to set a fish trap
	wuwu	fish trap woven of rattan, a much-used fishing implement; quadrangular rattan basket on four feet especially used by the women of the To Lage for the transport of light burdens
Buginese	bubu	wickerwork basket trap for fish
Makassarese	buwu	fish trap
Sundanese	bubu	kind of bamboo fish trap
Old Javanese	wuwū	a particular kind of (wicker) fish-trap
Javanese	wuwu	type of bamboo or wicker fish trap
	bubu	fish trap with bamboo bars
Balinese	bubu	fish trap woven of bamboo
Sasak	buwu	fish trap
Bikol	búbo	fish trap, four to five feet long and six to eight inches in diameter, made of rattan, used in rivers
Proto-Sangiric	bubu	fish trap
Malagasy	voa-vóvo	got by a , as fish
	mi-vóvo	be spiteful
	mandátsa bovo	put the in water
	vovó-ina	be fished for by a ; be treated spitefully
	vovo	kind of basket made of the stalks of the or grass and used for fishing
CMP
Sula	fofu	bamboo basket trap for fish
Paulohi	huhu	fish trap
Kamarian	huhu	fish trap
Buruese	bubu	fish trap (woven of splints, and set in a stream)
Asilulu	huhu katihu	shrimp trap made of a single piece of bamboo, slatted and tapering on both ends, used in streams
	huhu	curving, four-cornered fish trap of plaited bamboo
	huhu pule	plaited cone-shaped entrance on either end of the fish trap; fish trap characterized by such an entrance
	huhu lau haha	large-meshed fish trap
	huhu kamu hua	very fine-meshed fish trap
Yamdena	bubu	wickerwork fish trap
Erai	huhu	fish trap made chiefly of bamboo
Selaru	huh	wickerwork fish trap
	huhu-re	wickerwork fish trap
Leti	wuwu	fish trap
Hawu	wuwu	fish trap
Rotinese	bufu	fish trap
	teek bufu	set a fish trap
Wetan	wuwi	fish trap
SHWNG
Buli	pup	fish trap (weighted with stones to sink it in water)
Kowiai/Koiwai	fuf	kind of fish trap

POC pupu₂ conical bamboo basket trap for fish ⇫ ¶

OC
Woleaian	u	fish trap
Puluwat	wuu	fish trap
Chuukese	wuu	wicker fish trap, lobster pot (made of mangrove sticks)
Pohnpeian	uu	fish trap
Kosraean	u	fish trap
Gilbertese	uu	eel basket, eel pot, eel trap; to fish for eel
Leipon	bruh	basket trap for fish and eels
Sori	brup	basket trap for fish and eels (smaller trap of same type is )
Loniu	puh	basket trap for fish and eels
Lindrou	bu	basket trap for fish and eels
Nauna	puh	basket trap for fish and eels
Penchal	pup	basket trap for fish and eels
Lou	pup	conical bamboo basket trap with mouth of converging splints used to catch fish
Manam	u	large basket trap for fish (made of willow withes)
Lakalai	la-vuvu	kind of fish trap
Arosi	huhu	large wickerwork eel trap
Fijian	vuvu	long narrow fish trap made of bamboo
Tolai	vup	an oval fish-trap made like a basket, of cane and bamboo strips

PWMP maŋ-bubu to fish with a wickerwork basket trap ⇫ ¶

WMP
Balinese	mubu	to fish with a wickerwork basket trap
Malagasy	ma-móvo	to cast the in fishing, fish with a , (fig.) intend to retaliate

Reconstructions

PAN	bubu₂	conical bamboo basket trap…
POC	pupu₂	conical bamboo basket trap…
PWMP	maŋ-bubu	to fish with a wickerwork…

Note

Also NANW buʔbu ‘bamboo basket trap for fish’, Isneg bóbo ‘general name for bow net’; ma-móbo ‘set a bow net’ (probably an Ilokano loan), Cebuano búbuʔ ‘box-like trap woven from bamboo slats allowing entrance but no egress, used to catch fish or monkeys’, Maranao boboʔ ‘fish trap’, Ngaju Dayak bowo ‘an elongated round basket resembling our (German) eel basket, used to catch fish’, Iban bubaʔ ‘conical fish trap’, Mongondow toyo-bubu ‘fish trap’.

Reflexes of PAn *bubu are among the most persistent words which refer to a cultural artefact. The *bubu trap shows small variations in form and function in its wide distribution from Taiwan to Madagascar to Fiji and indeed, several variants are often found in individual cultures. The basic form, however, is that of a wickerwork basket made of bamboo, about one meter long and roughly conical in shape, with a smaller conical entrance of converging bamboo splints (illustrated, e.g. in Fey 1986:98). Within the ethnographic present such traps were generally placed in the mouths of rivers or in the sea near the shore, baited and sometimes weighted with stones to keep them below water and prevent them from drifting. Fish or eels which entered to take the bait were able to slip through the converging splints of the trap mouth, but could not exit. Larger and structurally more complex varieties contained two or more compartments, each entered in the same way through successively more restrictive openings which culminated in a cul-de-sac (PWMP *bunuq-an) from which the fish were ultimately collected.

Traps of the same general type were also traditionally used in other parts of the world, including west Africa, western Europe, and among various Eskimo groups. This comparison provides evidence for an important fishing implement which must have been used by speakers of PAn on Taiwan, and subsequently carried by speakers of PMP and its descendants throughout island Southeast Asia (including Madagascar) and the Pacific. Because it evidently was made of bamboo or similar perishable material no trace has been found to date in the archaeological record.