Reconstructions

Note

Also Chamorro sao-araɁ ‘type of fish --- Istiophorus genus; sailfish, swordfish’. Although direct evidence for the base form is lacking to date, it seems clear that PMP must have had *saku in addition to *saku layaR. *saku may have referred to needlefish, swordfish and other fish with an elongated upper jaw that lack the sail-like dorsal fin of Istiophorus species. The longer word almost certainly contains PMP *layaR (Tongan, Niue, Samoan lā) ‘sail’. Some languages, however, have replaced either the second element of *saku layaR or the word for ‘sail’ (or both) with an unrelated root: Wogeo sak barema (compare ieba ‘sail’), Mokilese i, Puluwat maaŋ, Pohnpeian serek ‘sail’.

Other languages have what appears to be a reflex of *layaR in both words, but the phonological development of this morpheme in the fish name exhibits irregularities: compare Palauan yars, Yapese laay, Fijian laca ‘sail’. Still others, such as Niue, contain a regular reflex of *layaR in both meanings, but do not appear to relate them synchronically. Loniu, Titan, Nauna colay ‘sailfish, swordfish, marlin’ (but Loniu peley, Titan paley, Nauna pale ‘sail’) possibly show an irregular contraction of the first morpheme. Together with Malay ikan selayar ‘sailfish; name given to fish with large dorsal fins, esp. the sword-fish, sun-fish, and basking shark’, however, these forms from the Admiralty Islands may point to a doublet *selayaR.