baret, baretim

Malay: ‘parit’.

Bahasa Indonesia parit, means ‘canal, ditch, trench, gutter’.

However, is baret an indigenous Kuanua word? Lanyon-Orgill (1960:312) thought so.

See first Mihalic entry. See second Mihalic entry.

Noun forms

  1. Landform: a garden ditch
    sutim baret to dig a ditch
    baret bilong mekim wara i ranawe drainage ditch

  1. Landform: the channel of a creek or river
    ren i no kam na baret tasol i stap there has been no rain and a dry creek bed is all that’s left
    baret i gat tait the channel is n full flood
    wara kalapim baret the river has jumped its banks

  1. Physical state: groove, wrinkle, corrugation, grip, tread, tread-marks
    i gat baret to be grooved, corrugated
    pes bilong lapun i gat baret the old man’s face is wrinkled
    taia i kela, i no gat baret moa the tyre is bald, it has no tread left
    rot i wel, tasol su i gat baret the path is slippery, but these boots have good treads
    yumi ken bihainim lek mak, baret bilong su i soim rot we can follow the footprints, the tread-marks of the shoes are showing the way

  1. Sexual anatomy: female genitalia ® hul, kan, rop
    nogut yu pundaun long baret! don’t fall for her charms

Noun combination forms

  1. Food crops: baret kaukau sweet potato grown in gridded beds (notably Western Highlands, Simbu) ® maunten kaukau, skwea

Transitive verb forms

  1. Subsistence work: (i) to work over ground with ditches (ii) to score or groove with a knife etc

© Revising the Mihalic Project, 26 Jan 2005 [Home]