wunwun

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Probably from Kongo mvúmvu (“wasp”).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /wunwuŋ/, /wunwun/, [wunwũŋ], [wunwuŋ]

Noun

wunwun

  1. buzz, hum
  2. carpenter bee

Verb

wunwun

  1. to buzz, to hum
    • 1952, Eddy Bruma, “Waran-neti dren [Warm night's dream]”, in Ursy M. Lichtveld, Jan Voorhoeve, editors, Creole drum. An Anthology of Creole Literature in Surinam‎[1], New Haven, London: Yale University Press, published 1975, →ISBN, page 186:
      Kon sdon, dineti, / di neti fadon, / na mi mofo-doro, mi p'kin. / Winti e way, / a e wunwun wan singi / gi wi...
      Come sit, tonight / as night falls / on my threshold, my child. / The wind blows, / it hums a song / for us...

Descendants

  • Saramaccan: vunvun

References

  1. ^ Norval Smith (2015), “A preliminary list of probable Kikongo (KiKoongo) lexical items in the Surinam Creoles”, in P. Muysken, N. Smith, editors, Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, page 460
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.