pona

See also: pöna, póna, poña, p’óna, and ponah

Hawaiian

Ka pona o ka kō

Nā pona o nā ʻohe

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *pona (compare with Māori pona, Rarotongan pona, Tahitian pona). Compare with Malay buku and Tagalog buko (themselves cognate of puʻu) for similar semantic developments within the same family.

Noun

pona

1. node of bamboo or sugarcanes
2. joint of bones, fingers

   Synonym: puʻu

Kituba

Verb

pona

1. to choose

Kongo

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Bantu *pòon.

Verb

pona

1. to choose

Ladin

Adverb

pona

1. then; later

Synonyms

• dò; dapò; dapodò

Māori

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpona/ [ˈpɔnɐ]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *pona (compare with Hawaiian pona, Rarotongan pona, and Tahitian pona). Compare with Malay buku and Tagalog buko (themselves cognate of puku “swelling”) for similar semantic developments within the same family.

Noun

pona

1. node or knot of grass stalks etc
2. joint of a limb (legs, arms)
   1. knuckle

Related terms

• mona

Etymology 2

From sense of node/knot in Etymology 1.

Sense of 'portable' is semantic extension < 'sachet' < 'tied item' < 'knot of rope'

Noun

pona

1. knot (of a rope)
2. sachet, parcel

Verb

pona

1. to tie or fasten in a knot

Adjective

pona

1. portable, compact

   rorohiko pona

   laptop

Further reading

• Williams, Herbert William (1917), “pona”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, 5th edition, Wellington, N.Z.: Marcus F. Marks, page 338
• John C. Moorfield (2011), “pona”, in Te Aka: Māori–English, English–Māori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, →ISBN

Swahili

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Bantu *-póna.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Verb

-pona (infinitive kupona)

1. to heal, to recover
2. to survive

Conjugation

Conjugation of -pona
Positive present -napona Subjunctive -pone Negative -poni Imperative singular pona
Infinitives
Positive kupona Negative kutopona
Imperatives
Singular pona Plural poneni
Tensed forms
Habitual hupona Positive past positive subject concord + -lipona Negative past negative subject concord + -kupona
Positive present (positive subject concord + -napona) Singular Plural 1st person ninapona/napona tunapona 2nd person unapona mnapona 3rd person m-wa(I/II) anapona wanapona other classes positive subject concord + -napona
Negative present (negative subject concord + -poni) Singular Plural 1st person siponi hatuponi 2nd person huponi hamponi 3rd person m-wa(I/II) haponi hawaponi other classes negative subject concord + -poni
Positive future positive subject concord + -tapona Negative future negative subject concord + -tapona
Positive subjunctive (positive subject concord + -pone) Singular Plural 1st person nipone tupone 2nd person upone mpone 3rd person m-wa(I/II) apone wapone other classes positive subject concord + -pone
Negative subjunctive positive subject concord + -sipone Positive present conditional positive subject concord + -ngepona Negative present conditional positive subject concord + -singepona Positive past conditional positive subject concord + -ngalipona Negative past conditional positive subject concord + -singalipona
Gnomic (positive subject concord + -apona) Singular Plural 1st person napona twapona 2nd person wapona mwapona 3rd person m-wa(I/II) apona wapona m-mi(III/IV) wapona yapona ji-ma(V/VI) lapona yapona ki-vi(VII/VIII) chapona vyapona n(IX/X) yapona zapona u(XI) wapona see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) kwapona pa(XVI) papona mu(XVIII) mwapona
Perfect positive subject concord + -mepona "Already" positive subject concord + -meshapona "Not yet" negative subject concord + -japona "If/When" positive subject concord + -kipona "If not" positive subject concord + -sipopona Consecutive kapona / positive subject concord + -kapona Consecutive subjunctive positive subject concord + -kapone
Object concord (indicative positive) Singular Plural 1st person -nipona -tupona 2nd person -kupona -wapona/-kuponeni/-waponeni 3rd person m-wa(I/II) -mpona -wapona m-mi(III/IV) -upona -ipona ji-ma(V/VI) -lipona -yapona ki-vi(VII/VIII) -kipona -vipona n(IX/X) -ipona -zipona u(XI) -upona see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -kupona pa(XVI) -papona mu(XVIII) -mupona Reflexive -jipona
Relative forms General positive (positive subject concord + (object concord) + -pona- + relative marker) Singular Plural m-wa(I/II) -ponaye -ponao m-mi(III/IV) -ponao -ponayo ji-ma(V/VI) -ponalo -ponayo ki-vi(VII/VIII) -ponacho -ponavyo n(IX/X) -ponayo -ponazo u(XI) -ponao see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -ponako pa(XVI) -ponapo mu(XVIII) -ponamo Other forms (subject concord + tense marker + relative marker + (object concord) + -pona) Singular Plural m-wa(I/II) -yepona -opona m-mi(III/IV) -opona -yopona ji-ma(V/VI) -lopona -yopona ki-vi(VII/VIII) -chopona -vyopona n(IX/X) -yopona -zopona u(XI) -opona see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -kopona pa(XVI) -popona mu(XVIII) -mopona
Some forms not commonly seen in modern Standard Swahili are absent from the table. See Appendix:Swahili verbs for more information.

Derived terms

• Verbal derivations:
  • Applicative: -ponea
  • Causative: -ponesha
  • Passive: -ponwa
  • Stative: -poneka

• Nominal derivations:
  • uponaji (“healing, recovery”)

References

• Tramutoli, Rosanna (2015), “'Love' Encoding in Swahili: a Semantic Description through a Corpus-Based Analysis”, in Swahili Forum‎^[1], volume 22, →ISSN, page 92 of 72-103:

  The verb kutulia expresses the idea of ‘calming down’ (of the physical desire), which only the lover is able to cause. This idea is expressed in Swahili also by other emotional terms, such as kuburudisha ‘to refresh the mind, to chill out, to enjoy’ and burudani ‘entertainment’ (from the same lexical root of baridi ‘cold’), kupona: ‘to recover, to feel better (from kupoa: to cool down’).

Tahitian

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *pona.

Noun

pona

1. joint (of fingers and limbs)
2. node (of bamboo)
3. knot (of wood)

References

• Lemaître, Yves (1995), Lexique du tahitien contemporain [Current Tahitian lexicon]‎^[2] (in French), Paris: Éditions de l'Orstom, →ISBN
• “pona” in Dictionnaire en ligne Tahitien/Français (Online Tahitian–French Dictionary), by the Tahitian Academy.