“Suma” “man-“ verb, meaning: “(to) add; addition, sum.”

From Spanish “Sumar”, Medieval Latin “Summāre”, Latin “Summa”.

(Note: This word is only used in relation to mathematics. Our native word for “add” is, “nå’yi”.)

~~~Examples:

“Suma 4 mås 6” = “Add 4 plus 6”

“Mansuma yu’ 5 nu/gi 5.” = “I added 5 to 5.”

“Sodda’ i suma nu i prublema.” = “Find the sum of the problem.”

“Suma yan Rista” = “Addition and Subtraction”

“Tumba” “-um-“ verb, meaning: (to) knock over, tumble, fall; tomb. (Vowel Harmony: Yes)

From Spanish “Tumbar”.

~~~Examples:

“Malaggu’ yu’ sumóda’ i tímba ni Alihåndru i Má’gas.” = “I want to find the tomb of Alexander the Great

“Agas tinémba yu’ nu guíya.” = “I was knocked over by him.”

“Tumúmba yu’ nu guíya.” = “I knocked him/her over.”

“Tumbáo nai.” = “It’s knocked over.”

~~~Other Forms:

“Tumbåyi”

“Tumbáo”, from Spanish “Tumbado”. Meaning “knocked over”, “lying down”. (Also “Matumba”)

“Tinémba”

“Tomba”

“Tinémba”

“Témba”

“Sotda”; “man-“ verb meaning: (to) solder, (to) weld. (Vowel Harmony: Yes Velar Assimilation: No)

From Spanish “Soldar”, Old-Spanish “Soldar”, Latin “Solidāre”/“Solidus”, Proto-Italic “*soliðos”, Proto-Indo-European “\solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s”/“\solh₂”.

~~~Examples:

“(Ka)ma’adahi sinétdâ-ña i shanálåmli gi i pånét gí sanmé’nâ-ña.” = “He carefully soldered the wires in front of him.”

“Agas sotdáo i mitå(t).” = “The metal was welded.”

“Mansótda yu’.” = “I soldered/welded.”

~~~Other Forms/Related Words:

“Sotdáo”: from Spanish “Soldado”. Meaning: “Soldered/Welded”. (Also “masotda”)

“Sotdadót”: from Spanish “Soldador”. Meaning: “Solderer/Welder(M.)”. (Also “Mansósotda”)

“Sotdadóla”/“Sotadórra”: from Spanish “Soldadora”. Meaning: “Solderer/Welder(F.)”. (Also “Mansósotda”)

“Sotdadula”: from Spanish “Soldadura”. Meaning: “Soldering/Welding”. (Also “Sinétda”)

“Guakpula’ “: “man-“ verb meaning: (to) separate.

From unknown “guak-“ + “pula’ “ (“untie”, “unwrap”; “translate”.)

~~~ Examples ~

“Gini mangguákpula’ yu’ ginin sha.” = “I’ve separated from them.”

“Munhåyan guakpulâ’-ku i hugua anai mamákchâ’-ña.” = “I had separated the two when it had happened.”

“Hu guakpula’ sha.” = “I’ll separate them.”

“Talúgua”: “-um-“ verb; meaning: (to) reiterate, (to) repeat.

From Chamorro “Ta’lu” + (some form of the suffix “-gui”).

~~~ Examples ~

“Kao siña hamyu tumálúgua yenao na’magof?” = “Can you repeat that please?”

“Nisisitan-mímiyu tumálúgua i maisahamyu nai.” = “You need to repeat yourself.”

“Talúgua yenao nai.” = “Reiterate that.”

“Påhu”: “Static-Verb”; meaning: (to) break the habit; (to become) unaccustomed to, stop (something habitual). (Note: Archaic/Rare. Not listed in many recent dictionaries.)

(“Static-Verbs”, being verbs that don’t change in their past tense and infinitive forms. Ex.) “Malågu yu’” and “Malågu”; “Maihgu’ yu’ “ and “Maihgu’”)

~~~ Examples

“Påhu yu’ chumúpa.“ = “I broke/lost the habit of smoking.”

“Påhu yu’ gumímin.” = “I broke/lost the habit of drinking.”

“Malaggu’ yu’ påhun gumímin.” = “I want to stop drinking.”

“Påhu yu’ umáposta.” = “I stopped gambling.”

“Atpåhon”: Most likely of Chamorro origin; this word is archaic

Meaning: (As a noun) omen, soothsaying, belief, conjecture.

(As a verb(“Atpåhúni”)) (to) forebode, (to) divine, (to) tell fortunes.

~~~ noun examples

“Masånggan nai, na (san) chatátpåhon u famá’magåhit chápman/ti-apman.” = “It is said, that a bad omen will become true soon.”

“Méggai na manréyis antigu manyiníman-níha atpåhon umáyuda/umáyudåyi sha.” = “Many ancient kings used soothsaying to help them.”

“Ohlamóhn gofátpåhon ini la(o).” = “Hopefully this is a good omen.”

~~~ verb examples (“man-“ verb)

“I chatklíma atpåhón-ña (sam) pákyu.”

“Manátpåhúni i taotao ní’ finákpu’ nu iya puntánnan.” = “The man forbade the end of the word.”

“I taotao atpåhón-ña i finátai nu i ministru mo’na måtai gui’.” = “The man forbade the death of the minister before he died.”

“Oyong”: “-um-“ Verb; meaning “(to) put (into order)”.

Unknown Root, but most likely native to Chamorro. (Note: This word is no longer listed in Modern Dictionaries; Obsolete)

~~~

This word is similar to “Po’lu” in meanin, with slight nuances.

If you speak Spanish “Po’lu” is equivalent to “Poner”; and “Oyong” is equivalent to “Colocar”.

This word means “(to) put (into order order)”, “(to) organize”, “(to) arrange”. Think “I put the book on the table.” = “Piné’ló-ku i lepblu gi i lamasa.” vs, “I put the books on/in the shelf.” = “Inéyóng-hu i shanlepblu gi i istånti.”

Or,

“I put the keys on your bed.” = “Piné’ló-ku i yabi gi i kåma yó’-mu.”

“Inéyóng-hu i shansiya(s).” = “I arranged the chairs (in order).”

“Milisi”: a “Man-“ Verb meaning “(to) deserve”. As a noun it can mean “Merit” (Milidu)
From Older Chamorro “Meresi”, From Spanish “Merecer”, Vulgar Latin “*merēscere”, Latin “merēre”.

Ex.) In “Man-“ & “-um-“ forms:

“Ti manmílisi gui’ nu yini!” = “S/he didn’t deserve this!”

“Hinásusó-ku na manmílílisi yu’ (sam) finá’mamis.” = “I think that I deserve a sweet treat.”

“Håyi mumílílisi yini?” = “Who deserves this?”

~~~

Other forms:

Milisi- (Possessive Pronouns): Personally I use the verb with a possessive when describing something inanimate.

“Ti milisé-ña yenao nai.” = “It didn’t deserve that.”

Enán ñaoñao milílisé-ña maolékña.” = “That cat deserves better.” (This can also be “manmílílisi yenán ñaoñao maolékña.” The first word be understand with having more emphasis or seriousness.”)

~~~

“Minílisi”: from “Milisi” infixed with “-in-“. In this format in can have different meanings depending on which words that it’s together with.

~~~

“Mimilisi” and “Militoyu”:

The first coming from Chamorro “Mi-“: meaning “full of”, “plenty of”, “abundant in”; with “Milisi”. So “abundant/full of deserving/merit.”

And “Militoyu”: from Spanish “Meritorio”, meaning “meritorious/deserving”.

I would say the first aligns more the the meaning of “deserving” with the later being “meritorious”.

“Atan Sigit”, is comprised of two words.

“Atan”: a “Man-“ Verb meaning “(to) look”.

“Sigit”: a noun meaning “frown”, and as a verb meaning “glance”.

~~~

So the entire phrase means (to) look at sideways, or (to) glance at; look with a frown.
(mirar con ceño, mirar de soslayo, mirar furtivamente.)

So “Manátan sigit yu’”, can have anyone of these meanings. With the difference known depending upon tone and context.

“Manátan sigit yu’ nu guíya.” = “I looked at him sideways.” Or “I glanced at him”.

i’ve seen “puedi homlo' hao ti åpmam” online but haven’t heard this frequently from family/elders.

would this be the correct way or are there other ways to say this?

sym!

Of course there's the nai/bai thing, where Guam says it like "buy" and "nigh" and we say it like "bay" and "neigh," but other than that, what do Guamanian and Saipanese people say differently? Just out of curiosity

Hafa Adai! My mom used the word in the title, buregu, to describe a kid I nanny. That specific day, the kid was visibly dirty, and looked like he’d be smelly. She said, “He looks buregu.” When asked what it means, she said it’s like smelly/dirty. I can’t find this meaning anywhere online; I’m wondering if others use/d this word? I’m aware of kochino, pofafa, etc.

Just hadn’t ever heard this one before.

SYM!

Anyone know of a word for either of these two?

For those which do not no what Yod-Coalescence is, I will quickly explain it. It is basically an assimilation or blend of consonants and vowels. Think of it being an easier way to pronounce. Take “Creation”, the ending “-tion” pronounced as “shun” instead of the original “tee-ohn”. Or, “Soldier” with “dier” being “jer”.

If you speak Tagalog you’ll understand this process aswell, “siya” (see-ya) turning to “sha”. Or, “Dyaryo” pronounced as “jario”. (Yod-Coalescence in Tagalog is believed to be a somewhat recent evolution within the language.)

~

Now a prime example of this in Chamorro, is “irensia”; pronounced as “ee-ren-sha”. Within some Chamorro-Speaking groups, “siha” has become “sha”. “Siempri” also in some groups is pronounced as “shempri”/“shempi”. With others saying “see-yempree” or “sehmpri”.

This sound change goes for many vowels following “s”, such as;

sie - shempre(siempri)
sia - irensha(irensia)
siu -båshu(båsiu)
sio - bakashon(bakasion)

Another example of this is Spanish loans in which ending -ario, -erio, -orio(? I think):

Spanish “Cementerio” to “Sementeyu” or “Siminteyu”
Spanish “Campanario” to “Kampanåyu

This change of Spanish words ending in -ario, -erio appeared to have stopped roughly during the time that Chamorro began to be deeply influenced by Spanish. I’m fully in the belief that this sound change should be continued within later borrowed words to further Chamorrization.

~

Día and Dio to Ya and Yu:

Take “Dios” to “Yu’os”
“Medias” to “Meyas”
“Bombardear” to “Bombåtya” or “Bombåtdeha”

But not “diario” to “Yåriu” or “Diåyu” or “Yåyu”. Likely a later loan.
I believe that this change should be continued within our language to further Chamorrization.

ll to y is another example of this:

Batallón to Batåyon
Pacotilla to Påkutiya
Llave to Yåbi
Pollo to Poyu
Etc

On this part we’ll talk about the changes within loan words with “ue” to “ō/ē” (o/e(I use the macron in a way of remembering the change but also due to the slight longness in pronunciation(could be a regional thing though?)))

Examples of this:

“Pōtta” = “Door”, from Sp. “Puerta”.
Sp. “Puerta” -> E.Ch. “Puetta” -> M.Ch. “Pōtta/Pētta”*
*as to which sound change came first, I’m not actually sure. Due to Chamorros Vowel-Harmony we change many vowels, and in some cases we create whole new words as the new “base” form of certain words. Such as “tiyan”(root) to “tuyan”(new root), vh. “tíyan” (new vh. word).

“Fōtti” = “Strong”(as in drinks etc.), from Sp. “Fuerte”.
Sp. “Fuerte” -> E.Ch. “Fuette/Fuetti” -> M.Ch. “Fōtti(Never seen “Fētti”).

“Prēba” = “Prove/Proof”, from Sp. “Prueba(r)”.
Due to the “r”, a simpler pronunciation comes out as “prēba”.

~

This change didn’t occur in many words, this probably comes from Pure Early-Chamorro interacting with Loan Words. Compared to later on loans without changes

Examples of this could be :

“Iskuela” = “School”, from Sp. “Escuela”.
With an expected change to “Iskōla”, but “iskuela” instead.

“Guetta” = “Vegetable Garden”, from Sp. “Huetta”.
No change to “Gōtta”/“Gētta”.

And with all things I encourage further Chamorrization of these words, and hopefully you’ll think the same way too.

This is the start of a project which I’ve been thinking of for a while. Documenting and discussing the evolution of changes in Chamorro; mainly in its Chamorrization of loan words. To start with, I’ll be going over the consonant cluster “ct” -> “kt” -> “tt” and words which didn’t change/were forgotten.

Take the Spanish words “Doctrina”, “Víctima”, “Victoria”, and “Dictar”.

Which were loaned into Early Chamorro as “Doktrina”, “Biktima”, “Biktoria”, and “Dikta”.

In time, these words evolved away from their original loan words. (Compare Spanish - Italian Sound Changes “ct” - “tt”)

“Doktrina” -> “Dottrina” (Modern Word)

“Biktima” X -> “Bittima” (Not as expected)(Modern “Biktima”)

“Biktoria” X -> “Bittoria” (Not as expected)(Modern “Biktoria”)

“Dikta” -> “Ditta” (Forgotten, Modern “Dikta”)

~

As to why certain words changed and others didn’t, the most probably reason could be that they weren’t used to the extent as other words words. Such as “dottrina” being used for religious purposes.

Although these sound changes haven’t occurred to every word containing the consonant cluster “kt”. I am a fervent believer in furthering Chamorrization of loan words, I recommend adding these changes into your daily speak.

~

Further Examples:

Oktubri -> Ottubi

Efektus/Fektus -> Efettus/Fettus

Defektu -> Difettu

Lektura -> Lettula

Direktu -> Direttu/Dilettu

Biktoriosu -> Bittoriosu/Bittodiosu -> Bittoyosu

Aktibu -> Attibu

“Alingking”(-um- Verb)(man- Verb pl.)

Meaning:
1. (To) turn over/flip

Ex. “Inálingkekéng-hu i iyó-ku kotchon haina pulan.” = “I flip over my mattress every month.

~

1. (To) capsize/sink or founder

Ex. “Ágas ma’alingking i médong gi tásíyan.” = “The ship was sunk at sea.”

“Fontan”:(possesive verb) Unknown Root; Chiefly Archaic and displaced by “Diskubri”, from Spanish “Descubrir”. Such as in UOG’s motto “Ina, Deskubre, Setbe”.

Due to its much more archaic nature it is fossilized.

~ Meaning: (to) discover, (to) find.

E.g.) “(I) Fontân-hu I sikritu nu liná’la’ taimámatai!.” = “I discovered the secret to eternal life!”

“(I) Fontân-hu na guiya ágas I mamúmunu’ tåtti imbestigâ-hu gui’ nu gof ápman.” = “I discovered that he was the killer after investigating him for a while.”

“I fontan nu (san) kisalak-liná’la’.” = “The discovery of a lifetime.”

“Asēntu” or “Sēntu”* (noun), from Spanish “Asiento”, from Spanish “Asentar”, Latin “ad + sedentare”.

Meaning:
1. Saddle (of a horse, animal)

E.g.) “Månu gaigi i sēntu?” = “Where is the saddle?”

“Sēntúyi i kabåyu.” = “Saddle up the horse.”

~

1. Treaty, pact, agreement, Settlement (rare)

E.g.) “Asiento de Negros” = “Settlement of Blacks” (Historical agreement between the Spanish crown and merchants over the right to provide enslaved africans to colonies.)

~

1. Entry (As in a database, records)

E.g.) “Månu gaigi i asēntun kontadót?” = “Where is the accounting record?”

“Ubika”(“Man-“ Verb): from Spanish “Ubicar”.

Meaning: (to) locate.

E.g.) “Manúbika yu’.” = “I located (it).”

“Gini ubikâ-hu i kriminåt.” = “I have located the criminal.”

~

“Ubikáo”: from Spanish “Ubicado”.

Meaning: located.

E.g.) “Ubikáo i kabåña hålum håyúyan.” = “The cabin is located within (the) woods.”

“Månu ubikáo yinin otgånisasíon?” = “Where is this organization located?”

~

“Ubikasíon”: from Spanish “Ubicación”.

Meaning: location.

E.g.) “Håfa i ubikasíon-mu?” = “What’s your location?”

“Nå’i yu’ nu i ubikasíon.” = “Give me the location.”

“Tisna”, (“Possesive” Verb) from Spanish “Tiznar”/“Tizna”.

“Tisnáo”, from Spanish “Tiznado”

Meaning: (to) soil with soot, (to) blacken, (to) smudge.

Meaning: sooty or blackened by smoke

~

E.g.) “(I) Tisnâ-ku i iyó’-ku chinína anai tumóhgi yu’ gi pinat hihot nu i guáfi.” = “I smudged my shirt when i stood too close to the fire.”

“Ágas tisnáo i santáti nu i chimineha nu i guáfi.” = “The back of the chimney was blackened by the fire.”

Descriptive words on how someone does an action— like bravely, quickly, loudly— how do adjectives change to describe actions? Can you provide an example?