isiki

Wauja

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iˈsi.ki/

Noun

isiki

1. feces, excrement

   Au ha wani yiu, mata onutai yiu. Nutai, tirijijiji. Iya okanu wi. Okahiga aantepenejo. Maniu, umapai ipitsi. Hoona! umapai. Akamapai yiu. Oho! Aakataitsueneu. Kata okaho isityiu, otowo isitya. Ma… pohokapai otowo yiu, kehoto... inyataNAKUpai kehoto.

   Ehen.

   Ehen. Uuntsataihapai yiu. Pohokapai otowo. Aitsa katowopai.

   Aitsa Keheju—

   Aitsa kehejua otowo. Ukuapai otowo yiu. Ikyantene yeu, iyene enu wi. Ikyantawi ... kwakwoho kanato.

   [Storyteller:] [When that] was done, he fastened [one end of his] hammock cord [to a rafter in the men's house]. [He dropped the other end of the] rope [into the open grave]. Tirijijiji! [sound of the rope unfurling as it fell] [He] approached her [lowering himself into the grave]. [He] would pull [her] out with [that cord]. "Come," [he] said [to her]. "All right!," [she] said [weakly]. [She] was surely dying. [What a] foul smell! [She] had defecated everywhere. [She] was all smeared with feces here [indicates her body], [even her] head was covered in feces. [She] had no... her hair had fallen out, [the] earth... it was HOT inside the earth.

   [Listener:] Ah.

   [Storyteller:] Yes. [She] was dripping with sweat. Her hair was falling out; she was just about bald.

   [Listener:] [Her hair was] not strong —

   [Storyteller:] Her hair was not strong. Her hair was rotting. [He] struggled to pull her up [out of the grave]. At last, [he] carried [her to the] door of [the] men's house.

2. excreta (excreted substance)

   Katanainhapai weruyapai ipitsi whun. Katanainha mo ... HONjapai, ojonain hyan moHONjapai ojonain — iyukulatoyein yiu. MoHONjapai. Katanai weru— [rubs face] —yapai kalaiyiu whun, mapa isitya ou whun, mapa isitya ou whun. Mapa isitya... Itsakala putakapai kala sekunya, kala weru-YA-pai. Itsapakala akainya pumapai ipitsi, isitya. Ehen. We-RU-ya-pai. Awojotakutiu.

   There [it] is yellow [indicates his face]. There [it] is all ... RED, here it is RED — its former body paint ... Red. Here [it] is really yel— [rubs his palms down over his face, showing how the honey poured down over the face of the man who drowned] —low from [the] beebread. From [the] beebread. [The] beebread.

   [Aside to anthropologist:] [It] is the very same [stuff] you tasted long ago, that [golden] yellow [stuff]. "Tastes like piqui mash," you remarked about it, [about the] beebread. [Sucks in breath.] Yes. Really yellow. [It] completely covered [that frog].

Usage notes

• Beebread (mapa isitya, lit., honey excreta), described in the quote as being weruyapai (yellow), is a mixture of honey, pollen, and secretions from the brood nurse bees, who feed it to the honey bee larvae. The beebread undergoes lactic fermentation in the honeycomb, resulting in a delicious bittersweet yellow-brownish paste.
• In the first excerpt above, from the traditional story, the "Man who Drowned in Honey" (Paisityawalu), a bold young woman has committed a grave sacrilege, and been cruelly buried alive as punishment. Her lover secretly visits her grave in the dead of night and digs her out, finding her weak and near death. During her ordeal, she has fouled herself with her own feces; her hair has fallen out and she is dripping with sweat. Although she is in a repulsive state, her lover seems not to care; as the story continues, he carries her to the river, where he tenderly washes her. Just before dawn, under cover of a driving rainstorm, he secretly carries her home so her mother can hide her until she escapes.
• In the second except from the same story, a cruel husband is drowned in honey and transformed by his wife into a frog. This species of frog (Leptodactylus latrans), is described by the Wauja as particularly large and ugly. It can be heard croaking in the season when the piqui fruit falls from the trees. The storyteller points out that this species of frog still bears traces of the events of ancient times: it has reddish markings on its arms and legs, where, in its human incarnation, it once wore red macaw-feather armbands and red body paint. This frog also has faint streaks of golden yellow extending backward from its head, a testament to the fate of the man who drowned in honey.

Related terms

• isityan (“his/her/its fart”)
• isityauto (“anus”)
• isityeke (“vomits”)
• paisityawalu (“Her-Feces-Woman”)

References

• "Au ha wani yiu" (transcript pp. 14-15) and "Ojonainhapai" (transcript pp. 31-32) uttered by Itsautaku, storyteller and elder, recounting the traditional Wauja tale of the "Man Who Drowned in Honey," in the presence of his adolescent son Mayuri, adult daughter Mukura, and others. Recorded in Piyulaga village by E. Ireland, December 1989.