sepenin
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Chuukese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from English seaplane. Disputed suggestion that the term is borrowed from German Zeppelin. This is very unlikely, as the period in history when German influence existed in Chuuk predates the invention of the dirigible by at least two decades. Furthermore, the German word for airplane is German Flugzeug which is not at all related to sepenin. Finally, sepenin itself is a derivation of the original word sepelin, which would have originated in the Chuukese outer islands dialects which pronounce the letter ‘l.’ The lagoon dialect converts this to the letter ‘n’ further confusing the matter.
Noun[edit]
sepenin