esun

esun
Pronunciation	/ˈe.sun/
Usage	2023: Core (98% ↗︎ )2022: Core (96%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱤋 U+F190B

esun is a core content word relating to trade and exchanging.

Etymology

The word esun is thought to be from Twi edwom ("market (place)") (also edwamu). In 2020, jan Sonja stated that "esun was told to [her] by a taxi driver who spoke a language from the Akan family in West Africa".

Semantic space

The semantic space of esun includes acts, instances, and places of trade and exchange. It is one of the words often used to describe economics, alongside mani.

Market

The definition in Toki Pona: The Language of Good has a heavy focus on gatherings and marketplaces where trade tends to occur. This sense of esun frequently extends to businesses and companies. It has a semantic overlap with the word kulupu ("group"), and sometimes both words are used:

mi pali lon kulupu esun　

mi pali lon kulupu esun.

I work in a company (lit.literal translation 'trade group').

The phrase tenpo esun (lit.literal translation 'time of business') is often used for "week", among other possible meanings.

Trade

jan li esun e kule e kili　

jan li esun e kule e kili.

esun can also focus on the trade itself. It may involve currency, with esun able to mean either "buy" or "sell" depending on context.

mi esun e moku tawa sina

mi esun e moku tawa sina.

I purchased food for you.

ona li esun mute e kasi tawa ma ante

ona li esun mute e kasi tawa ma ante.

They sold plants a lot to other lands.

However, esun also applies to non-monetary exchange, from barter to abstract swapping.

sina wile ala wile esun e lipu musi

sina wile ala wile esun e lipu musi?

Do you want to trade playing cards?

kulupu li esun e nanpa pi(ilo toki)

kulupu li esun e nanpa pi ilo toki.

The group swapped communication-device numbers.

mi esun e ko jaki tawa telo sin　

mi esun e ko jaki tawa telo sin.

I replaced the dirty goop with fresh water.

pu

In the "Official Toki Pona Dictionary" section, the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good defines esun as:

NOUN  market, shop, fair, bazaar, business transaction

ku

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as esun:

trading⁵81–100% of respondents, trade⁵81–100% of respondents, shopping⁵81–100% of respondents, deal⁴61–80% of respondents, commerce⁴61–80% of respondents, purchase⁴61–80% of respondents, sales⁴61–80% of respondents, buy⁴61–80% of respondents, transaction⁴61–80% of respondents, market⁴61–80% of respondents, sale³41–60% of respondents, exchange³41–60% of respondents, sell³41–60% of respondents, retail³41–60% of respondents, business³41–60% of respondents, shop³41–60% of respondents, store²21–40% of respondents, commercial²21–40% of respondents, financial²21–40% of respondents, enterprise²21–40% of respondents, economy²21–40% of respondents, franchise²21–40% of respondents

lipamanka's semantic spaces dictionary

In lipamanka's semantic spaces dictionary, the entry for esun reads:

esun is a type of swap or exchange. Usually it's used to mean "buy," "sell," or "trade." The use of a currency isn't required for something to be esun. Trading baseball cards is esun. esun doesn't imply that both parties lose something. Exchanging knowledge is esun, even though neither party loses knowledge. Some interesting extentions of esun I've seen include using esun for breathing, where one trades the air inside them with the outside world. Seeing esun as a swap more than as a type of buying has had it being used far more often these days in my experience.

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for esun (󱤋) is a looped zigzagging curve, vaguely resembling a decorative cursive capital letter L (ℒ).

The glyph's origin is not known for sure. It may be derived from the Mi'kmaq hieroglyphs, according to jan Sonja in 2021. The best known match is (kisna/gisna, "or (else), either"), rediscovered as the 32nd glyph on page 5 of Buch das gut, enthaltend den Katechismus, but any semantic correlation is unclear.

As it is handwritten in Toki Pona: The Language of Good, the glyph for esun does not appear to be fully symmetrical: both ends are concave up, creating an apparent hook at the bottom end. (This is much like the cursive L, and resembles the Mi'kmaq kisna hieroglyph but turned 180°.) The middle of the curve is also vertical. Since then, esun is sometimes drawn more symmetrically with no such hook shape, and with the middle at a forward diagonal, such as in the linja pona font.

sitelen sitelen

The sitelen sitelen glyph for esun (esunesun) depicts a shop, with the u radical (UU) as a door. The three circles resemble the later sitelen pona glyph for kulupu (kulupukulupu).

History

The subject of this section is historical information that is presented for completeness, and might not reflect current usage.

The word esun was first used in the Toki Pona Forums around 2007. In 2009, the Toki Pona Wiki defined the word as the following, focusing primarily on the sense of the place and event of market.

1. market

a community event where people trade goods; market, marketplace, bazaar, trading place

2. store

a place where goods are offered for sale; store, shop

In a forum thread, jan Ote critiqued the definitions listed for esun, commenting on this, arguing that it was a secondary meaning to the meaning of "to trade". In the thread, jan Sonja clarified that she considered the sense of the event as more culturally important than trading for itself. In 2013, the definition was subsequently clarified to the following:

1. fair

a community event where people socialize and exchange goods or information; exhibition, fair, function, get-together, market, occasion, reception, reunion, social affair, social event, social gathering

2. trading place

a place where goods are offered for trade; bazaar, farmers' market, marketplace, shop, shopping mall, store, trading place

It also clarifies the use of tenpo esun for meaning "week":

The term tenpo esun (market period) can be used to express the concept of "week". This originates from the widespread human custom of a farmers' market, a specific market day that reoccurs every so many days. If everyone in a region agrees to travel to a certain place on a certain day, it makes trading a lot simpler. In modern times, the week has been set to 7 days, but many other durations have existed in history.

See also

• mani

Further reading

• "esun" on lipu Linku
• "esun" on lipu Wikipesija
• "esun" on English Wiktionary