kosan
kosan is an obscure post-ku content word and nimi sin relating to defense from outside. It is most closely associated with the word awen.
| Pronunciation | /ˈko |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2024: N/A This word has not been surveyed for. Most speakers likely don't understand it.2023: Obscure (2% ↗︎ )2022: Obscure (1%)
|
| Book and era | No book (post-ku) |
| Part of speech | Content word |
Etymology edit
kosan is derived from Irish cosain ("defend, protect (against)"). It was coined in 2021 by jan Seni and jan inwin in the ma pona pi toki pona community.[1]
Semantic space edit
kosan was originally defined as "guard, protect, defend, shield, brace, fortify from outside".[1]
A possible distinction between awen and kosan is that awen is a more passive state of permanence or maintenance, or the thing protected, whereas kosan is a more active form of defense against perilous or unpredicted threats, or the thing protecting. In this usage, shelter such as a fort might be tomo kosan, and the people inside jan awen; a vaccine might be misikeke kosan, and the body sijelo awen. Regardless, many speakers see kosan as redundant to awen.
To a lesser extent, kosan has variously been suggested to overlap with alasa, len, selo, sinpin, and utala.
sitelen pona edit
The word kosan is not often used in sitelen pona. The glyph by co-coiner jan inwin (kosan) is derived from that of insa (insa) turned upside-down, with an additional horizontal line on top to represent fortification. In practice, it is unknown whether this glyph sees significant use.
References edit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 lipamanka (posting a request from jan inwin) [@lipamanka]. (6 September 2021). Message in
#sona-musi. ma pona pi toki pona. Discord. Retrieved 27 February 2023.these are words requested to be added by jan Inwin
.. kosan kosan • guard, protect, defend, shield, brace, fortify from outside
←jan seni, jan inwin· Irish cosain (ar/ó) ‘defend, protect (against)’