kosan
| 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 |
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.
Etymology[edit | edit source]
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 | edit source]
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 | edit source]
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 | edit source]
- ↑ 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)’