kosan

From sona pona, the Toki Pona wiki
Pronunciation /ˈko.san/
Usage 2024: N/ACaution: 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]

kosan in sitelen seli kiwen

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. 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)’