lupa

From sona pona, the Toki Pona wiki
lupa in sitelen pona
lupa in sitelen sitelen
Pronunciation /ˈlu.pa/
Usage 2024: Core (99% → )2023: Core (99% ↗︎ )2022: Core (98%)
Book and era nimi pu
Part of speech Content word
Codepoint 󱤯 U+F192F

lupa is a core content word relating to holes and orifices.

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The word lupa is derived from Lojban clupa (/ˈʃlupa/, "loop"),[1] itself from Chinese (quān), English loop, Hindi पाश (pāś), and Arabic أنشوطة (ʔanšūṭa).

Semantic space[edit | edit source]

The semantic space of lupa includes both through holes (with two entrances, like a passage) and blind holes (with one entrance, like a pit).[2] This includes orifices in the body, although the mouth is usually referred to as uta instead.

lupa can refer to windows and doors.[3] Even though these are solid, they let certain things pass through them. This sense can be extended to frame something as a gateway or passageway, such as a hyperlink or a science fiction portal.[2]

According to lipamanka, lupa describes a space in an object that is made of a different material (including air or a vacuum), which lets something pass through it that the surrounding material cannot. One of their examples is metal that conducts sound through insulated rubber tubing.[4]

pu[edit | edit source]

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

NOUN  door, hole, orifice, window

ku[edit | edit source]

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

hole5, door5, orifice4, pit4, window3, gate3, entrance2, opening2, gap2, dig2

sitelen pona[edit | edit source]

The sitelen pona glyph for lupa (󱤯) represents a cross section of a hole, and it is an upside down version of nena. It is normally drawn taller with clear vertical lines to avoid confusion with pona.

sitelen sitelen[edit | edit source]

The sitelen sitelen word glyph for lupa (lupa) seems to represent a round object with a hole in the middle, similar to a donut shape.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "Word Origins". tokipona.org. Archived from the original on 8 August 2002.
  2. 2.0 2.1 lipamanka. "toki pona dictionary". lipamanka.gay.
  3. Lang, Sonja. (25 May 2014). Toki Pona: The Language of Good. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292300. OCLC 921253340. pp. 56–57, 128.
  4. lipamanka. (20 February 2023). "Ramblings about lupa". lipamanka.gay. Retrieved 16 May 2024.