nasa

nasa
Pronunciation	/ˈna.sa/ 🔊 🔊
Usage	2023: Core (99% → )2022: Core (99%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱤾 U+F193E

nasa is a core content word relating to unusual things.

Etymology

The word nasa is derived from Tok Pisin nasau, meaning "stupid, crazy", a word only known to exist in the book Pidgin-English für Papua-Neuguinea: Wort für Wort.

Semantic space

The semantic space of nasa includes deviations from the norm; that is, things considered strange or unusual. Unlike English, the word holds a neutral connotation by default. lipamanka's dictionary emphasizes that nasa is relative to specific contexts, not to large-scale norms.

nasa can extend to intoxication and psychoactive substances, unmoorings from one's typical state of mind. It sometimes also refers to behaving unusually, such as impulsively.

mani li nasa e jan

mani li nasa e jan.

[M]oney drives people crazy. […]

jan li moku e kasi nasa　

jan li moku e kasi nasa.

People consume the intoxicating plant [i.e. cannabis].

pu

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

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

ADJECTIVE  unusual, strange; foolish, crazy; drunk, intoxicated

After the publication of the Toki Pona Dictionary, the definition was corrected and the sense of "foolish, crazy" was replaced with "silly", according to jan Sonja, "in light of a commitment to non-ableist language".

ADJECTIVE  unusual, strange; silly; drunk, intoxicated

ku

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

weird⁵81–100% of respondents, unusual⁵81–100% of respondents, strange⁵81–100% of respondents, odd⁵81–100% of respondents, drunk⁴61–80% of respondents, silly³41–60% of respondents, wild³41–60% of respondents, ridiculous²21–40% of respondents, psychoactive²21–40% of respondents, nonsense²21–40% of respondents, confuse²21–40% of respondents, suspicious²21–40% of respondents

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for nasa (󱤾) is a spiral, a symbol of drunkness, dizziness, and hypnosis. This may come from the sensation that one's surroundings are spinning around when they are disoriented.

sitelen sitelen

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Further reading

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