sewi

sewi
Pronunciation	/ˈse.wi/ 🔊 🔊
Usage	2023: Core (99% ↘︎ )2022: Core (100%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱥚 U+F195A

sewi is a core content word, used as a spatial word, relating to something physically elevated, and figuratively, to the sacred and divine.

Etymology

The word sewi is derived from Georgian ზევით (zevit), meaning "upwards".

Semantic space

The semantic space of sewi, when used as a direction word, includes upwards and things physically elevated.

telo li kama tan sewi2

telo li kama tan sewi.

The water is coming from the sky.
It is raining.

When used figuratively, its semantic space includes divinity and sacredness. It is used as a headnoun for gods, such as sewi Ila for Allah, as well as jan sewi for anthropomorphic gods, however, this can also mean "devoted person", such as a practitioner or a religious leader.

mama pi (mi mute) o 　 sina lon sewi kon

mama pi mi mute o, sina lon sewi kon.

Our Father, who art in heaven. (Lord's Prayer)

It is sometimes used to refer to north^{[citation needed]}This claim needs references to reliable sources. as upwards is the conventional direction as shown in most maps. However, this is often proscribed as it leads to ambiguity, and other words, such as lete, are more commonly used.

pu

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

NOUN  area above, highest part, something elevated
ADJECTIVE  awe-inspiring, divine, sacred, supernatural

ku

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

divine⁵81–100% of respondents, upper⁵81–100% of respondents, sacred⁴61–80% of respondents, top⁴61–80% of respondents, holy⁴61–80% of respondents, sky⁴61–80% of respondents, elevated⁴61–80% of respondents, high³41–60% of respondents, spiritual³41–60% of respondents, raise³41–60% of respondents, supreme³41–60% of respondents, highly³41–60% of respondents, peak³41–60% of respondents, God²21–40% of respondents, rise²21–40% of respondents, above²21–40% of respondents, superior²21–40% of respondents, magical²21–40% of respondents, summit²21–40% of respondents, weather²21–40% of respondents, upstairs²21–40% of respondents, religious²21–40% of respondents, arise²21–40% of respondents

sitelen pona

Arabic word for "Allah"

The main sitelen pona glyph for sewi (󱥚), as featured in the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good is derived from Arabic الله (Allāh), meaning "God". This variant is sometimes referred to as pu-style sewi or Arabic sewi, referring to its derivation.

Some Muslims reject the original glyph in pu in favor of the following secular form, as Allah is considered a sacred name, to which Muslims are supposed to show reverence. There are several alternate glyphs for sewi, both religious (derived from religious symbols) and secular.

Secular sewi

Secular version of sewi as shown in the Esperanto translation of pu

An alternative glyph (sewi2sewi2), often called secular sewi, is derived from an upside-down open box radical with a location dot placed above it, by analogy with other glyphs for spatial word—anpa, insa, monsi, sinpin, poka. This version was first proposed by ilo Enke in 2021. It was first published in the Esperanto translation of the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good, and was used in lipu su for the nonreligious senses of sewi ("upper, top, high, sky, above"), with spiritual senses ("divine, sacred, God") using the main glyph.

sitelen sitelen

This section is empty. You can help us by adding to it.

Further reading

Wikipesija has a Toki Pona article on
sewi.

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