ABSTRACT
When the fruit forming in the fertilised flower reaches to about the size of an egg, it is called kapuwa, a compound of prefix ka-, kay-and
puwa, which is probably an apophonic variety of po'u, 'egg'. The areca-nut at the same stage is called bubuwana. When it is larger, but not yet fully developed, the coconut is called talapem. When the fluid has formed, but the flesh still remains a sweetish jelly, the natives call it bwqybwqya or bwaybwa'i, to which the colloquial expression of tropical English 'green coconut' corresponds. The areca-nut at this stage is described as kikiya. When the coconut is almost ripe, but not quite, it is described as sagola ; sa-formative found in several expressions referring to coconut and areca-nut; gola perhaps related to the noun gwara, a form of taboo specially connected with the ripening of coconuts. Gwara is not used in the Trobriands to describe the coconut palm taboo, but is found over a wide area among other Papuo-Melanesian tribes (cf. Argonauts of the Western Pacific, p. 346, and monograph on The Natives ofMailu, pp. 580, 659, gwara) . Arecanut at this stage is called viliyona ku'iga.
