vt. To take out, withdraw, as money from a bank, or a drawer from a desk; to unsheath, extract; to take off, as a ring; to translate, interpret. Mea unuhi, translator, interpreter. hoʻo.unuhi To have something translated, withdrawn, etc. (PPN unusi, which is PPN unu + PPN -si.)

It’s been a couple days. Had four wisdom teeth extracted this week and I just wasn’t feeling up to, well, thinking. But I pulled up my boot straps and here I go with today’s “momi”.

Unuhi, to Hawaiian language students, means to translate. You learn it fairly quickly in class because you always want the teacher to translate whatever was said in Hawaiian into English!

I am glad I decided to use unuhi as the word for the day because I didn’t know that unuhi also means to withdraw, as money from the bank. I do that so often now I can put the Hawaiian word to the action! Unuhi also means to extract or unsheath, like taking bullets out of a gun (I actually took that directly from a Hawaiian language newspaper article). Gee. I wonder if it could also be used to extract a tooth! Hmmm…lol.

• E unuhi ana au i ke kālā mai ka panakō – I am going to withdraw money from the bank.
• E unuhi mai ʻoe i kou manaʻo – interpret your thoughts to me.
• Ua unuhi ʻo ia i ka palapala – She translated the document.
• A laila holo aku la o Davida a unuhi ae la i ka pahikaua nui a Golia mai loko mai o kona wahi, a oki aku la i kona poo – And then David removed the battle knife of Goliath from its place and cut [off] his head.

Copyright: 2015 – Liana Iaea Honda. All rights reserved. All versions of “He Momi e Lei ai”, in its entirety, past and present, is the property of L. K. I. Honda. Reproduction and use of any kind other than the sharing of this website is prohibited. Alteration to the original content in any form is prohibited in every and any instance, and use in any other variant is prohibited without written consent of the author. Adress inquiries to: hemomi [at] gmail.com. Definitions and wise sayings are from: Hawaiian Dictionary by Pukui and Elbert, 1986. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau – Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings by Mary Kawena Pukui, 1983.