Isinay Word for Typhoon

NORTHERN LUZON, just like other parts of the Philippines, has been experiencing stormy weather for more than a week now and so far I can count with my fingers the few times I saw the sun peeking out from the fog-shrouded hills and thickly clouded skies in our part of Baguio City.

[Many puwo^ turn roads into chocolate-colored rivers like this one at Amistad, Baguio City. August 4, 2012 photo by charlzcastro]

Apart from donning a thick sweater all day, however, it’s not part of my nature to sulk at not being able to enjoy anything else aside from cooking sayote tops for the cats and dogs, watching TV snippets of the London Olympics, leafing through dusty books and magazines, and gulping mug after mug of coffee.

And so, instead of hopelessly wishing for the sun to shine again, what better thing to do than reminisce the days when wet and stormy seasons were a welcome part of Isinay land when I was growing up?

I did just that – raking my mind’s collection of rainy-day memories – and one result is this blog post.

Puwo^
Puwo^ is the original Isinay word for typhoon. Note the circumflex sign (^) at the end of the word. Many Isinay words, especially the Dupax version (said to be the standard Isinay), use such mark to make the vowel of such words sound like the Tagalog "circumflexed" words maragsa^ and daga^.

Probably because there was not yet a weather-forecasting office at the time, it didn't put distinction as to whether it was full-strength typhoon with a name or just heavy rain, stormy weather, or strong wind.

(As a side note, the word typhoon is of Chinese origin; the weather phenomenon it refers to is called hurricane in the United States and cyclone in Bangladesh).

Normally you would hear the verb form manpuwo^ (there will be a typhoon) and the adjective mapuwo^ (stormy). But the prevailing term used now is bagyo (used both by Ilocanos and Tagalogs), thus you would hear the verb manbagyo.

Uran
Uran is Isinay for rain. In isinay land as well as in most if not all communities in the Philippines, the puwo^ is always accompanied by rain (ulan in Tagalog), so much so that if they say there is a puwo^ but the sun is shining, no one would believe. The verb form is man-uran (agtudo in Ilokano) and the adjective form is mauran (maulan in Tagalog).

Dajom
Dajom is Isinay for wind, be it gale-force in strength or merely a light breeze. Just like uran, dajom is also so associated with puwo^ or bagyo that mere strong rain alone would not be called typhoon if it is not accompanied by wind. The verb form is mandajom (agangin in Ilokano) while the adjective is marajom (mahangin in Tagalog).

Datong
Datong is Isinay noun for flood. But with the prevalence of Ilocano and Tagalog, you now hear the words layus and baha^. Occasionally though, you would hear among cautious Isinay speakers the term mandatong and, for the Ilocanized Isinays, manlayus.

Sujayir
Sujayir is Isinay for the spraying effect of falling or blowing rain on open windows or doors. The verb form is mansujayir (agsapri in Ilokano, mag-ampiyas in Tagalog). Isinay language learners would do well not to confuse mansujayir with its sound-alike man-ujayir which is Isinay for the way chickens scratch the ground (agkaraykay in Ilokano, magkahig in Tagalog) for earthworm and other edibles.

Peyut
Peyut is Isinay for mud, an expected result of the typhoon super soaking the soil. Used in sentences, you often hear "Peyut podda" [It's so muddy] or "Mapeyutan a" [You'll get muddied].