Note 3 — General Results

The initial portion of some of these names is derived from the respectful term apo—“sir,” and the attributive copulate nī; thus the original form of Aponītolau probably was Apo nī Tolau, literally “Sir, who is Tolau.” However, the story-tellers do not now appear to divide the names into their component parts, and they frequently corrected the writer when he did so; for this reason such names appear in the text as single words. Following this explanation it is possible that the name Aponībolinayen may be derived from Apo nī bolan yan, literally “Sir (mistress) who is place where the moon”; but bolan generally refers to the space of time between the phases of the moon rather than to the moon itself. The proper term for moon is sīnag, which we have seen is the mother of Gaygayóma—a star,—and is clearly differentiated from Aponībolinayen.