Bunga
As Filipinos prepare 12 round fruits to bring in good luck for the New Year, learn about the difference between the 2 words for “fruit” in Kapampángan and Tagálog! And FALSE FRIENDS ALERT! Find out about an exactly similar cognate in Malay/Indonesian that means a different but related thing to a fruit!
BÚNGA • (BOO-nguh)
(1) fruit (as part of plant)
(2) result
Tagálog (Filipino): búnga
PRÚTAS • (PROO-tuhs)
fruit (as food)
Tagálog (Filipino): prútas
Etymology
Búnga comes from Proto-Austronesian *buŋa (“flower, blossom”)
Prútas comes from Spanish frutas, plural of fruta (“fruit”).
False Friends
Kapampángan and Tagálog (Filipino)
BÚNGA “fruit”
(Malay/Indonesian: buah)
Malay/Indonesian
BUNGA “flower”
(Kapampángan: sampága, Tagalog: bulaklák)
Verb Conjugation
mamúnga, mámúnga, mémúnga – to bear fruit; to produce results (Actor Focus)
ibúnga, bubúnga, binúnga – to bear a fruit; to result into (Object Focus)
Example Sentence
Mémúnga ya ing pámamangan nang prútas. [Kap]
Nagbúnga ang pagkáin niya ng prútas. [Tag]
His/her fruit-eating produced results. [Eng]
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