GLOSSARY
abá: A Tagalog exclamation of wonder, surprise, etc., often used to introduce or emphasize a contradictory statement.
alcalde: Governor of a province or district, with both executive and judicial authority.
Ayuntamiento: A city corporation or council, and by extension the building in which it has its offices; specifically, in Manila, the capitol.
balete: The Philippine banyan, a tree sacred in Malay folklore.
banka: A dugout canoe with bamboo supports or outriggers.
batalan: The platform of split bamboo attached to a nipa house,
batikúlin: A variety of easily-turned wood, used in carving,
bibinka: A sweetmeat made of sugar or molasses and rice-flour, commonly sold in the small shops.
buyera: A woman who prepares and sells the buyo.
buyo: The masticatory prepared by wrapping a piece of areca-nut with a little shell-lime in a betel-leaf—the pan of British India.
cabesang: Title of a cabeza de barangay; given by courtesy to his wife also.
cabeza de barangay: Headman and tax-collector for a group of about fifty families, for whose "tribute" he was personally responsible.
calesa: A two-wheeled chaise with folding top.
calle: Street (Spanish).
camisa: 1. A loose, collarless shirt of transparent material worn by men outside the trousers.
2. A thin, transparent waist with flowing sleeves, worn by women.
capitan: "Captain," a title used in addressing or referring to a gobernadorcillo, or a former occupant of that office.
carambas: A Spanish exclamation denoting surprise or displeasure.
carbineer: Internal-revenue guard.
carromata: A small two-wheeled vehicle with a fixed top.
casco: A flat-bottomed freight barge.
cayman: The Philippine crocodile.
cedula: Certificate of registration and receipt for poll-tax.
chongka: A child’s game played with pebbles or cowry-shells.
cigarrera: A woman working in a cigar or cigarette factory.
Civil Guard: Internal quasi-military police force of Spanish officers and native soldiers.
cochero: Carriage driver, coachman.
cuarto: A copper coin, one hundred and sixty of which were equal in value to a silver peso.
filibuster: A native of the Philippines who was accused of advocating their separation from Spain.
filibusterism: See filibuster.
gobernadorcillo: "Petty governor," the principal municipal official—also, in Manila, the head of a commercial guild.
gumamela: The hibiscus, common as a garden shrub in the Philippines.
Indian: The Spanish designation for the Christianized Malay of the Phillippines was indio (Indian), a term used rather contemptuously, the name Filipino being generally applied in a restricted sense to the children of Spaniards born in the Islands.
kalan: The small, portable, open, clay fireplace commonly used in cooking.
kalikut: A short section of bamboo for preparing the buyo; a primitive betel-box.
kamagon: A tree of the ebony family, from which fine cabinet-wood is obtained. Its fruit is the mabolo, or date-plum.
lanete: A variety of timber used in carving.
linintikan: A Tagalog exclamation of disgust or contempt—"thunder!"
Malacañang: The palace of the Captain-General: from the vernacular name of the place where it stands, "fishermen's resort."
Malecon: A drive along the bay shore of Manila, opposite the Walled City.
Mestizo: A person of mixed Filipino and Spanish blood; sometimes applied also to a person of mixed Filipino and Chinese blood.
nakú: A Tagalog exclamation of surprise, wonder, etc.
narra: The Philippine mahogany.
nipa: Swamp palm, with the imbricated leaves of which the roofs and sides of the common native houses are constructed.
novena: A devotion consisting of prayers recited for nine consecutive days, asking for some special favor; also, a booklet of these prayers.
panguingui: A complicated card-game, generally for small stakes, played with a monte deck.
panguinguera: A woman addicted to panguingui, this being chiefly a feminine diversion in the Philippines.
pansit: A soup made of Chinese vermicelli.
pansitería: A shop where pansit is prepared and sold.
pañuelo: A starched neckerchief folded stiffly over the shoulders, fastened in front and falling in a point behind: the most distinctive portion of the customary dress of Filipino women.
peso: A silver coin, either the Spanish peso or the Mexican dollar, about the size of an American dollar and of approximately half its value.
petate: Sleeping-mat woven from palm leaves.
piña: Fine cloth made from pineapple-leaf fibers.
Provincial: The head of a religious order in the Philippines.
puñales: "Daggers!"
querida: A paramour, mistress: from the Spanish "beloved."
real: One-eighth of a peso, twenty cuartos.
sala: The principal room in the more pretentious Philippine houses.
salakot: Wide hat of palm or bamboo, distinctively Filipino.
sampaguita: The Arabian jasmine: a small, white, very fragrant flower, extensively cultivated, and worn in chaplets and rosaries by women and girls—the typical Philippine flower.
sipa: A game played with a hollow ball of plaited bamboo or rattan, by boys standing in a circle, who by kicking it with their heels endeavor to keep it from striking the ground.
soltada: A bout between fighting-cocks.
’Susmariosep: A common exclamation: contraction of the Spanish, Jesús, María, y José, the Holy Family.
tabi: The cry used by carriage drivers to warn pedestrians.
tabú: A utensil fashioned from half of a coconut shell.
tajú: A thick beverage prepared from bean-meal and syrup.
tampipi: A telescopic basket of woven palm, bamboo, or rattan.
Tandang: A title of respect for an old man: from the Tagalog term for “old.”
tapis: A piece of dark cloth or lace, often richly worked or embroidered, worn at the waist somewhat in the fashion of an apron; a distinctive portion of the native women’s attire, especially among the Tagalogs.
tatakut: The Tagalog term for “fear.”
teniente-mayor: “Senior lieutenant,” the senior member of the town council and substitute for the gobernadorcillo.
tertiary sister: A member of a lay society affiliated with a regular monastic order.
tienda: A shop or stall for the sale of merchandise.
tikbalang: An evil spirit, capable of assuming various forms, but said to appear usually as a tall black man with disproportionately long legs: the “bogey man” of Tagalog children.
tulisan: Outlaw, bandit. Under the old régime in the Philippines the tulisanes were those who, on account of real or fancied grievances against the authorities, or from fear of punishment for crime, or from an instinctive desire to return to primitive simplicity, foreswore life in the towns “under the bell,” and made their homes in the mountains or other remote places. Gathered in small bands with such arms as they could secure, they sustained themselves by highway robbery and the levying of blackmail from the country folk.