UNKNOWN KADAZAN WORD

Have you come across a word that you don’t know especially your mother tongue language? I was reading through a fortnightly newspaper when I stumbled through a column written by a very knowledgeable individual by the name of Mr. Peter Lidadun. He mentioned a Kadazan word which I do not know which was BONTUTAN. He explained what the word means. It is a bunch of selected big fruits for example Durian, and amongst the big durians there's one the biggest durian of which is called BONTUTAN. Usually when there were a couple of fruits and you were told to pick one, surely you would pick the largest fruit and that largest fruit is called BONTUTAN in the Kadazan language. I don’t know whether other languages have the name for the largest fruit amongst the biggest fruits. There are many Kadazans out there who does know this word including me and with this word it will add to our depleting Kadazan vocabulary.




Speaking about Durian, I went to Sipitang last week for some outstation work with my boss. Sipitang district is popular with its Durian and near proximity to Lawas of Sarawak of which have many types of Durian. There weren’t a single Durian sold and we were informed the durian season was already over. Although I am not a big fan of durian, I was a bit disappointed for not able to bring home at least one durian.

On the way back, I was told by my boss to look for stall by the roadside selling anchovies. I thought Tawau and Sandakan the only district that sell dried ikan bilis, how wrong I was. The stall that sells dried anchovies was a simple stall by the roadside around Kimanis area. The dried anchovies sold there was fresh and not smelly. Next time you want to taste Kimanis ikan bilis, slow down near a stall by the roadside and buy a packet of anchovies for RM10.