Toki Pona Root Word Etymology Page

a [a priori]

akesi < Dutch hagedis 'lizzard'

ala < Georgian არა /ara/ 'no, not'

alasa < French à la chasse (5) 'on the hunt'

ale, ali < Dutch alle 'every'

anpa < French en bas 'underneath'

ante < Dutch ander 'other'

anu < old Georgian ანუ 'or'

awen < Dutch houden , popular pronunciation: houwen 'hold'

e [a priori] (maybe inspired by the Latin preposition e, ex 'out')

en < Dutch en 'and'

esun < Akan edwamu [edʒum] 'at market', from dwa [dʒwa] 'market'

ijo < Esperanto io '(some)thing'

ike < Finnish ilkeä 'bad'

ilo < Esperanto ilo 'tool'

insa <Tok Pisin insait < English inside

jaki < English yucky

jan < Cantonese 人 /jɐn/ 'person'

jelo < English yellow

jo < Mandarin 有 yǒu 'to have'

kala < Finnish kala 'fish'

kalama < Croatian galáma 'fuss, noise' (cf. English clamour)

kama < Tok Pisin kamap 'to come, arrive, happen; become; start' < English come up

kasi < Finnish kasvi 'plant'

ken < Tok Pisin ken < English can

kepeken <Dutch gebruiken 'use'

kili < Georgian ხილი /xili/

kin < Finnish -kin 'even, any'

kiwen < Finnish kivi, genitive kiven 'stone'

ko < Cantonese 膏 /gou/ 'fat, ointment'

kon < Mandarin 空氣 kōngqì 'air'

kule < French couleur 'color'

kulupu < Tongan kulupu < English group

kute < French écouter 'listen'

la < maybe Esperanto la 'the' but repurposed

lape < Dutch slapen 'sleap'

laso < Welsh glas 'sky, blue-green'

lawa < Croatian glava 'head'

len < French linge /lɛ̃ʒ/ 'linen'

lete < Acadian French frette 'cold'

li < maybe from Esperanto li 'him' but repurposed

lili < Tok Pisin liklik 'little' ( < maybe English little, but Wiktionary indicates from Ramoaaina liklik )

linja < Finnish linja 'line' ( cf. English 'linear' )

lipu < Finnish lippu 'banner, ticket, flag'

loje < Dutch rood, rooie 'red'

lon < Tok Pisin long 'at' (< ultimatedly from English along)

luka < Croation rúka 'arm, hand'

lukin < Tok Pisin lukim < English look him

lupa < Croatian rupa 'hole' or Lobjan clupa 'loop'

ma < Finnish maa 'land'

mama < Georgian მამა /mama/ 'father'

mani < English money

meli < Tok Pisin meri 'woman' (< English Mary)

mi < Esperanto mi, English me

mije < Finnish mies, genitive miehen 'man'

moku < Japanese モグモグ /mogu mogu/ 'to munch'

moli < French mourir 'to die'

monsi < Acadian French mon tchu (fr mon cul) 'my ass'

mu < English moo

mun < English moon

musi < Esperanto amuzi 'to amuse'

mute < Esperanto multe 'many' (cf. English multitude)

namako < Japanese なまこ / 海鼠 'sea cucumber; sea slug'

nanpa < Tok Pisin namba < English number

nasa < Tok Pisin nasau 'stupid'

nasin < Croatian način 'manner'

nena < Finnish nenä 'nose'

ni < Cantonese 哩 /ni/ 'this'

nimi < Finnish nimi 'name'

noka < Croatian nòga 'leg'

o < Georgia -ო /o/, Esperanto ho, English O

oko < Croatian òko 'eye' (cfr. English ocular)

olin < Croatian volim 'I love' (cf. English volition)

ona < Croatian ona 'she'

open < Tok Pisin open < English open

pakala < Tok Pisin bagarap 'broken down, accident' < English bugger up

pali < Esperanto fari 'to make, to do' < French faire, Italian fare

palisa < Croatian pàlica 'stick'; cf. English palisade

pan < Mandarin 饭 fàn 'rice'; also Cantonese 飯 faahn; cf. Spanish pan 'bread'

pana < Swahili pana 'give to each other'

pi < Tok Pisin bilong < English belong

pilin < Tok Pisin pilim (< English feel him) and English feeling

pimeja < Finnish pimeä 'dark'

pini < Tok Pisin pinis (< English finish) and French fini 'finished'

pipi < Acadian French bibitte 'little beast'

poka < Croatian bòka, genitive of bòk 'side, flank'

poki < Tok Pisin bokis < English box

pona < Esperanto bona 'good' < Latin bonus

pu < maybe (>7) English book (or Dutch boek /buk/) or from the Tao concept 樸 /pu/ (uncut wood)

sama < Finnish sama 'same', Esperanto sama 'same' (Esp. < English same)

seli < Georgian ცხელი /tsxeli/

selo < Esperanto ŝelo 'skin, peel' < English shell

seme < Mandarin 什么 shénme 'what'

sewi < Georgian შეკით /sevit/ 'up'

sijelo < Croatian tijelo 'body, flesh'

sike < English circle

sin < Mandarin 新 xīn 'new'

sina < Finnish sinä 'thou' (NB : old form of polite 'you')

sinpin < Cantonese 前边 'front'

sitelen < Dutch schilderen 'paint'

sona < Georgian ცოდნა /tsodna/ 'to know'

soweli < Georgian ცხოკელი /tsxoveli/ 'animal'

suli < Finnish suuri 'big'

suno < Esperanto suno (ultimatedly from English sun)

supa < French surface, Esperanto surfaco, English surface

suwi < Tok Pisin swit < English sweet

tan < Georgian დან dan 'from'

taso < Tok Pisin tasol 'only, but' ( < English that's all )

tawa < English towards

telo < French de l'eau 'some water'

tenpo < Esperanto tempo 'time'

toki < Tok Pisin tok ( < English talk)

tomo < Esperanto domo 'house' < Latin domus (cf. English domestic, domicile)

tu < Tok Pisin tu < English two

unpa onomatopoea cfr. English umph

uta < Croatian ústa 'mouth'

utala < Croatian udarati 'to strike, to hit'

walo < Finnish valko- 'white' (in compound words), valkoinen 'white'

wan < Tok Pisin wan < English one

waso < French oiseau 'bird'

wawa < Finnish vahva 'strong'

weka < Dutch weg 'way (n.)/ away (adv.)'

wile < Dutch willen 'to want'

sources:

(1) jan Sonja's site archived (ca. 2010)

https://archive.is/IjHFC

(2) A Russian Toki Pona etymology site

http://ucteam.ru/toki-pona/

(3) An older Wikipedia article

http://speedydeletion.wikia.com/wiki/Toki_Pona

(4) Own research on pana , alasa and namako

(5) Sonja Lang podcast interviews

(6) Facebook interaction with Sonja Lang (jan Sonja)

(7) Facebook interaction with John Clifford (jan Kipo); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu_(Taoism)

(8) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sWFZey4wd-D-jG4Z0e98FlDjzEq1ATPVR0vMjZZFjfc/edit#gid=0

(9) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Toki_Pona_terms_derived_from_Tok_Pisin

(10) http://forums.tokipona.org/viewtopic.php?t=2430