Toki Pona Forums

I'm looking at the etymology of some of the words to get to the heart of meaning.

From what I can gather.... Pakala seems to be a transliteration of a Finnish word parantaa and ala

what about changing the word pakala to paka. with paka ala to mean what pakala means now.

paka
v. to mend, fix, repair, heal
n. bandage, medicine

Uses:
jan paka - doctor, healing person,
tomo paka - hospital
ilo paka - fixing tool/device

mi paka ala e noka mi. mi tawa tomo paka. jan paka li paka e noka mi. noka mi li pona.

jan Nikole o, toki!

we have a word for "fix, repair, heal". It is "pona:
"pakala" as a noun is not the oposite of "bandage" or "medicine".

jan_Lope wrote:jan Nikole o, toki!

we have a word for "fix, repair, heal". It is "pona:

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...pona            adjective: good, simple, positive, nice, correct, right
...pona            adverb: good, simple, positive, nice, correct, right
pona!              interjection: great! good! thanks! OK! cool! yay!
pona               noun: good, simplicity, positivity
pona la ...        noun: if good, if simplicity, if positivity
pona (e ...)       verb transitive: to improve, to fix, to repair, to make good

"pakala" as a noun is not the oposite of "bandage" or "medicine".

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...pakala           adjective: destroyed, ruined, demolished, shattered, wrecked
...pakala           adverb: destroyed, ruined, demolished, shattered, wrecked
pakala!             interjection: damn! fuck!
pakala              noun: blunder, accident, mistake, destruction, damage, breaking
pakala              verb intransitive: to screw up, to fall apart, to break
pakala (e ...)      verb transitive: to screw up, to ruin, to break, to hurt, to injure, to damage

jan pona = doctor then?
tomo pona= hospital

Please see here:

https://jan-lope.github.io/Toki_Pona_lessons_English/

jan_Lope wrote:

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jan sona sijelo                    doctor, physician
jan pi pona sijelo                 good doctor, healer 
jo e pilin pona                    to have positive feelings, be mentally healthy
jo e sijelo pona                   to be (physically) healthy
pilin pona li pana e sijelo pona.  Positive feelings grant good health. Mind over matter. 
tomo pi pona sijelo                hospital

Please see here:

https://jan-lope.github.io/Toki_Pona_lessons_English/

that almost seems like incorrect ordering on some of those.

jan li sona e sijelo - person who knows the body
tomo pi sijelo pona - pona is modifying sijelo in this case isn't it? adjective should go after.

mental health should be sona, not pilin imo. or even lawa.

Well, I haven’t read up on Lope’s versions of all this in a while, but I suspect they are not quite the same as the communities generally. I would have
doctor, etc. ‘jan pi pona sijelo. (person who fixes bodies). A good doctor is probably best as ‘jan pona pi pona sijelo’, though ‘jan pi pona sijelo, pona’ also works (comma optional but helpful)
We sorta agree on ‘jo e pilin pona’ except, I think the ‘jo e’ is superfluous and am philosophicaly opposed to ‘pilin pona’ (from English) as opposed to ‘pona pilin’. No one agrees with the last bit, of course.
‘jo e sijelo pona’ looks fine.
‘tomo pi pona sijelo’ looksfind, “a building that fixes bodies” -- it’s a verb , not an adjective.
'jan pi sona sijelo' for an anatmist, physiologist, I suppose

janNikole wrote: that almost seems like incorrect ordering on some of those.

jan li sona e sijelo - person who knows the body
tomo pi sijelo pona - pona is modifying sijelo in this case isn't it? adjective should go after.

mental health should be sona, not pilin imo. or even lawa.

You are right (I've wrote it before coffee :
tomo pi sijelo pona.

I think it is better to describe it in whole sentences.

jan ni li sona e sijelo jan li pona e sijelo jan.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix ... ona/pakala
pakala is not from Finnish
It's from Tok Pisisn bagarap

We seem to be playing a different game here than etymology, though I am not sure what it is exactly, nor whether it is ultimately interesting. Note that Finnish “parantaa” would not give ‘paka(la)’ but ‘palanta’.