Hoyito dictionary → Portuguese.
Many specific terms and expressions are used in Hoyito, a mancala game played in the Dominican Republic. They were collected by Víktor Bautista i Roca during a short stay in the Dominican Republic and by asking Dominican expatriates in Catalonia.
Names of the Game
Hoyito has just one Kreyòl name, Kay (sometimes spelled Caille), but many Spanish names. The game was also called by one informant Mapenba, which could have derived from (1) "mapemba" (or its phonetic variants, e.g. mabemba, mahemba, ...), a Bantu word for maize or be related to (2) "mapenba" = blessing, benediction in the West African Vodun religion). Bantu-derived words are widespread in Caribbean languages and dialects.
Spanish Game Names
Widespread Names
- (El) hoyito
- (the) small hole
- (Las) casitas
- (the) little houses
- (El) mate
- (the) calabash seed
- Jueguito mate
- little calabash seeds game
- Hoyitos de mate
- small holes of calabash seeds
- (Las) casitas del mate
- (the) little houses of calabash seeds
- Las casitas de los mates
- the little houses of the calabash seeds
Names found just once
- El maizal
- the maize field
- Matosón
- big calabash seeds
- Pueblo
- village
- Come y deja
- eat and leave
- Piedrecitas
- little stones
General Nomenclature
French Nomenclature
- perdre ("to lose")
- to end a multiple lap - Note: Kreyòl is pèdi .
Kreyòl Nomenclature
- Kay ("house")
- 4 seeds in a hole
- 2 Marasa ("2 twins" - a lwa (spirit) in Haitian Vodou)
- 2 (or more) houses in a row
- 2 kabès ("2 heads")
- 2 (or more) houses in a row
- Mouri ("to die" or "dead")
- to end a multiple lap
- Manje ("to eat")
- to capture seeds
Spanish Nomenclature
- Mate ("calabash seed")
- seeds used (formerly/if available) to play
- Casa ("house")
- 4 seeds in a hole
- Hacer una casa ("to make a house")
- capturing a house
- Casa doble ("double house")
- capturing two houses
- Comer ("to eat")
- to capture a house
- Beber ("to drink")
- to capture a house
- Morir ("to die")
- to end a multiple lap
- Perder ("to lose")
- to end a multiple lap
- Regar ("to irrigate")
- to move
- Levantar ("to elevate")
- to move
- Barco ("boat")
- a heavily loaded hole
- Cerrar ("to close")
- to mark a lost hole
- Tapar ("to cover")
- to mark a lost hole
- Ir cocote ("to go [on your] neck")
- to have no seed to play with
- Pollito ("chick")
- a non-empty hole
References
- Bautista i Roca, V.
- Africa Hidden Inside a Small Hole. Paper presented in the VIIIth Board Game Studies Colloquium. Oxford (England) 2005.
Copyright
© Wikimanqala.
By: Víktor Bautista i Roca and Ralf Gering.
Under the CC by-sa 2.5.