jèpo

Kari'na

Etymology

From Proto-Cariban *jôtɨpô. By surface analysis, je (“tooth”) +‎ -`po (uncontrolledly or formerly possessed suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Venezuela) IPA^(key): [ðeho]
• (Suriname) IPA^(key): [jehpo]

Noun

jèpo (possessed jèpory, plural jèsan)

1. bone
2. fishbone
3. hard piece of liana left over and discarded after scraping away the outer bark and sapwood (which are used as medicine)

References

• Courtz, Hendrik (2008) A Carib grammar and dictionary‎^[1], Toronto: Magoria Books, →ISBN, page 285
• Ahlbrinck, Willem (1931) “yepo”, in Encyclopaedie der Karaïben, Amsterdam: Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, page 550; republished as Willem Ahlbrinck, Doude van Herwijnen, transl., L'Encyclopédie des Caraïbes‎^[2], Paris, 1956, page 539