Fijian

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Etymology

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From virita (to throw) +‎ lawalawa (cobweb); latter from Proto-Oceanic *lawaq₂ (spider) (Maori whakarawa (to fasten), Hawaiian lawa (to bind), Tongan lalava (to fasten with a sennit, to wrap)) from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *lawaq (spider) (compare with Malay labah-labah and lelabah, Tagalog alalawa).[1][2]

Noun

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viritalawalawa

  1. spider
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References

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  1. ^ Gatty, Ronald (2009) “viritalawalawa”, in Fijian-English Dictionary, Suva, Fiji: Ronald Gatty, →ISBN, page 300
  2. ^ Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “lawa2”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online