Pangasinan Synonyms for "Eat" are Too Plenty to Ignore

Pangasinan Synonyms for "Eat" are Too Plenty to Ignore

(New linguistic evidence shows Pangasinan is indeed a gustatory powerhouse.)

In the Pangasinan folk song, "No Siak so Mangaro," the closing stanza goes this way:

No kumon agi ta
Limon kan kakanen
Iyan ta kad nguroy dilak
Ya pantulin-tulinen
Ag ta ka gatgaten
Ag ta ka akmunen
Iyan ta kad nguroy dilak
Ya amamayuen

Translated, it means: "If only, dear, you were a lemon, I would put you at the tip of my tongue and roll you there again and again. I wouldn't chew you, I wouldn't swallow you, I would just place you at the tip of my tongue, there to be leisurely savored."

From this song alone lies a good proof that Pangasinenses have a peculiar way with their mouth and their tongue, and particularly with their mouthfeel.

In fact, the number of synonyms for the word "eat" bears this out, as they are particularly numerous.

Pangasinan Synonyms for Eat

akan - kainin (Tagalog); eat

mangan - to eat

kanen - eat

kulitam - eat on the side or at odd hours outside mealtimes?

tawayan - tikman; taste or sample

akmon, atmon - lunok, lulon; swallow

bikler - swallow forcefully

gatgat - nguya; chew

kutib - bite a tiny amount; a tiny bite

ngalngal - to chew forcefully

kabkab - kagatin ng malaki; to bite in big chunks

kutlab - to make a big bite

kusab - same as kutlab?

ketket - kagat; bite

ketleb - kagatin ng maliliit; to bite in little pieces

sibasib - to sip and swallow forcefully?

nutnot - to suck at something for its fluid, as in a baby sucking at its mother's breast or its thumb

itamukal, isamukal, - isubo nang nakabukas ang bunganga ng todo; to stuff in one's mouth while the mouth is open wide

ikamumos - similar to itamukal

inalimugos- grab and eat it all at once

dildil/dildilan - dila-dilaan; to lick or loll repeatedly; cf. Ilocano dilpatan - to slide one's tongue on something very quickly

tangek - tungga (ng tubig); drink forcefully

inom - drink

ikamot, isubó - isúbô; to bring or convey into one's mouth

dilamot, silamot - to lick continuously with relish

ilop - higop; slurp

langgop - higop; slurp

ngatingat - to munch on something or to eat constantly

supsop - sipsip; to suck at something forcefully as in a snail

buag - eat (vulgar usage?)

mulmol - to keep inside one's mouth, as in a candy, leisurely sucking at it ever so slightly

ngatngat - gnaw

uus, us-os - refers to how to consume sugarcane sticks: take a big bite, chew, sip the juice, and spit out the pulp

ngasab - to bite a large piece

timtim, timtiman - to taste-test a tiny portion of food

anan - papak, papakin; to eat a dish or viand without the usual accompaniment of rice

baknot - to suck vigorously. Example: "Baknot mo tay ubak odino baog."

ngasngas - to eat with much crushing and cracking sound, as when eating tulapo or sitsaron (chitterling)

ngutngot - to suck at fibrous food with some parts that are hard or inedible, as in to suck a mango seed or beef bone clean

manbuwaboy sungot ton lanang - literally, "one's mouth is constantly seesawing"; idiom for matakaw or kain ng kain (voracious or always eating)

kutim-kutimën - to nibble

amamayoen - idiomatically, to play with one's mouth or tongue as with a piece of candy

Terms for makikain sa handaan (partake in a feast) are midadoy, mibangaw, mibagkong, miponsya, miangot, mikan, miakan, mipangan, mibuag... Mibansal (makikikasalan), mibinyag (makikibinyag), mirasal (makikipadasal) are often euphemisms for the same.

A curious expression is panangan badong (eating Badong-style), which means kakainin kung ano ang inihain o di mapili sa pagkain or to eat contentedly what was served on the table, to not complain about it.

Mantikap is a term to describe a mouth that makes unwanted sound when eating (like that of a pig).

The foregoing is consistent with the particularly numerous terms for taste, aroma or smell, and texture in the Pangasinan language.

Based on these pieces of verbal evidence alone, Pangasinan could be the gustatory center of Philippine cuisine. Or at the least, they indicate that Pangasinenses truly love to eat.

Glossary contributors: Resty S. Odon, Melchor Orpilla, Efren Abulencia, Virginia Jasmin Pasalo, Arabela Ventenilla Arcinue, Joseph Anthony Quinto, Jona Marie Camagay-Calima, Isidora Francisco Axell, Jojie Yden Torrado