162
Extract XXIII (S)
(MRM) I:ga na:vu beṭṭa me:le ho:da:ga bo:ḷi ga:ḍu endivẽ.
(Now, when we go up a hill, we call that bo:ḷiga:ḍu .)
(BG) Ã, beṭṭa bo:ḷi, mara ille alli. Bo:ḷiga:ḍu endale alli biri hullu ashṭe ta:ne
ira:du, adakka bo:ḷi.
(Yes, beṭṭa bo:ḷi , there are no trees there. Bo:ḷiga:ḍu means there’s only
grass, that’s why it’s ‘ bo:ḷi ’.)
(MRM) Alli beḷeanta hullu e:n e:na beḷeda:du?
(What are the grasses that grow there?)
(BG) Alli beṭṭa na:le hulle: beḷedade, ba:ṇe hullu beḷeda:de, handi ba:ṇe hullu
beḷeda:de, a:ga matte, i: uṇuga:na hullu beḷeda:de, innue oḍḍa:na hullu
beḷedade, matte ko:ḷi hullu, matte navaṇe hullu, ashṭella ue alli irtade
adu. A: ja:ga:dalli innue ambu hullu beḷeda:de, intadu innue gareke
hullu, adella ue banda:de. A:mele oḍḍoḍḍu barebare me:leve ond –ondu
bare sã:ya ade summa:ne illi huṭṭitu endale summa:ne abburu oitade adu.
( Beṭṭa na:le grass (?) grows there, ba:ṇe grass (?), etc... all these are
found there. Ambu grass (?) and gareke grass (?) also grow in that place.
And then, you fi nd clumps of bare sã:ya (rock fern ) on rocks and boul-
ders. They just grow there and cover everything.)
(MRM) Adu oḍḍinalli ira:du?
(They grow on the piles of rock?)
(BG) Oḍḍoḍḍinalli, bare bare me:le. Ashṭella adu oḍḍinalli irtade.
(On the piles of rock, on the boulders. They all grow on the piles of rock.)
(BG) ...Mara sikka:dille alli. Maḷe bandaluve tappisa:dakka a:ga:dille, ella
angaṭṭi keḷeka ue me:leka ue. Adakka:gi bo:ḷi beṭṭa:ka na:vu e:ra:dille.
(... You don’t fi nd trees there. You can’t take shelter when it rains, it’s all
open above and below. That’s why we don’t climb up to the bo:ḷi beṭṭa .)
(BG) ... E:nendale, ho:daluve, ba:ṇe hullu nugguru o:ga:dakka a:ga:dille.
Ha:geve bagedu, nittu uḍtu jardru ho:ga:de kashṭa. Ba:ṇe hulliga teṇṭe
ipipa:ṭi ittu.
(... So, even if you go (to the beṭṭa bo:ḷi ), you can’t go through the ba:ṇe
grass. It’s diffi cult, because you have to lean forwards and push through.
The clumps of ba:ṇe grass used to be this big!)
In the above exchange, both BG and MRM observe that bare sã:ya ‘rock fern ’
are plentiful around piles of rocks ‘ oḍḍu ’ and boulders ‘ bare ’, within the context of
describing a beṭṭa bo:ḷi ‘hill grassland ’. This is unsurprising, as rocks and boulders
frequently occur in otherwise featureless grasslands. Oḍḍu , however, should not be
confused with oḍḍuga:ḍu (described above), as the former refers to individual rock
formations, while the latter describes a region dominated by boulders and piles of
rock.
BG’s statement that “we don’t climb up to the bo:ḷi beṭṭa ” also needs to be under-
stood in context. Open grasslands may well be avoided during periods of rain due to
a lack of shelter, but it seems unlikely that they would be shunned altogether. After
all, these grasslands are important sources of various grass species, many of which,
especially ba:ṇe grass, are used by the Solega for the construction of dwellings.
5 Landscape Terms in Solega