vatu

See also: våťü

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Raga vatubor.

English vatu

Borrowed from Raga vatu (“stone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɑːtuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːtu

Noun

vatu (plural vatus or vatu)

1. The national currency of Vanuatu.
   • 1998, Ademuni Odeke, Bareboat Charter (Ship) Registration, page 355:

     The unit of currency is the vatu (VUV) with no minor unit. There are coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 50 and 100 vatu, and notes of 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 vatu. In March 1996 UK£1 = 172 vatu; US$1 = 113 vatu and DM1 = 76.38 vatu.

   • 2000, International Monetary Fund, IMF Staff Country Report 00/129 Vanuatu - Recent Economic Developments, page 14:

     In November 1998 the Reserve Bank reintroduced the SRD^{[Statutory Reserve Deposit]} at the rate of 10 percent on vatu deposits and reduced the PRA^{[Prescribed Reserve Asset]} to 6 percent.

   • 2007, Island States: Small Island States Handbook, Volume 1: Development Strategy and Programs, International Business Publications, USA, page 145,

     One estimate in 2007 for the total value of cattle heads sold was 135 million vatu; cattle were first introduced into the area from Australia by British planter James Paddon.

Anagrams

• Tuva, vaut

Bislama

Etymology

Borrowed from Raga vatu (“stone”).

Noun

vatu

1. vatu, or money in general

Coastal Kadazan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batu, from Proto-Austronesian *batux.

Noun

vatu

1. stone

Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batuʀ.

Verb

vatu

1. to plait, weave

Derived terms

• mangavatu
• navatu
• vinatu
• votuon

Fijian

Etymology

From Proto-Central Pacific *vatu, from Proto-Oceanic *patu, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batu, from Proto-Austronesian *batux.

Noun

vatu

1. stone (substance)
2. stone (small piece of rock)

Paiwan

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *asu.

Noun

vatu

1. dog

References

• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*asu”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Rungus

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batu, from Proto-Austronesian *batux.

Noun

vatu

1. stone

Uneapa

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *patu, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batu, from Proto-Austronesian *batux.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /βatu/

Noun

vatu

1. stone

Further reading

• Johnston, R.L. 1982. "Proto-Kimbe and the New Guinea Oceanic hypothesis". In Halim, A., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. editors. Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Vol. 1: Currents in Oceanic, 59-95.
• Pawley, Andrew and Malcolm Ross. 2006. The Prehistory of Oceanic Languages: A Current View. In The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives.
• Sarah Elizabeth Byrne, A practice-centred approach to Uneapa Island's archaeology in a long-term context (2008). Oceania (vol. 87, no. 1). Ph.D. dissertation. University College London.