maka
- (n.) crab
- (nm.) a boy’s given name
A male liki maka ie tinitié li ia.
“And a crab shall hold your sword.”
Notes: And a charming crab at that! Take a look at this picture of the interior of a typical medieval Japanese house at the Huntington:
What a helpful little crab! I think it is a sword-holder (why would the pincers be upturned thus?), and if so, well done! It’s the most unique sword-holder I’ve ever seen.
I’ve still got a lot more pictures from the Huntington; I’ll eventually get to them all.
Today’s iku is a pretty standard ikuiku, but the line in the middle there has two duties: (1) to fill up the space, and (2) to remind one of the glyph for ka, giving this iku a slight phonetic component. This was one of the first iku I designed for Kamakawi. It’s an old friend.
For more information about the name Maka, see its corresponding entry in the baby names section.