katnga’

English: Translation

taro; edible taro

English: Definition

A cultivated taro plant, *Colocasia esculenta* (L.) Schott, grown for its starchy underground corm and edible leaves and petioles. In Boie’nen food tradition, katnga’ is used as a vegetable and is associated with traditional dishes such as tine’te’.

Semantic Domain

Food, cooking and foodways

Agriculture

Scientific Name

Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott

Notes

BIKOL: TRANSLATION
natong; katnga

FILIPINO: TRANSLATION
gabi

PART OF SPEECH
noun

SEMANTIC DOMAIN
Plants; Agriculture; Root crops; Food and foodways

NOUN CLASS
plant

NOTES
Katnga’ refers to ordinary taro and is distinct from talyang, the Boie’nen name for giant taro or giant alocasia, Alocasia macrorrhizos.

katnga’ — Colocasia esculenta — taro; gabi
talyang — Alocasia macrorrhizos — giant taro; giant alocasia

Although both are large-leaved members of the family Araceae, they belong to different genera.

The edible underground part of katnga’ is botanically a corm rather than a true root.

Katnga’ is traditionally associated with Boie’nen foodways, including the dish tine’te’.

RELATED ENTRIES
talyang; tine’te’; tanem; kali; ali-en; ngame’

CUSTOM TAGS
botanical; ethnobotanical; traditional-food; root-crop; cultural; poster-ready

EVIDENCE STATUS
Lexical identification: strong
Botanical identification: strong
Regional Bikol correspondence: strong
Deeper etymology: unresolved

Linguistic History

The form katnga is independently documented as a Bicol vernacular name for Colocasia esculenta, alongside forms such as natong and gaway. Boie’nen katnga’ therefore appears to belong to an established regional Bikol taro-name tradition rather than being an isolated local form. The deeper historical origin of katnga’ has not yet been established. The final Boie’nen okina should be preserved as part of the headword and should not be omitted simply to match published Bikol spellings.

Boie'nen (Old Buhi Language)

katnga’