Re: verbs of eating

In a message dated 2/6/04 11:07:32 PM Pacific Standard Time,
herodote92@YAHOO.COM writes:

<< oes this verb "go" = "to eat" also apply to plants ?

 Normally plants don't "eat", but they feed themselves.
 And what about microscopic animals, made out of only
 one or a few cells ?

Response: Rihana has a very pre-modern-technological culture and the speakers
are not aware of photosynthesis or of  microscopic animals, so  these issues
generally do not arise. I suppose the Rihana-ye people are aware that plants
in some sense "need" sunlight and earth and water, but they do not think of
them as "eating" it. There is a
narrative poem about a poisonous tree on the island of Pimana which may be
carnivorous; if so, it would use "go" like everybody (thing) else. John Leland

(herodote continued)
 How do you exactly define "to eat" ?
  Do you use the same verb "go" in metaphoric sense
 (like in: Time devours our lives) (if this is the
 right translation for French: Le temps devore nos
 vies); also: "devorer un livre" (to read a book
 eagerly).

Response: It would be possible to use "go" in a metaphoric sense, but I do
not believe there are any standard idioms using it. It should be noted, however,
that there is an implied idiom in that a wide range of words indicating
desire use the "gi" prefix which in the original basic root list is an adjective
meaning sweet/edible/good-tasting. Thus the standard word for "want" (as in "I
want X" or "I want to do X") is givajo (sweet-mind-make). The polite word for
"to make love" is giyo (sweet-sleep) etc. Also, the word for vomit is "wego"
(backward-eat), the word for vulture is hogotafa (rot-eat-bird) etc.
 John Leland