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Bie
Bie | @kapampangan.words


In Kapampángan, the words for “life” and “give” are pronounced exactly the same! However, they are not related and come from different origins!


BIÉ • (byeh)
life
Tagálog (Filipino): búhay


BIÉ • (byeh)
(to) give
Tagálog (Filipino): bigáy


Etymology and Sound Changes
The words for “life” and “give” in Kapampángan are pronounced exactly the same (bié); however, they are not related and came from two different roots that converged in pronunciation over time due to certain linguistic sound changes in Kapampángan.


BIÉ (“life”)
Proto-Western Malayo-Polynesian *bihaR “captive; to spare, allow to live”
> P-Central Luzon *bihay (*R > Central Luzon y)
> Pre-Kapamp. *biay (h > ∅)
> bié (ay > é)
Cognates: Ilocano biág “life”, Tagalog bíhag “captive”, Malay biar “let”


BIÉ (“give”)
Proto-Austronesian *beRay “give”
> Proto-Central Luzon *beyay (*R > Central Luzon y)
> PCLuz. *byay (e > ∅)
> byé/bié (ay > é)
Cognates: Tagalog bigáy “give”, Malay beri “give”


Derived Words (from bié “life”)
MABIÉ • (muh-BYEH)
alive
Tagálog (Filipino): buháy


KABIÁYAN • (kuh-BYAH-yuhn)
livelihood
Tagálog (Filipino): kabuháyan


Derived Word (from bié “give”)
MAPAMIÉ • (muh-puh-MYEH)
generous
Tagálog (Filipino): mapagbigáy


Verb Conjugation
mabié, mabibié, mébié – to live, be alive (Actor Focus)
biáyan, bibiáyan, biniáyan – to bring someone/something to life; to sustain, support in life (Object Focus)
bumié, bibié, bínié – to live, to give life to, to support to live (Actor Focus)
mamié, mámié, mémié – to give (Actor Focus)
ibié, bibié, binié – to give (Object Focus)
pamié, pámié, pémié – to give away (Object Focus)


Example Sentence
Binié dó ring bié da pára kékatámu. [Kap]
Binigáy nila ang búhay nilá pára sá’tin. [Tag]
They gave their lives for us. [Eng]