Palindromes in Papiamento


These are palindromes (sentences which read the same front to back as back to front) in the Papiamento language. I made them all on one evening in 1991, trying to impress my (then) girlfriend who speaks papiamento as her mother tongue (you guessed that already!)

The first two lines of each one are the palindrome, followed by Dutch and English translations.

I think this is the largest collection in this language in the world. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


Ata, aya papaya, ata!
!ata ,ayapap aya ,atA
Kijk's, daar is een papaya, kijk's!
Look, there is a papaya fruit, look!

Ariba e ana e a bira
arib a e ana e abirA
Boven de leeftijd die hij is geworden
On top of the age he already became

E boca ta cobe
eboc at acob E
De mond schold hem/haar uit
The mouth scolded him

E casa a sac'e
e'cas a asac E
De echtgeno(o)t(e) heeft hem/haar eruit gegooid
The spouse threw him/her out

E casanan nobonan o bonnan a sac'e
e'cas a nannob o nanobon nanasac E
De goede of nieuwe echtgenoten hebben hem/haar eruit gegooid
The good and new spouses threw him/her out

El a dodo, dale!
!elad ,odod a lE
Hij heeft geslapen, sla hem!
He slept, hit him!

E soca ta cose
esoc at acos E
De soca naait
The soca sews

E SU a us'e
e'su a US E
De Sovjet-Unie heeft hem gebruikt
The Soviet Union has used him

Nan a bira bakinan, i kaba riba nan
nan abir abak i ,nanikab arib a naN
Zij hebben de bakken omgegooid en zijn erop terecht gekomen.
They threw the baskets upside down and ended on top of them

Nita batata tabatin
nitabat atatab atiN
Nita, er waren aardappels
Nita, there were potatoes

No baha habon!
!nobah ahab oN
Zeep, zak niet!
Don't drop, soap!

Rolf a caca flor
rolf acac a floR
Rolf heeft bloemen gepoept
Rolf shit flowers (Actually, he is a good friend of mine and denies this firmly)


Sopi nita patin i pos
sop i nitap atin ipoS
This is left untranslated.



The only other palindrome in Papiamento I knew to exist was "Ata, Salas ata!", by Carel de Hageth from Klein St. Michielsgestel, Curaçao, quoted from Battus, SymmyS, Querido Amsterdam 1991.

But now Howard Maxwell made another one, probably the largest to exist yet!

Amor a huma mark i kram a muha roma
amor a huma mark i kram a muha romA
De liefde heeft Mark gerookt en diarree heeft Rome natgemaakt
Love smoked mark and diarrea wetted Rome.

Thanks, Howard!












rvjansen@xs4all.nl