teem̧būra

Marshallese

Alternative forms

• teem̧bura

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 天麩羅 (てんぷら, tenpura), from Portuguese, ultimately from Latin. Different dictionaries link two different original terms:

• Portuguese tempero (“seasoning”) or tempera (“he/she/it seasons; season!”), third-person present singular or imperative tense of temperar (“to season, to temper”), from Latin temperare (“to mix, to temper”).
• Portuguese têmpora (“Ember days”), from Latin tempora, plural of tempus (“time; period”). When Portuguese explorers (mostly Jesuit missionaries) arrived in Japan, they abstained from eating beef, pork, and poultry during the Ember days, a Catholic series of holidays. Instead, they ate fried vegetables and fish. This was the first contact of the Japanese with fried food, and since then they began associating the Portuguese word têmpora (which they pronounced tenpura) with such food.

Pronunciation

• (phonetic) IPA^(key): [tˠɛːmbˠɯrˠɑ], (enunciated) [tˠɛɛmˠ pˠɯrˠɑ]
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /tˠɛjɛmˠpˠirˠæɰ/
• Bender phonemes: {teyem̧birah}

Noun

teem̧būra (M.O.D.: teeṃbūra)

1. fish, basted in flour and deep-fried
2. tempura

Verb

teem̧būra (M.O.D.: teeṃbūra)

1. to cook food tempura-style

References

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary