arch
a monster which eats the moon or sun during eclipses.
This word is presently only used in a phrase which is the Sama way of expressing "eclipse", as in the example below. Compare:
Sanskrit rahu , "monster", "son of Diti, the deity with a serpent tail which, in eclipses, devours the sun or the moon"; Malaysian rahu , "the Hindu dragon which swallows the moon and causes eclipses".
The moon is eclipsed. [Literally, "the monster is eating the moon."]
ni-
to be affected by an eclipse; that is, to be birth
marked.
During an eclipse of the moon or the sun, pregnant women will bathe on top of the rice pounding-mortar so that their children
will not be birth marked.