Hello. Some years ago, I heard the following: "Isa untah". I never knew what it meant, or what language it was, but it stuck with me. (And I'm not absolutely sure of the spelling -- "untah" might be "unta".)
Just today (Saturday, October 30, 2010), I happened to be reading on the Internet about the "Cebuano" language, and came across the fact that "isa", in Cebuano, can mean "one" or "raise". What I remember of what I heard suggests to me that "isa", in the context of what I heard, meant "one". But I cannot determine if "Isa untah" (or "Isa unta") might mean anything in Cebuano/Binisaya (or any other closely-related Filipino language, since it seems that what I heard was Filipino, apparently).
If anyone can offer any help, I would greatly appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Douglas J. Bender
(Elkhart, Indiana [USA])
Isa unta!
Hi, Douglas!
I'm a Cebuano. Basically, if somebody says, 'isa unta' Cebuanos would think that the person who said that was referring to an event that already happened in which instead of giving (if it's about giving) one of the 'object concerned (which the speaker was expecting),' more than one were given.
isa means 'one'
unta means 'hopefully'
I hope I'm helping.