While watching the Inspector Lindley series on PBS two sundays ago, the word 'mokita' was spray painted on a wall. It was the clue that broke the mystery.

I found the meaning for "mokita": something, especially a secret, that everyone knows but nobody talks about. But I have not been able to find where the word comes from.

In Spanish we have a term, 'mosquita muerta', which means, literally, a dead fly; one that gets swatted, is stunned and lays dormant, but then flies off. It describes a person that is seen but not heard and is always listening to what is being said; then goes off and gossips about what has been heard. I suppose the English translation would be a "fly on the wall." I thought the difference in spelling mokita/mosquita was not that important.

Can you tell me where this very interesting word comes from?

mokita

Any specifics forthcoming re. its origins? 'Papuan' is pretty broad.

well, if you insist
-joe kilivili

From the article:
In every instance I've found, mokita is still glossed
Is this usage of glossed related to the word glossary? Er--reading that, I now realize that that's a pretty stupid question. I guess what I'm really asking is how did the word glossed, in this sense, come into use?

interesting question..
in this sense, gloss is actually a variant of the noun gloze, from L. glossa, a word needing explanation, hence later the explanation itself; and so a glossary is a collection of such glosses.

the other gloss is related to Dutch gloos, a gleaming, and Swiss glossa, to gleam; ultimately from MHG.

all credit to OED2.

From the Greek glo:ssa 'tongue, language'.

Have you ever heard the expression "the secret of Punch"? In italian (il segreto di Pulcinella) and, I guess, in french (le secret di Polichinelle), it has a very similar meaning of mokita (viz. the secret that everyone knows but no one talks about)

Hi Rodolfo, welcome.
In English, or at least in Canada the secret of punch is vodka.

Man, y'all're makin' me laugh this morning, between Branshea's senectitutde, Anna's "dirty little secret" and now Zed's too! Thanks!