Blu oktopus' Creative Vomit

I don't know how true this is but "sumpa" is, as far as I'm aware of (and I'm not a linguist so obviously my knowledge is not deep or broad) usually used negatively. "Sumpa kita" doesn't even sound correct, it sounds incomplete. I don't know how to explain it but it's incomplete.

"Kita" is... I guess a pronoun? That basically indicates that the speaker is the doer of the action and the person he or she is talking to is the receiver of the action. "Sumpa kita" does translate to "I promise you" but... Hmm it feels like machine translated that way. Like they translated "kita" and "Sumpa" separately. "Sumpa" is a root word. It is primarily a noun and there should be a suffix, prefix or maybe an infix added to it to make it a verb.

Using a different word to explain how awkward "sumpa kita" is let's use "oath" (another possible translation for sumpa)

"I oath you" sounds wrong, right?

"sumpa kita" sounds like that.

Anyway, the more common use of "sumpa" is "curse," though I guess it is also a solemn way to say that you're swearing an oath or vow.

"Isinusumpa kita" means "I curse you" it's pretty common to hear this in dramas I think.

"Isinusumpa ko sa'yo" means, "I promise/swear/ to you"

So yeah, "sumpa kita" translated as "I promise you" and used to like, pledge an eternal love or whatever is weird to me. We have a word for promise which is "Pangako" I think it's more commonly used. And like, sure it's not "oath" it's not pledging your allegiance to the country level of deep but it's way better than "sumpa kita" because it sounds a lot like "I curse you" than "I promise you".

Since, we don't really have a Tagalog phrase that means "sumpa kita" as far as I am aware of and the Sampaguita wasn't even called that until Spaniards came, I really think that this legend where apparently "sumpa kita" was used to pledge eternal love or whatever is a poor attempt to make a Legend of Sampaguita story. Which is a shame. It's so easy to fix the issue.

A girl named Sampaga fell in love with a man who either failed to immediately uphold his promise or whose parents were against their relationship. She died due to her heart being broken and from her grave tiny fragrant flowers sprouted. The flowers were called Sampaga (or Sampaguita. The -ita suffix just means small anyway) to remember the girl who died because of love.

See? Easy.

I read three versions of this legend and honestly only one of them makes sense.

1st version had the people who discovered the flower "hear the a voice say "sumpa kita, sumpa kita" which is why it was eventually named called Sampaguita. Which doesn't make sense in the context of the story of star crossed lovers.

2nd version also has the couple dead and the flower in their grave was just named Sampaguita based on "sumpa kita" "to symbolize their eternal love" or whatever. Made it sound like someone who doesn't know the culture tried and failed to be considerate because I really don't think anyone would name a flower that symbolizes eternal love "I curse you"