Hello! I am learning some Bisaya (and some Tagalog) and I have a question about the word "tagolilong"=invisible in English.

To me this word looks like a combination of "tago"=conceal;disguise;hide + "lilong"=conceal (meanings from Binisaya.com dictionary). This looks like a reduplication of meaning, not the usual reduplication of roots or syllables.

Does the word "tagolilong" read as "conceal-conceal" to bisdak ears? Why not say "tagotago" or "lilong-lilong"? Is the meaning of tagolilong somehow different from the meanings of tagotago or lilong-lilong? Or is this a "sounds better to bisdak ears" thing?

I know Cebuano likes to make new words from contractions, for example "bisdak"="bis-dak"="bisayang dako". And all Filipino languages seem to use reduplication to form new words or add emphasis. But tagolilang="tago-lilang" is different I think. No?

Another example might be "tangkas"=undo;unravel. This might be derived from "tangtang"=remove;unfasten + "kakas"=detach what is stitched. Do bisdak ears hear it this way? There are actually many reduplicated words with similar meanings to tangkas:

katkat=unravel ?= ikat x2;
tangtang=unfasten ?= tanggal x2
tastas=unstitch
matmat=unravel
badbad=untie

So why "tang-kas"? What is new and different about this combination? The two source words seem to cover a similar range of meanings. Is this a contraction of "tangtang-kakas"? Or a reduplication of meanings "untie-untie"? Or something more subtle?

Daghan kaayong salamat,
-briceman