ORIENTAL LINGUISTICS IN COMMERCE. BY DR. R. S. CHARNOCK, LATE M.R.A.S., F.S.A. A VERY large number of commercial and other terms have been derived from the Oriental languages. The languages comprise Bengali, Guzarathi, Hindi, Hindustani, Karnāta, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu (all of which have been ably treated by Prof. H. H. Wilson in the Preface to his Glossary of Indian Terms); also Arabic, Bugis, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Javanese, Malay, Maltese, Persian, Singhalese, Syriac and Turkish, for which the works of Arrieus, Richardson, Morrison, Julien, Gesenius, Hepburn, Gericke, Ronde, Pynappel, Marsden, Crawfurd, De Alwis, Hunter, Cooper, Castelli, Kiefner and Bianchi may be respectively consulted. The words derived from the above languages would make a good-sized volume. At present I propose to confine myself to Malay, a language spoken in the Peninsula of Malacca (with the adjacent islands, the RhioLingga Archipelago), the greater part of the coast districts of Sumatra and Borneo, the sea-ports of Java, and the Sunda and Bunda Islands; a language containing many Hindi and Arabic words, and some from Bengali, Bugis, Chinese, Hindūstānī, Javanese, Sanskrit, and Telugu. I will commence with terms relating to food and fruits. The word sago is from Malay sāgū (3), the pith of a tree of the palm kind named rumbiya (), which, according to Marsden, has been confounded with the Cycas Circinalis, or fern-palm, as well as with the Borassus Gomutus. This Malay word has been borrowed from the Javanese. The term "paddy" applied to rice in the husk, whether gathered or not, is from pādi (s). When separated from the husk it is named bras (); when boiled, nāsi (i). In Javanese pādi is corrupted to pari; and, according to Crawfurd, in the Kanara language of Southern India (Karnáta ?) it is written. bati, a genus of Papilionaceous plants of the tribe Phaseoleæ and sub-tribe Cajaneæ. Cajanus or Cajan has its name from the Malay kachang (¿÷), a term for pulse, pease, beans, vetches, dolichos and phaseolus, of which the species are very numerous. Two sorts are commonly parched before they are sold, and have thence obtained the name of kachang gōring, that is parched kachang, from gōring (†), to parch, fry, etc. Mango, the fruit of Mangifera Indica, is in Malay written mañgga (K). The varieties are numerous. Two of them are manpalam () and ampalam (). Both words are found in Marsden and Crawfurd; and, according to the latter, have been borrowed from Telinga, that is Telugu. Mangustan, which is considered the most exquisite of Eastern fruits, is the fruit of Garcinia Mangostana, a tree growing in Malacca. The word in Malay is written manggista(t), and in Javanese mangis. Durio, durian, or durion is the name of a genus of plants of but one species, Durio Zibethinus, a native of the Malayan Archipelago, which furnishes a fruit much prized by Malays and others, but which does not suit the European palate. The word is from the Malay durian (). It had its name from its prickly coat, from duri (s), a thorn, spine, prickle. The traveller Sinschot calls it batan, which is from batang (), a tree, trunk of a tree. The fruit called papaw (Carica Papaya) has its name from Malay papāya (s). And now for some terms relating to oils, resins, gums, dyes, etc., produced by certain trees and plants. Gambir is the name of an extract from the leaves of Uncaria Gambir, which is chewed by Malays and others to relieve certain eruptions of the mouth and fauces. The Malays call it gatah gambir (a), gambir gum. Pinang, the proper name for the areca or betel nut, which is much chewed in the East to strengthen the stomach and deaden the cravings of hunger, is from Malay pinang (¿). Hence Pulo Pinang, an island belonging to Great Britain, one of the Straits Settlements (pulan, an island). The word betel is not found in either Marsden or Crawfurd. In Chinese the nut is called lang, and pin Lang; and in Persian the leaf is named tambul (J). The word camphor is said to come from Malay kāpūr (), literally chalk. If so, the Hindi, Sanskrit, and Arabic words must have been borrowed from the Malay. There are several kinds; two of them are kāpur bārās (94) and kāpur tōhor (), Japanese camphor; literally Japanese lime; and called also kāpār jāpun. The former comes from Bārūs, a place of considerable trade on the western coast of Sumatra. It is produced from a very large tree, entirely different from that of the laurel tribe, which yields kāpur tōhor, which latter undergoes a certain process before it is brought to our shops. Again, according to Marsden, kāpār bārūs exceeds the other 30 times in price. Kanary, the oily resin from a tree growing in the Indian Archipelago, used for making the substance called damar, was named from Malay kanārī (și). Damar (l), which is found in some English dictionaries, signifies literally "resin." There are two kinds, viz., dāmar bātū, and dāmar kruyen. The former, which is the common sort, is so called from being found under a certain tree from which it exudes; the other is a soft kind, used equally with the other for pitch. The substance called gutta-percha is produced by a tree, the Isomandra Guttah, of Hooker, which grows in Borneo, Sumatra, Singapore, and other islands of South-Eastern Asia. The term is derived from gatah (3), gum, balsam, percha (), the native name of the tree. Hence Pulo Percha, an appellation of the island Sumatra (pūlan, an island). Calambac is the name of a fragrant resin, the product of a tree growing in China, and some of the Indian islands, whose wood has an aromatic odour, which wood is known in Europe as aloes-wood and agalloch. The term Calambac comes through the Portuguese, from Malay kalambak (s). Some authors call it garo, from Malay gührü (,), or gāru (,,), a word found also in Hindi. The volatile oil called cajuput, used medicinally as a stimulant and antispasmodic, is made from a tree, a native of the Moluccas, described by Rumphius under the names of Alba Minon, Cajuputi, Duun-Kitsjil, and Caju-Kilan. It has also been called Myrtus Alba and Melaleuca-leucandendra. The tree had its name from its colour, from kāyā (s), wood, timber, putih (), white. The juice of the upas tree (Arbon Toxicaria Macassariensis, of Thunbug) constitutes a virulent poison called by the natives anchar, or antjar (whence the botanical name Antiaris). Marsden renders upas (m), "poison, a milky juice extracted from certain vegetables." Many idle stories have been propagated by travellers con cerning this tree. The exhalations from it were said to cause death to all animals that approached it. It has been found growing with other trees in forests, and, in 1844, was introduced into British hot-houses, with no deleterious effects. Sapan, or Sappan, a dye-wood resembling Brazil wood in colour and properties, produced by Casalpinia Sappan, a native of Southern Asia and the neighbouring islands, had its name, through the Spanish, from Malay sapang (). The Javanese word is sachang. We probably get the word bamboo from Malay bambu (), but the word in Karnata is found variously written bambu, bumboo, banbu. M. Devic (in supplement to Lithé) says, that in works on natural history the name is bula, which is the Malay boulouh (). Indians tell me that the true chutney is made of the bamboo in a green state. Among zoological terms derived from Malay we have orang outang, from ōrang hutan (E), rendered wild man; literally man of the woods, from ōrang, man, person, people, hutan, woods, a forest, wild or uncultivated parts of the country. Siamang, a'species of black monkey, with long arms, found in the forests of Sumatra and the Indian Peninsula (the gibbon of Buffon) had its name from the Malay siyamang (). The word may have possibly been formed from Persian, siyah (), black, the Malay word being etam (). Babyroussa, Babiroussa, a species of hog (the Sus Babyrussa of Linnæus) inhabiting the Indian Archipelago, whose flesh is good eating, was named from Malay bābī rūsa (), literally "hog deer," so called from its peculiar tusks resembling horns, whence it is also. named "horned hog." The word castor for a beaver comes, through the Latin or Greek, or both, from Malay kasturi (5), rendered "musk." The word is of Hindi origin, from Sanskrit kastūrī, kasturikā, kastūrikā. The Dugong, a very large animal of the order of mammalia called sea-cow, which is found in the Indian Seas, was named from Malay düyōng (έ590). Its flesh is highly prized as food, and is said to bear close resemblance to veal; and the skin is capable of being manufactured into various useful articles. The animal has given rise to stories of mermaids in the tropical seas. In other languages of the Indian Archipelago it is called rudyong or ruyong. A slug-like animal, called trepang or tripang, forms an important article of food in China. It makes a rich soup, and is stewed in several ways, and it takes, in fact, the same rank among the Chinese as turtle does with us. I do not find the word in either Marsden or Crawfurd. M. Devic gives it as a Malay word. In that language it is written tripang (). It is also called in Malay suwala. The lory, a beautiful bird of the parrot kind, brought from the Moluccas, had its name from Malay, lūri (s), for nūrī (s), in Javanese nōri. Both words may have been derived from Arabic nur () splendour. The classical name of the Papuan lory is Charmosyna Pápua; and that of the purple-capped lory, Lórius Domicellus. Cassowary, a bird like an ostrich, with a helmet-like protuberance upon the head, found in the Indian Archipelago, was named from the Malay. The word is not found in either Marsden or Crawfurd. M. Devic writes it in Malay The mino-bird, a black bird, with yellow gills or excrescences like ears, a native of the Indian Archipelago, had its name from the Malay minā (); but the Malay word has been borrowed from the Hindustani. The bird is frequently captured and domesticated, and كسواري) kasouari is made to whistle, sing, and imitate the human voice with greater precision than any other of the parrot tribe. Crawfurd gives its classical name as Gracula Religiosa; and the last term is often used in ornithology, as well as entomology and botany. The Rev. J. G. Wood styles it Gracula Música, and says it is known to the Javanese by the names of Beo and Mencho, and to the Sumatrans by that of Teelong. M. Devic writes the name of the genus Mainak. Marsden says there are several rōtan kawat, and rōtan semut, cables, and rōtan sālak, which The East Indian term godown is derived from the Malay gadong (), godong(), variously rendered a house, ware, or store-house, magazine, factory, arsenal, any house built of brick.or stone. Crawfurd derives the word from the Telinga (Telugu), but Brown, in his Telugu Dictionary says it is a Malay word. The small box for holding tea, called caddy, has its name from the Malay, but the sense has changed. It properly means a packet of a certain weight; and the term is derived from katī(), in Batavia, China, or Japan, a weight of 1 lb. 4 oz. avoirdupois. The word is called in Chinese kin. The name of the circular disc called gong, used as a bell, is of Malay origin. In Malay it is written both gong () and agong (1). The word probably represents the sound made. The Chinese word lo for a gong is doubtless also an onomatopoeia. The Malays trade in rattans, the commercial name for the stems of various species of the genus Calamus. The word rattan is a corruption of Malay rōtan (9). sorts, as the rōtan sagā, a large sort; small rattans, used in the manufacture of produces an edible fruit, Calamus Zalacca. The word semut () signifies ant, pismire. Crawfurd says in the Hortus Bogoriensis seven species of the rattan are described, with five that are doubtful; and he adds that the word is probably derived from the word rawut (say rawāt), to pare and trim, and that the meaning therefore is "the object pared and trimmed." Sampan, a small boat formed from a single stem, a sort of canoe; and proa, a general name for all vessels between the sampan and the squarerigged vessel called kapal, have their names from the Malay, the former name having undergone no alteration, the latter being written in Malay praй () and prau (8). According to Crawfurd, both sampan and praū have been borrowed from the Javanese. The dagger called creese or crease" the cursed Malayan crease”—had its name from the Malay kris (~~), kris (~~), rendered a dagger, poniard, dirk. Crawfurd also writes the word kâris, and derives it from the Javanese. The term a-muck in “runa-muck" is of well-known Malay origin. The Malay verb is meng-āmuk (), literally, to fight furiously, to murder indiscriminately; to cry āmuk, āmuk, from meng, an inseparable particle prefixed to verbs, and āmuk, to run furiously and desperately at everyone. I may add that the words anānas, nānas for the pine-apple, found in Malay dictionaries, are not properly Malay words, and have probably found their way into European languages through the Portuguese ananas, which is said to be derived from the Guiana manas. I may further observe that the words derived from the Malay found in French dictionaries greatly exceed in number those in English dictionaries. "THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER," IN PERSIAN. Mi shigūfad gül tanhã Hamah dūstash pazhmurdah Nagūzāram jaridah Bar shakh turā mānd. Hamah murdah bar jā. Zūd man niz pazhmiram, Hamah raftah-and dūstān 'Azizi gar nist Dar jahan-i-tanhai Bah 'aish keh tavān zist. NOTE. The translator is aware that he violates all rules of Persian poetical composition in adopting a metre which requires to be scanned according to natural quantities of syllables and accent, in place of the artificial quantities according to positions necessary by the strict rules of Persian poetical composition. He has done so deliberately, in order to elicit opinions as to whether the language is not adaptable to the use of natural accent and inflection, rather than the formal hide-bound methods of Persian Nazm ().-A. R. |