d   

dagger

Borrowing from either Javanese or Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *ke(rR)is ‘dagger’.

dagger

dagger

From Spanish puñal ‘dagger, poniard’.

damp, moist

I cannot find Tagalog laŋás in any modern dictionary, and the rest of this comparison is best considered a loan distribution. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed Uraustronesisch *leŋas ‘damp, moist’.

dance

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) also included Malagasy tari ‘a second drum’, and based on the Malagasy, Ngaju Dayak and Malay forms proposed “Uraustronesisch’ *tari ‘to dance’. However, this comparison has an extremely limited geographical distribution, appearing only in Malay and languages that are known to have borrowed heavily from it.

dart, javelin

Also Malay, Minangkabau suligi ‘dart, small spear or lance’. The final glottal stop in Tagalog shows that it is most likely a borrowing from Malay, an interpretation that may well apply to most of the other forms cited here as well.

deadfall trap

Thao danar is a loan, possibly from Atayal or Bunun, although lexicographic resources for the latter language are inadequate to determine the matter with certainty.

deadline, time limit

debt:   dunning to collect a debt

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tagiq ‘dun someone for collection of a debt’.

deceit, trickery, fraud

Borrowing from Malay into Tagalog, and then from Tagalog into Hanunóo, and perhaps other languages.

deceive:   lie, deceive

Borrowing from Malay.

deceive:   lie, deceive

Borrowing from Malay.

deceive

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tipu ‘deceit’ (Betrug).

decoration, jewelry

Borrowing. The Philippine reflexes point to *h-, but the western Indonesian reflexes to *q-. Panganiban (1966) suggests that Tagalog hiás derives from Spanish joyas. If so, this form has spread from the Philippines into western Indonesia, like Malay biawas 'guava', and a few other words.

deferentially:   sit deferentially

Several of these forms, including at least those in Bikol and Iban, are likely Malay loans, ultimately from Sanskrit.

defiled, ritually polluted, ceremonially unclean

Dempwolff reconstructed *cemeD ‘impure’, but there is little evidence for such a proto-form outside of Malay, Javanese and languages that have borrowed from either or both of these. The cognation of the Toba Batak form with the others appears doubtful, and the proposed connection of the Oceanic forms to these is completely unconvincing, making this comparison partly attributable to borrowing and partly to chance. The evidence for *-D was based entirely on the second Javanese form, which contains an unexplained stem-internal /r/.

delay

Borrowing from Tagalog.

delicacy:   rice delicacy

Borrowing from Malay.

derision:   ridicule, derision

Based on data from Toba Batak, Javanese, Malay and Ngaju Dayak, Dempwolff (1938) proposed *sindiR ‘mockery, ridicule’. However, the original meaning of this term appears to have been closer to that of teasing in a flirtatious manner than to mockery or ridicule. The Kadazan Dusun form is irregular, and it is very difficult to exclude the possibility of a borrowing distribution for the remaining forms.

desire, want

Probably an innovation in Proto-Malayic, later borrowed into Toba Batak and Old Javanese from Malay.

destroy

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit.

devoted:   loyal, faithful, devoted

The Botolan Sambal form is assumed to be a Tagalog loan.

diamond

Borrowing. A widespread loanword which probably passed from Old Javanese to Malay, where it underwent two changes: 1. *e to last-syllable //a//, and 2. loss of initial //h// (from *q-). In this form (*intan) it was then carried by Malay traders to Borneo, the southern Philippines, and various parts of central and eastern Indonesia.

dice

From Spanish dado ‘die, dice’.

different

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit.

difficulty:   trouble, worry, difficulty

Dempwolff (1938) posited this form as ‘Uraustronesisch’, but its distribution is restricted to Malay and other languages of western Indonesia that have borrowed from Malay. It is therefore best considered a Proto-Malayic innovation that has been borrowed over much of the area that it is found, and is indicated as such in at least two of the sources cited here. In addition, Dempwolff included Malagasy usa ‘cowardly, timid, faint-hearted; feeble, weak’ in his comparison, but this appears to be unrelated.

dipper, scoop (water)

Borrowing from Malay.

direction

Wilkinson (1959) lists Malay arah as an Arabic loan, although it is not included by Jones (1978), and its occurrence in Old Javanese independently raises questions about this interpretation. I treat it here simply as a late innovation in western Indonesia.

disciple, follower

Probably a Tagalog loan distribution.

discussion:   speak, discussion

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit. The wide distribution of this loanword, its semantic variability and the degree to which it has become integrated into the morphology of the languages which have borrowed it give some idea of how difficult it can be to identify native language material (e.g. from Malay) which diffused prior to the period of western contact.

disease:   skin disease

Malay bodok is assumed to be a loan from Javanese. The similarity of the Philippine forms to those in western Indonesia is attributed to chance.

dish:   plate dish

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Persian via Tamil. This loanword corresponds roughly to the area of Malay cultural influence immediately prior to the arrival of European colonizers.

dish:   plate, dish

Borrowing from Malay.

dish:   spicy condiment side dish with rice

Apparently an innovation in Old Javanese that was borrowed by Malay and subsequently disseminated among languages in western Indonesia that were in frequent contact with Malay traders.

disperse

Borrowing from Malay or Javanese

distilled:   alcohol, distilled liquor

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic. Dempwolff treated this form as native, but Jones (1978) regards it as a borrowing of Arabic ʔaraq 'strong drink'. This interpretation is supported by the initial consonant of Wolio ʔara 'arrack, brandy (made from sago juice, or the nectar of nipah-palm blossom)', and by numerous irregularities in the sound correspondences, although the appearance of forms of the word in Old Javanese and Malagasy is in need of further study. Such Philippine languages as Casiguran Dumagat, Kapampangan, Hanunóo, and Aklanon appear to have acquired the word through TAGA, but Ilokano and Bikol evidently acquired it directly from speakers of Malay. Throughout much of eastern Indonesia the word appears to have been borrowed through the mediation of Malay, and the same may be true of Chamorro arak, although Ilokano árak is another plausible source.

This term is defined more by the process of distillation, which marks it off from native forms of brewing liquors by simple fermentation, than by any distinctive ingredient. Its wide distribution and integration into the morphological system of some languages shows how easily loanwords can take on the characteristics of native forms. Somewhat ironically, Old Javanese arak must have been borrowed during the earliest period of Islamization, as it is one of the few Arabic loans in the Old Javanese material.

district, administrative unit

Apparently a Tagalog loan distribution from a form that must originally have had an intervocalic voiced alveolar stop.

divine, find by divination, tell fortunes

Borrowing from Malay.

dizzy

Borrowing from Malay. Based on the Malagasy and Malay forms Dempwolff (1938) posited Uraustronesisch *peniŋ ‘dizzy’.

do one's utmost

Karo Batak er-pala-pala is assumed to be a natively affixed borrowing of Malay pala-pala. The Makassarese form may also be borrowed from Malay, or a chance resemblance.

dock, pier, wharf

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *cukup ‘be sufficient’.

doll

Borrowing from Portuguese.

dolphin

Borrowing from Malay, where it shows a clear semantic relationship with lomba ‘racing; competing’, since dolphins commonly race alongside boats.

done:   past, done, gone

Probably a Malay loan distribution. Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *lalu ‘to pass by’ (Vorbeigehen).

door

Attempts to find related forms in Formosan languages, as with Thao pitaw ‘door’ (Benedict 1975:273) are methodologically flawed. Based on data from Tagalog, Malay and Toba Batak Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *pintu ‘door’, a reconstruction that cannot be taken seriously even on much lower phylogenetic levels, as the irregular final glottal stop in all Philippine languages points clearly to borrowing from Brunei Malay.

doubt

Borrowing from Malay.

doubt

From Spanish duda ‘doubt’.

dove (domesticated):   pigeon, dove (domesticated)

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Sanskrit, presumably through the medium of Malay.

drag, pull

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tunda ‘to drag, pull’ (schleppen).

drag on the ground (as the bottom of a dress)

Probably a Tagalog loan in Eastern Agta.

dragging of hem of dress on ground

A Tagalog loan distribution.

drawn, tied, even in score

Borrowing of Spanish tablas ‘stalemate, draw’, with irregular loss of -s. David Zorc has noted in a personal communication that although -s is commonly added to Spanish words borrowed in Philippine languages (e.g. Pangasinan apáyas, Bikol tapáyas, Manobo (Western Bukidnon) kepayas < Spanish papaya), it is also sometimes dropped, as in the present case. It is likely that borrowing of this word from Spanish took place directly only in Tagalog, and that it then spread to other Philippine languages from this secondary source.

dregs, refuse

Borrowing from Malay.

dregs:   residue, dregs

Borrowing from Malay into Tagalog.

dress

Borrowing. Although the dress style in question apparently was a Spanish introduction, the name is native and may have once had other referents (cf. *balintawafk 'plant sp.).

dress up in finery:   use, wear, dress up in finery

This is a clear Malay loanword in both of its common senses: ‘to use’ and ‘to wear/clothiing, adornment’. Dempwolff compared the Ngaju Dayak, Malay, Toba Batak and Javanese words given here with Tagalog pákay ‘mission; purpose; intention; aim’, and posited Urindonesisch *pakay ‘to use; to dress up, put on clothing’. However, the Tagalog word does not appear to be related to the others, and the remaining forms do not justify a reconstruction. (see clothing)

dried fish

This appears to be a Tagalog loan distribution.

drink:   refreshments taken with drink

drinking:   water not intended for drinking

Except for Komodo, these form a restricted cognate set; Komodo is a loan from Javanese or Balinese.

drum

Borrowing from Malay.

drum

Borrowing of Spanish tambor ‘drum’.

dry measure for grain etc.

duck

Borrowing from Malay. The history of domesticated ducks in island Southeast Asia is still poorly understood. Although a term for 'wild duck' (*ŋaRaq) was present in PMP, there is no non-suspect linguistic evidence for early domestication of ducks by AN-speaking peoples. The presence of a mid-front vowel in many of the terms cited here points to borrowing from Malay. At the same time the occurrence of reflexes in Malagasy and Old Javanese indicates that diffusion of the term (and the associated practice of domesticating ducks) must have begun by the 7th century A.D. All of this is consistent with a hypothesis that the practice of domesticating ducks was introduced to island Southeast Asia during the Indianization of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.

This is one of the few cases in which a Malay loanword appears to have reached Taiwan, but given the practical value of the animal and the likelihood that diffusion to Taiwan took place directly from the Philippines a hypothesis of borrowing is not at all unlikely. Although a Sanskrit term for 'goose' was borrowed by Malay, bébék appears to be an onomatopoetic formation from native lexical material. Gedaged bibi 'turkey', Tongan pīpī 'turkey' and similar terms in other OC languages seem clearly to be the product of an independent development.

dull:   blunt dull

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tampak ‘to blunt, make something dull’ (abstumpfen).

dull (physically and mentally)

Probably a Bisayan loan in Agutaynen.

dunning to collect a debt

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tagiq ‘dun someone for collection of a debt’.

duty:   obligation, duty, commitment

Dempwolff (1938) proposed *siliq ‘obligation, duty’, but the limited distribution of this form among languages that have long been in contact is better explained as a product of borrowing.

dye

Apparently a phonologically modified borrowing of Spanish tinta ‘dye’.