o   

O.K.!:   go ahead!, O.K.!

From Spanish sigue.

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.

obstacle

Borrowing of Malay (h)adaŋ ‘blocking the way; lying in wait to intercept, as robbers waylaying travellers’.

odor of urine

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) proposed *kenciŋ ‘odor of urine’.

odorata:   tree sp., Cananga odorata

Borrowing from some Philippine language into Palauan.

of rice:   badly cooked, of rice

Probably a Paiwan loan in Puyuma

of time:   pass slowly, of time

Probably borrowing from Malay.

official:   religious official

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic (βilal = the personal name of the first muezzin).

offshoot shoot of a plant

Based on proposed cognates in Tagalog, Javanese, Malay, Ngaju Dayak, Malagasy and Samoan, Dempwolff proposed *sulur ‘offshoot, shoot of a plant’. However, I am unable to find Tagalog sulol in Panganiban (1966) or English (1986), the Samoan form probably is a chance resemblance, and several of the remaining forms show contradictory reflexes for the final consonant, Ngaju Dayak supporting *R, but Old and Modern Javanese, Sundanese and Balinese supporting *r.

ogre

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit.

ointment:   salve, ointment

Borrowing from Malay.

one's:   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.

oneself:   self, oneself

Apparently a late innovation in western Indonesia, perhaps spread in part by borrowing from Malay. The agreement of Iban and Sasak in pointing to final -ʔ suggests that this form is distinct from *sadiRi 'house post', although the two cognate sets were combined by Dempwolff (1934-38).

onion

From Spanish cebollas, like most Spanish nouns, borrowed in its plural form.

opium

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Arabic.

oppression:   injustice, oppression

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit.

or, either

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit.

orange:   Bitter orange Seville orange: Citrus aurantium

From Spanish cajel ‘Bitter orange, Seville orange (also called ‘blood orange’), a native of the Mediterranean region that must have been imported into the Philippines directly from Spain, rather than through the usual Mexican route for plants introduced during the Spanish colonial period.

orangutan: Simia satyrus

Probably a Malay loan, although the orangutan is native to both Borneo and Sumatra

orchid sp.

Itbayaten normally palatalizes *ŋ adjacent to a high-front vowel, and the absence of palatalization here is an indication that this form almost certainly is borrowed from a Central Philippine source, most likely Tagalog. I am indebted to Alexander Smith for bringing this to my attention.

order:   arrange, put in order

Borrowing from Malay.

order:   arrange, put in order

Borrowing from Malay.

origin, cause, provided that

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

origin:   source, origin

Borrowing from Sanskrit, in most cases through Malay.

outrigger:   cross-stick for outrigger

Buli is assumed to be a loan from some CMP source.

oven

Probably early borrowing.

ox:   wild ox

Dempwolff posited *banTiŋ ‘wild cow’, but the available evidence suggests that this form originated in Java and spread from there to Malay and to languages that were in close contact with Malay . Wild bovids are found both on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines and in Borneo, and permit the reconstruction of PWMP *tamadaw ‘kind of wild ruminant.’