p   

packet of cooked rice

Probably borrowing from Malay. Chamorro atupat, Kamarian atuat suggest an etymon *qatubat, but the Chamorro variant in k- and the unexplained loss of *b (expected //h//) in Kamarian leave borrowing as the best alternative.

pail:   bucket, pail

Borrowing, ultimately from Portuguese balde in Indonesia. The similar form in Philippine languages probably was borrowed independently from Spanish.

pair

Borrowing from Malay.

pair, matching part

Borrowing of the plural form of Spanish par ‘even, equal; pair; couple’.

palanquin

Borrowing. Dempwolff (1934-38) reconstructed *palaŋka 'palanquin', but marked it as a Sanskrit loan. Zoetmulder (1982) gives a similar etymology for Old Javanese palaŋka, palyanka, paryanka. If the original meaning was 'palanquin' and all of the items included here are related, it is remarkable how semantically divergent the reflexes of this form have become. Moreover, if it is a loan it is striking how culturally integrated the Ngaju Dayak word appears to be. Karo Batak pelaŋkah 'feeding trough for pigs; trough in which gambier is crushed by trampling; coffin carved from a tree trunk', Toba Batak palaŋka 'wooden trough' are best treated as chance resemblances.

pale

Borrowing from Malay. Based on this comparison Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *pucat ‘pale’.

palm wine

Borrowing from Tagalog.

palolo worm

Tanga parur is assumed to be a loan, presumably from a Polynesian source.

pangolin

Based only on forms in Malay and Javanese Dempwolff (1938) posited *taŋgiliŋ ‘anteater, pangolin’. However, it is now clear that PAn *qaRem (q.v.) meant ‘pangolin’, with specific reference to the Manis pentadactyla of Taiwan, but later applied to the Manis javanica throughout much of Borneo.

papaya

Borrowing. The papaya is not native to Southeast Asia, but was introduced from the New World during the Age of Exploration (source: ). Wilkinson (1959) suggests a derivation from the Arabic word for 'watermelon', borrowed into Portuguese as pateca, and then applied to the papaya. Minangkabau buah ketéla ('Castilian fruit') suggests a Spanish introduction, a not unlikely possibility given the clearly Spanish origin of the word in most Philippine languages (papayas, kapayas, etc.).

parrot sp.

pass slowly, of time

Probably borrowing from Malay.

passion, excitement

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

passion

Borrowing from Malay.

past, done, gone

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

paste

Borrowing from Sanskrit. Based on the Malay and Javanese forms Dempwolff (1938) posited ‘Uraustronesisch’ *lepa ‘plaster’.

patron:   customer, patron

Borrowed from Hokkien (Southern Min).

pattern:   cloth with checkered pattern

Borrowing from Malay.

pawn

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

pawn:   pledge, pawn

Also Mapun sandaʔ ‘the amount loaned to someone who pawns or mortgages something as collateral; the thing that someone pawns or mortgages’, Manobo (Western Bukidnon) sandaʔ ‘to pawn something; to borrow money leaving some object of value as security’, Maranao sandaʔ ‘mortgage, security, pawn’, sandaʔ-i ‘pawnbroker, pawnshop; pawn, pledge’, Tboli sandaʔ ‘to pawn something’, Tausug sandaʔ ‘pledge, that which is pawned, security’, Yakan sandaʔ ‘a pawned item, a pawn’. Almost certainly a loan distribution, presumably borrowed from Malay before Malay itself replaced this word with gadai.

peanut

Borrowing of Spanish maní ‘peanut’, an Amazonian cultigen. The meaning ‘clitoris’ is clearly secondary, and based on physical similarity.

pearl

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Sanskrit.

pencil

From Spanish lapiz ‘pencil, graphite’.

peninsula cape

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tanzuŋ ‘peninsula, cape’ (Halbinsel, Kap).

penis

Despite its basic semantics, and the regular sound correspondence of r in Malay to zero in Javanese, this comparison is almost certainly a product of borrowing from Malay. Apart from being in competition with PAn *qutiN ‘penis’, it is not reported in Old Javanese (Zoetmulder 1982), and is not known in any other language. Based on this comparison Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *peliR ‘penis’.

pennant:   banner, pennant

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tuŋgul ‘project; standard, banner’ (hervorragen, Standarte).

pepper:   betel pepper

Dempwolff (1938) posited *siriq ‘pepper, betel pepper’, but this comparison is misguided. Tagalog síli, like the similar word in many other Philippine languages (Ilokano síli ‘hot chili pepper: Capsicum sp.’, Bontok sili ‘chili pepper’, Bikol síli ‘chili pepper, hot pepper’, etc.) is borrowed from Mexican Spanish chile, itself a loanword from Nahuatl. The Javanese form is irregular, and the Ngaju Dayak word may well be a Banjarese loan.

pepper (black)

Borrowing from Malay.

period in which a widow may not remarry

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

permission

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

person

A late innovation in western Indonesia, with borrowing from Malay into some languages (including at least Makassarese). Dempwolff's (1934-38) attempt to include Ulawa ule- 'brother, sister, cousins of all sorts' under *uRaŋ is almost certainly in error.

peso (unit of Spanish currency)

Also Isneg pésoɁ ‘peso’. Borrowing of Spanish peso ‘one hundred centavos’.

pestle

Probably an Amis loan in Puyuma.

petition:   request, petition

Borrowing from Malay into non-Malayic languages. Based on the Tagalog, Malay, and Toba Batak forms given here Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *pin(tT)a ‘to request’, although he acknowledged that the Tagalog form is a loan.

pheasant:   Argus pheasant

Probably early borrowing.

pick up, take with fingers

Also Ngaju Dayak sumput ‘pick up, take’. Tagalog dampót cannot be reconciled with the Ngaju Dayak or Javanese forms, and the latter cannot be reconciled with Malay jemput. Moreover, Dempwolff (1938) included Fijian covu-ta ‘to break or cut food small; to peck at’, which appears to be unrelated. All things considered, then, this comparision is most likely to be a product of borrowing from Malay.

pickaxe, mattock, hoe

Borrowing of Spanish pico ‘pickaxe’.

pickles, to pickle

Borrowing, ultimately from Hindi or a related Indian source.

pickled fish

Borrowing from Malay. Unlike many Malay loanwords in Philippine languages which diffused from Brunei, probably in connection with the trading arc that linked Borneo with the Moluccas through Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, this word is not attested anywhere in the southern Philippines. Its distribution suggests instead that it was introduced by peninsular Malay traders whose base of operations was the entrepot at Manila Bay first established by the Fukienese, and jointly maintained by the Spanish during the three and one half centuries of the Manila Galleon (1565-1815).

pickles, to pickle

Borrowing, ultimately from Hindi or a related Indian source.

piece (of cloth...)

From Spanish pedazo ‘piece, fragment, bit’.

piece, numeral classifier

Based only on this comparison Dempwolff (1938) posited ‘Uraustronesisch *lemba(r) ‘material, fabric; piece’ (Stoff, Zeug, ‘piece’ (as a numeral classifier)). However, cognates are known in very few languages, and the Malay and Javanese words are not phonologically compatible, Javanese having a schwa in the penult, but Malay having a mid-front vowel that could only come etymologically from *i. Despite the vocalic disagreement, this is best treated as a Malay loan distribution.

pier:   dock, pier, wharf

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

piety:   works of piety, charity

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

pig

pigeon, dove (domesticated)

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

pillar:   post, pillar

Dempwolff (1938) posited *saka ‘post, pillar’, but Zoetmulder (1982) gives Old Javanese saka as a borrowing of Sanskrit sākhā ‘branch’. Even if its loan status from Sanskrit is not established, its antiquity in the Austronesian family is far from demonstrated with this geographically restricted distribution.

pinching off, shearing off

Also Ngaju Dayak kutip ‘pinching with the fingernails; pinched off’. Dempwolff compared the Ngaju Dayak and Malay forms with Fijian koti ‘to clip, to shear’, Tongan kosi ‘to cut with scissors or shears or clippers, to clip or shear; to cut grass with a lawn-mower; (of rats) to gnaw through, to gnaw a hole in’, Samoan oti ‘to cut (with scissors, clippers, etc.)’, but these are better assigned to *ketil.

pineapple

Borrowing, ulitmately from Portuguese ananas, which in turn acquired in from a Tupian language of Brazil.

pineapple

Borrowing, ulitmately from Portuguese ananas, which in turn acquired in from a Tupian language of Brazil.

pipe:   smoking pipe

Borrowing from Southern Min, probably during the Ming dynasty.

place:   village, place of residence

Although this appears initially to be a straightforward comparison Saisiyat /s/ can only reflect PAn *C and Bunun /s/ can only reflect *s or *S. The similarity of Atayal qalaŋ, Truku Seediq alaŋ ‘village’ to these and to one another also cannot be accounted for by recurrent sound correspondences.

place, spot

Borrowing of Spanish lugar ‘place, spot; town, village’.

plan something, prepare

Apparently a Tagalog loanword in Itbayaten.

plane:   carpenter’s plane

Also Toba Batak otom ‘wood plane’, maŋ-otom ‘to plane wood’, Tae' gattaŋ ‘to plane wood’, Muna hatamu ‘(carpenter’s) plane’. Borrowing from Malay. In Philippine languages this presumably began with Tagalog, from whence it spread to several other coastal languages, including Ilokano, and from Ilokano it was borrowed into various of the mountain languages of northern Luzon. Dempwolff (1938) posited *keTem ‘wood plane’, and included Javanese keṭem in this meaning, but I am unable to locate such a term either in modern Javanese (Pigeaud 1938, Horne 1974), or in Old Javanese (Zoetmulder 1982).

planed lumber

Borrowing of Spanish tabla ‘board, plank; tablet, slab’.

plank:   gunwale, side plank on canoe

Borrowing from Sangir.

plant sp.

Borrowing, probably from Malay.

plant:   safflower, Carthamus tinctorius

Borrowing from Malay (ultimately from Sanskrit).

plant:   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.

plant chewed with betel that invigorates

Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *gambir ‘refreshing’, but it is now clear that this is a loan distribution due to borrowing from Malay. The Tagalog form, which he cited from Laktaw (1914) does not appear in modern dictionaries.

plant shoot:   young leaf, plant shoot

Probably a borrowing of Malay reboŋ ‘bamboo shoot when young, soft and edible’.

plant sp., turmeric, Curcuma longa

Borrowing from Tagalog. The PMP and PPh term for ‘turmeric’ was *kunij.

plant: Leucaena leucocephala

Since the Leucaena leucocephala is native to southern Mexico and northern Central America it must have been introduced to the Marianas islands during the Spanish colonial period. The name for it presumably was borrowed from speakers of Tagalog, who compared it with the more familiar castor oil plant, itself a likely earlier introduction to insular Southeast Asia from India.

plant: Spilanthes spp.

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.

plate, dish

Borrowing from Malay.

platform

Borrowing from Malay. Based on this comparison Dempwolff (1938) positied Uraustronesisch *pentas ‘platform’.

platform

Borrowing of Malay parapara, which itself reflects PAn *paRa ‘storage shelf above the hearth. Dempwolff (1938) also included Sa'a para ‘fence’, and Fijian vara, but the first of these probably is unrelated, and the second cannot be found in any modern dictionary.

playing cards

Borrowing, probably from Makassarese. van der Veen (1940) considers the Tae' word a borrowing of Buginese ujaŋ, but if so the phonetic discrepancy between these forms and the agreement of the Tae' and Ngaju Dayak forms remains unexplained. Although the referent of this term is a European introduction, the word itself appears to be native, evidently reflecting *buyaŋ 'bark cloth?'.

pleasant, agreeable

Dempwolff (1934-38) reconstructed *inak 'agreeable', but the comparison in question is best explained as a relatively recent innovation or a loan distribution in western Indonesia.

pledge, pawn

Also Mapun sandaʔ ‘the amount loaned to someone who pawns or mortgages something as collateral; the thing that someone pawns or mortgages’, Manobo (Western Bukidnon) sandaʔ ‘to pawn something; to borrow money leaving some object of value as security’, Maranao sandaʔ ‘mortgage, security, pawn’, sandaʔ-i ‘pawnbroker, pawnshop; pawn, pledge’, Tboli sandaʔ ‘to pawn something’, Tausug sandaʔ ‘pledge, that which is pawned, security’, Yakan sandaʔ ‘a pawned item, a pawn’. Almost certainly a loan distribution, presumably borrowed from Malay before Malay itself replaced this word with gadai.

plough:   harrow, plough

Probably a loan distribution. The Madurese form is very likely borrowed from Buginese or Makassarese, but under this hypothesis the Toba Batak form is unexplained.

plow

Most likely a loanword spread from one or another or these languages to the others. The ultimate source of the morpheme remains unclear.

plow

From Spanish arado

pocket

Borrowing from Spanish (Philippine forms) and Portuguese (Malay).

point; direction

From Spanish punta ‘point, tip, end; headland’.

pointed

The Fijian form is best assigned to POc *bati ‘canine tooth’, and its connection with the other forms given here remains dubious. The remaining forms are most like products of borrowing from Malay. On the basis of this set Dempwolff (1938) posited Uraustronesisch *pa(n)tik ‘be pointed’.

pointed implement

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tazak ‘pointed implement’ (spitzes Werkzeug).

poison

Borrowing from Malay.

pole:   mast, pole

Borrowing of Spanish palo ‘mast’.

polluted:   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/.

pomegranate: Punica granatum L.

Also Maranao dalimaɁ ‘pomegranate: Punica granatum L.’. This plant is native to the Middle East, and must have been introduced to insular Southeast Asia after the Austronesian settlement of the region. Zoetmulder (1982) gives Old Javanese dalima, dālima as a borrowing of Sanskrit dāḍima ‘pomegranate’, and Wilkinson (1959) attributes Malay dəlima to the same source. It therefore seems likely that this fruit was introduced during the Indianization of Sumatra, Java and the Malay peninsula. From there it presumably would have spread through Malay trade contacts both to the Moluccas, where a Malay presence in connection with the spice trade began by at least the 7th century AD, and to the Philippines, where Malay-speaking Islamic missionaries had begun to penetrate shortly before the arrival of the Spanish.

pond

poor:   ignorant, uneducated; poor

This is a very mysterious comparison. Given its gloss, which almost certainly implies a literate society, the distribution seen here must be a product of borrowing, but its source, and why it is known so far only in Palawano and Tboli among members of the Philippine subgroup, is still unresolved. Given their mobility, this may have originated with the Sama-Bajaw, and spread by borrowing from them to a few select land-based populations.

porcelain, chinaware

Borrowing of Spanish loza ‘china, porcelain; crockery’.

portable stove

Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *keren ‘charcoal basin’, but this clearly is borrowed throughout the Philippines, and is most plausibly traced to a Malay source.

position:   rank, position

Also Sasak paŋkət ‘sort into layers (of objects)’. Most of this comparison almost certainly is due to borrowing from Malay. However, the semantic divergence of the Tagalog, Mapun, Mansaka, Tausug, Ngaju Dayak, and Sasak forms, along with the phonological divergence of the latter, raise the possibility that this is an older word that underwent semantic changes in Malay, and then spread by contact. Dempwolff (1938) posited Uraustronesisch *paŋkat ‘elevation, rank’.

possessions:   goods, belongings, things, possessions

Borrowing from Malay. The term *baraŋ apparently was found in PMP as a marker of indefiniteness. The meaning 'things, goods, possessions' evidently was a late innovation in western Indonesia, which, together with the reduplicated form of the word, was widely disseminated through borrowing from Malay.

possessions:   wealth, possessions

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit.

post, pillar

Dempwolff (1938) posited *saka ‘post, pillar’, but Zoetmulder (1982) gives Old Javanese saka as a borrowing of Sanskrit sākhā ‘branch’. Even if its loan status from Sanskrit is not established, its antiquity in the Austronesian family is far from demonstrated with this geographically restricted distribution.

posterior:   rear end, posterior

Borrowing from Malay or Javanese. Dempwolff (1938) also included Fijian buku ‘the raised end of a thing, as of shell, and hence in some dialects the tail’, and posited Uraustronesisch *puŋku(rR) ‘rear end, posterior’ (Hinterteil). I take the Fijian form to be a chance resemblance.

pot:   water pot

Also Toba Batak gondi ‘water jug’. Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Hindi. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *kendi ‘water jug’.

pothole, hole in road

Since this word can only apply to situations in which wheeled vehicles are used, it is assumed to be a late innovation that was spread by contact.

powder, face powder

Borrowing from Malay.

power, venom

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit. This comparison is remarkable for at least two reasons: 1) although it seems clearly to be a Sanskrit loan which acquired much of its attested distribution as a result of borrowing from Malay, it originally referred to animal (particularly snake) venom, a referent for which a native term would normally be expected, 2) the word is very widespread in the Philippines and both western and eastern Indonesia, and has acquired a variety of secondary meanings including that of general force or power, skill, knowledge and ability. In Malay and some other languages (e.g. Rembong) this abstraction and generalization of the original concrete nominal sense has gone even further, leading to the use of bisa as an auxiliary verb meaning 'can, be able'.

power force

Borrowing from Malay, and ultimately from Arabic. Conklin (1953:154) gives Hanunóo kuwát ‘power, force(?)’ with a questionable gloss, cross-referencing it somewhat obscurely to baliŋkuwát ‘lever, i.e. a prying instrument for raising heavy objects’. The resemblance between it and forms in western Indonesia may thus be a product of chance.

praise

Also Balinese puja ‘worship, respect, reverence’, puja:n ‘sacrifice, worship, honor’. Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Sanskrit.

prayer:   afternoon prayer

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

prayer, worship

Borrowing, probably from Javanese into Malay, and from Malay into Philippine languages, where the sound correspondences are irregular, as they also are in Makassarese.

precise:   exact, precise

Borrowing from Malay into Tagalog, and possibly from Javanese into Malay. Dempwolff also included Fijian tovo ‘custom, manner, habit, disposition, quality, character’, and proposed PAn *tepat ‘right, correct’, a reconstrucion that fails to account for the final vowel of the Old Javanese, Balinese or Fijian forms.

predilection:   leaning, inclination, predilection

Borrowing from Tagalog into Itbayaten.

prefix indicating 'from a place'

Probably a Tagalog loan distribution in the northern Philippines.

pregnant

Borrowing from Malay.

prepare:   plan something, prepare

Apparently a Tagalog loanword in Itbayaten.

price

princess, noble woman

Borrowing from Malay.

prisoner

Borrowing, ultimately from Tamil.

proboscis

prod into action:   incite, prod into action

Also Tagalog súhol ‘bribe’. The forms in non-Central Philippine languages are assumed to be borrowings of Tagalog sulsól.

profit, gain, fortune, luck

Widespread borrowing from Malay.

profit, gain

Borrowing from Sanskrit through Malay, which shows its own loan status in the sequence aba, since in native words this normally became awa.

project:   stand out, project

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *ta(n)zuk ‘to stand out, project’ (Hervorstehen).

proof

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit.

prop, support, boom of a sail

The mid-back vowel in Javanese, Balinese and Sasak, and the meaning in languages of Mindanao suggest strongly that this comparison is a product of borrowing from Malay.

proper, fitting, appropriate

Borrowing from Javanese into Malay, with subsequent wide dispersal via Malay. Dempwolff (1938) compared the Ngaju Dayak, Malay, Javanese and Toba Batak forms with Tagalog patot ‘proper, fitting’ and posited Uraustronesisch *patut ‘proper, fitting’, but I have been unable to find the last of these forms in any modern dictionary. Note the close semantics and probable origin in Javanese with subsequent spread by Malay for both this form and Malay pantas, etc.

property

Though of limited geographical distribution, this form does not appear to be a recent Danaw loan in TAGA (apparently pointing to earlier *qimu). I assume that the distribution is ultimately a product of borrowing, although details remain obscure.

prostitute, whore

Presumably a loan, although a source is yet to be determined.

protective:   talisman, protective charm

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic, but through the medium of Malay. Ironically, Kayan gimet is described as part of a pagan practice, although it was acquired through contact with Malay, which is the source of Islam for all native peoples of Borneo.

proud

Borrowing from Malay.

proud, arrogant

The Ayta Maganchi word probably is an Ilokano loan.

provided that:   origin, cause, provided that

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

prune, trim

Borrowing of Spanish labrar ‘to work, fashion; carve’.

pull

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tarik ‘to pull’.

pull:   drag, pull

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

pull up

Borrowing into Casiguran Dumagat from a GCPh source, probably Tagalog.

pulley

From Spanish motón ‘a pulley’.

pump

Borrowing from Spanish (Philippine languages) and Portuguese (Malay).

punish:   judge, punish