s   

sack

Borrowing from Malay.

sack:   bag, sack

Probably a Tagalog loan distribution.

sacred:   holy sacred

Borrowing from Tagalog.

sacrifice

Borrowing. Although an Indian source has not been identified, the semantics suggest that this item was acquired either by direct lexical borrowing or by lexical innovation in response to novel cultural influences during the Indianization of western Indonesia. This inference is further strengthened by the appearance of a mid-front vowel in virtually all known cognates, a clear indication of secondary origin. The most likely locations in which the form might first have appeared are southern Sumatra and Java, with subsequent borrowing into other areas.

saddle

Borrowing, ultimately from Persian through Hindi.

save, in safekeeping

Possibly a Javanese loan into Malay, which then functioned as the vector in spreading it into northern Sumatra and the Philippines.

safflower, Carthamus tinctorius

Borrowing from Malay (ultimately from Sanskrit).

salt

Borrowing from Javanese into Ngaju Dayak. Dempwolff (1934-38) reconstructed PAn *uyaq 'salt'.

salve, ointment

Borrowing from Malay.

sand

Apparently a Proto-Northwest-Formosan innovation of the shape *bunaj. This shows regular reflexes in Saisiyat and Pazeh , but Thao bunaz is a loan, presumably from Saisiyat . The meaning ‘sand’ was designated in PAn by *qenay.

sand

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) proposed *kesik ‘coarse sand, gravel’.

sandal

Although the Maranao and Malay forms show regular sound correspondences that apparently point to *talumpaq, footwear was unknown among Austronesian-speaking peoples prior to modern times. The further irregular of the medial liquid points further to a still unclear history of borrowing. Almost certainly a Philippine loanword in Buruese, perhaps via contact with the Sama Bajaw.

sandfly

Probably a Malayic innovation, with subsequent borrowing from Malay.

Sandoricum indicum:   tree with edible fruit Sandoricum indicum or Sandoricum koetjape

Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *se(n)tul ‘name of a tree’, but all Philippine forms appear to be loans from Malay, and this may be true of some forms in western Indonesia as well.

sandpaper:   scale, balance for weighing things

Borrowing from Chinese.

satisfied:   content, satisfied

Also Ngaju Dayak sanai ‘quiet, still, calm, secure, at ease’, Iban sənaŋ ‘comfortable, at ease, well-to-do’, the latter a clear loanword from Malay. Dempwolff (9138) posited *sen(ae)ŋ ‘content, satisfied’, with a vowel that is not so much ambiguous as contradictory, since the Ngaju Dayak and Toba Batak forms point to *a, Malay is ambiguous, and Javanese, along with other languages, points to *e. A more plausible interpretation is that Ngaju Dayak sanaŋ is a loanword from Banjarese, and Toba Batak sonaŋ a loan from peninsula or Sumatran Malay. Malay itself presumably borrowed this word from Javanese, and then spread it to other languages after the merger of last-syllable *a and *e.

sauté, fry in fat

Borrowing of Spanish guisar ‘to cook, stew, prepare’.

save, in safekeeping

Possibly a Javanese loan into Malay, which then functioned as the vector in spreading it into northern Sumatra and the Philippines.

saw, tool for sawing

Borrowing of Malay gərgaji ‘a saw; to saw’, ultimately from Sanskrit krakaca.

sawdust, wood shavings

Mintz and Britannico (1985) derive the Bikol form from a Hokkien original, and English (1986) holds a similar view of the Tagalog form, although this has not been confirmed.

scale for weighing, balance

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Persian. Dempwolff (1938) marked this as a loan distribution, but provided a reconstruction simply to illustrate the regularity of the sound correspondences. However, as with other loans used for a similar purpose, the sound correspondences are not entirely regular, the final glottal stop in Tagalog being an immediate clue to its loan status.

scale, balance for weighing things

Borrowing from Chinese.

scaly anteater

Almost certainly a Malay loan distribution. Although the pangolin, or scaly anteater, is native to Palawan, reflexes of PAn *qaRem ‘pangolin, scaly anteater’ are found further south in many of the languages of Borneo, and imply that Palawano teŋgiliŋ is an innovation. Since a subgroup containing Malayic and Palawanic languages is unsupported, a borrowing explanation (or a lexical distinction between different types of pangolins) is the only plausible alternative.

scheme:   intelligence, craft, scheme

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

scheme:   trick, ruse, scheme, wits

A Malay loanword, ultimately from Arabic. Note how the positive features of the meaning in Malay assume a more negative cast in most other languages.

scissors

Probably a Mota loan diffused through the use of Mota as the language of instruction in the nineteenth-century London-based Melanesian Mission.

scissors

The history of this word is still obscure. It is almost certainly a loan from some non-Austronesian source, and its distribution in most languages, including all those of the Philippines and eastern Indonesia, probably is a product of borrowing from Malay. However, it is also found in Old Javanese texts that are centuries old, and its application to terms in carpentry (Bikol) and house construction (Asilulu) raises questions about a possible earlier meaning that was later transferred to scissors once these were introduced.

Despite the improbability of it being native, Dempwolff (1938) posited ‘Uraustronesisch’ *guntiŋ ‘scissors’, and Mills (1975) posited Proto-South Sulawesi *gun(tc)iŋ ‘shears; to cut’. The most likely source of this word, which shows irregular sound correspondences in several languages, is some southern form of Chinese, but this is yet to be confirmed. The use of scissors presumably spread widely within a short time because they offered a far more convenient means of cutting hair than was previously possible with the use of single straight blades, as with knives.

scoop (water):   dipper, scoop (water)

Borrowing from Malay.

score:   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.

scorpion

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Sanskrit. Dempwolff (1938) proposed *kala ‘scorpion’, marking it as a Sanskrit loan, but no satisfactory native term has yet been reconstructed for this meaning.

scrutinize consider closely

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tinzaw ‘scrutinize, consider closely’ (genau betrachten). Cf. PMP *tindaw ‘see in the distance’.

season, time, weather

From Spanish tiempo ‘time, period, epoch; weather’.

seaweed jelly

Borrowing, ultimately from Javanese.

secure:   fixed secure

Probably a Malay loan distribution (apart from Iban). Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tetep ‘firm, fixed’ (festsein).

secure:   fastener, thing used for fastening or making secure

Borrowing from Malay.

sedan chair

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tanDu ‘sedan chair’ (Tragstuhl).

seed

Borrowing from Malay, with the possible exception of Tagalog bíriʔ, which may be a chance resemblance.

seed:   coriander seed

Borrowing from Tami through the medium of Malay.

seedling

Borrowing from Malay.

seesaw motion

Borrowing from Javanese.

seize

Dempwolff (1938) posited *si(ŋ)kap ‘to seize’, but Ngaju Dayak siŋkap appears to be a Banjarese loan, and both of the forms cited here are better assigned to *sikep₁.

seize, grip

Probably identical to PMP *taŋkep ‘to catch, as by covering’, but with the Ngaju Dayak and Toba Batak forms borrowed from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *taŋkap ‘seize, grip’.

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).

sell

Also Old Javanese ka-juwal ‘sold’ (Malay?). The antiquity of this form is unclear. It’s distribution is entirely within an area that has been subject to Malay-dominated commerce for many centuries, and so the possibility is very real that many of these forms could ultimately be Malay loanwords. The word was present in Old Javanese in a form that differs from Malay jual, suggesting that it has been circulating in western Indonesian for over a millennium, but this is still consistent with a Malay source, since Sriwijaya dominated commerce in the Malay archipelago by at least the 7th century AD. The semantics of Sumatran forms such as Gayō juel-en also suggest that if this word is a Malay loan it was borrowed early enough to become thoroughly enmeshed in the cultural traditions of the borrowing society.

sell in small quantities

Borrowing from Tagalog.

sell well:   merchandise for sale; to sell well

Borrowing of Malay laku ‘having value, selling well’. Arosi rao ‘to sell’ presumably is a chance resemblance.

send

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) posited *ki(r)im ‘to send’.

separate

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

seriously ill

Probably a Malayo-Chamic innovation that has been borrowed from Malay into Dairi-Pakpak Batak and Mongondow.

servant:   maid, female servant

Probably a fairly late innovation in Western Indonesia, spread by borrowing from Malay or Javanese.

serving tray

Borrowing from Tamil through Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *talam ‘dish, bowl’ (Schüssel).

Seville:   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.

shack:   hut, shack

The presence of mid-back vowels in all these forms points to borrowing from Malay.

shackles

Borrowing, ultimately from Tamil.

shake grains on winnowing tray

Borrowing from Malay. Despite the consistent shapes of the forms cited here Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tiŋtiŋ ‘loosen by shaking’ (durch schütteln losemachen). His inclusion of Tongan sisiŋ-i ‘hit oneself on the head’ (sich auf den Kopf klopfen) is puzzling, as I find no such form in Churchward (1959), and even if it could be found, the semantic connection with the above forms is strained beyond credibility.

shake hands

Borrowing from Spanish.

shavings:   sawdust, wood shavings

Mintz and Britannico (1985) derive the Bikol form from a Hokkien original, and English (1986) holds a similar view of the Tagalog form, although this has not been confirmed.

shawls:   cloth used for shawl

Borrowing from Malay.

shearing off:   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.

shed light on:   clarify, shed light on

Presumably a Greater Central Philippine loanword in Casiguran Dumagat.

sheep

Borrowing from Malay. Although Wilkinson 1959 does not list Malay biri-biri the form is given in the sources for several other languages of Indonesia as a Malay loan.

shell (useful)

Borrowing from Ilokano.

shirt, jacket

Borrowing, ultimately from Persian.

shoo!

The origin of this term is unclear. Domesticated cats probably arrived in the Philippines with the Spanish, so this word probably arose.

shoot

Western Indonesian forms have been borrowed from Malay, and the resemblance of the Paiwan form to these is best attributed to chance. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tembak ‘to shoot’.

shoot of a 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.

short

Borrowing from Malay.

shoulder pole

This comparison (with a consistent mid-front vowel) is most plausibly attributed to borrowing from a somewhat earlier stage of Buginese or Makassarese.

shout

Borrowing from Tagalog.

shovel

Borrowing of Spanish pala ‘shovel’.

shrimps (small)

Borrowing from Brunei Malay.

sickle

Presumably a loan, but the source language is unclear.

side:   gunwale, side plank on canoe

Borrowing from Sangir.

side:   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.

side, flank

Probably borrowing from Malay.

sigh

Dempwolff proposed *kesaq ‘breath loudly’, adding Javanese gesah, geresah ‘to groan, moan’. I am unable to find the latter in either Pigeaud (1938) or Horne (1974).

sign, signal, mark

Borrowing, probably from old or modern Javanese, where it referred to a military ensign. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tanDa ‘sign, signal, mark’, showing some of his most extreme semantic permissiveness with the Sa'a form.

sign

From Spanish carátula ‘mask’.

sign, signal, mark

Borrowing, probably from old or modern Javanese, where it referred to a military ensign. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tanDa ‘sign, signal, mark’, showing some of his most extreme semantic permissiveness with the Sa'a form.

silver

This extremely widespread loanword appears to be of Mon-Khmer origin (Thurgood 1999:360). It evidently was acquired by Malay as a result of contacts on the mainland of Southeast Asia, and then spread throughout much of western Indonesia-Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan through trade contacts, perhaps mediated by the Dutch presence in southwest Taiwan from 1624-1661, and the Spanish presence in northeast Taiwan from 1626-1642 (the latter out of Manila). Surprisingly, it is almost totally absent from eastern Indonesia, suggesting that apart from the spice trade, which drew Malays into the Moluccas at an early time, Malay trade routes tended to favor a north-south route. Based on the comparison of the Tagalog, Malagasy, Malay, Toba Batak and Javanese forms given here Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *pirak ‘silver’.

silver

Borrowing from Javanese. The mechanism of diffusion in this case may have been Javanese influence during the peak of the Majapahit period (1293-1500). However, it is possible that the Dutch colonial administration was responsible to some extent for the spread of this form, which was used for the colonial rijksdaalder, and which was borrowed into some of the Papuan languages of the North Halmahera family, as with Galela salaka.

sing

A likely loan distribution, probably starting from Paiwan.

single

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tuŋgal ‘submit, humble oneself’ (sich beugen). His inclusion of Toba Batak tuŋgal was based on the notion that male animals travel alone, while females move with their cubs.

sit deferentially

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

sit cross-legged

Said to be from Sanskrit in western Indonesia, and then borrowed through Malay into Philippine languages such as Tagalog.

skilled, adept

Probably a Tagalog loan distribution.

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.

skinny:   thin, slender, skinny

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Sanskrit. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *ku(r)us ‘slender’.

skirt

From Spanish saya ‘skirt, dress, tunic’.

slaughter in accord with Islamic law

Arabic, through the medium of Malay. For a detailed account of the Malagasy term as a Malay loan cf. Adelaar (1989:4-6).

sledge hammer

Borrowing of Spanish mazo ‘mallet’.

slender:   thin, slender, skinny

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Sanskrit. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *ku(r)us ‘slender’.

slim, slender

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *lampay ‘slim, slender' (Schlanksein).

slowly:   budge, move slowly

Borrowing from Malay.

Smilax sp.

Probably an old Malay loan in Nias.

smoking pipe

Borrowing from Southern Min, probably during the Ming dynasty.

smooth

Borrowing of Spanish liso ‘smooth, even; unadorned, plain’.

snail

Probably a Malay loan in Malagasy. No related forms are known in other languages.

sob:   gurgle, sob

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) proposed *kucak ‘gurgle, sob’, but I cannot find a form with the shape and meaning that he cited in any modern dictionary of either of these languages.

social inferior

Borrowing from Malay.

solid:   firm, solid

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *kukuq ‘firm, solid’.

sorrel, light reddish brown (of horses)

Borrowing of Spanish alazán ‘sorrel (of horses)’.

sound of breaking

Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tas ‘sound of breaking or tearing’. Possibly native, but the limited geographical distribution of this onomatopoetic form makes it difficult to confidently attribute it to a language with much time-depth.

sound:   well-made structurally sound

Probably a Tagalog loan distribution.

sour fruit

Borrowing into Tiruray and Chamorro from some GCPh language or languages.

source, origin

Borrowing from Sanskrit, in most cases through Malay.

soursop: Annona squamosa

A native of tropical America, the soursop was introduced into Southeast Asia sometime during the 16th century.

soy sauce

Borrowing of Hokkien (Minnan) dao⁵ yiu² ‘soy sauce’

spade

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff (1938) posited PAn *tambilaŋ.

speak, converse

Borrowing from Malay. Dempwolff's (1934-38) inclusion of Fijian vosa 'speak, talk' under a reconstruction *ucap 'speak, converse with' appears unjustified.

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.

speed

Borrowing from Tagalog.

spelling

Borrowing, ultimately from Arabic.

spice

Borrowing from Javanese into Malay, and probably from Malay into Bimanese.

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.

spin cotton thread

A relatively late innovation in western Indonesia, with probable borrowing from Malay into some of the other languages cited here.

spirit:   evil spirit, vampire, witch

Borrowing into Kapampangan from a GCPh source. It is possible that the suaŋgi/ of eastern Indonesia has a similar origin.

spirits:   call (v.), summon (spirits)

Borrowing. Apparently a Malayo-Chamic innovation which has spread to Kadazan Dusun, Ngaju Dayak, the Batak languages, and Javanese.

spleen:   milt, spleen

Apparently a Malay loanword.

spot:   place, spot