b   

back:   rear, back, behind

Aklanon, Hiligaynon, Palawan Batak, Cebuano, Maranao and Sundanese, Old Javanese, Javanese, Balinese form two distinct low-level cognate sets. The similarity of these sets to one another and to Nias furi is attributed to chance.

back:   wave back and forth

bad:   harbor bad feelings toward

bag

bait

bait, grasshopper

bamboo sp.

bamboo sp.

bamboo sp.

bamboo:   flattened bamboo

Dempwolff (1934-38) reconstructed *p-al-upuq 'vegetable matter', which he regarded as a doublet of *p-al-aqpaq/. Apart from Malay and Javanese, however, there is little evidence for such an etymon. The similarity of the Tagalog and Iban forms to Malay pelupoh, Javanese plupuh is best attributed to chance.

bamboo sp.

banana sp.

Chance. There is a great temptation to compare Bontok and Ifugaw with Tanjong and KAJA under an etymon *balat, but Ilokano bárat suggests that this would be an error. Also cp. Sebop, Bintulu, Melanau (Mukah), Lara Land Dayak balak/ 'banana'.

bare, of trees

Chance, or borrowing from Malay.

bare, uncovered

This is an example of the extreme lengths Dempwolff (1938) sometimes went to in order to force a comparison semantically when the sound correspondences permitted the reconstruction of a phonemic form. He glossed the Javanese form ‘maize without kernels’, but that is not the gloss in Horne (1974), and I am unable to find the form at all in Pigeaud (1938). Similarly, Futunan kalu-mata does not appear in Moyse-Faurie (1993), and even if it did the semantic distance between this and Tagalog kalót is so great as to render any comparison too speculative to take seriously.

barracuda sp.

Barringtonia:   tree sp.: Barringtonia

basis:   foundation, basis

basket

Resemblance of Hanunóo, Cebuano to the others due to chance. The other items probably spread by borrowing.

basket

basket

basket:   kind of basket

basket pouch

Dempwolff (1938) posited *kanTuŋ ‘Korb, Tasche am Kleid’ (basket, pouch on the clothing). However, as he noted, the last vowel of the Oceanic forms fails to agree with that of his reconstruction. The forms in western Indonesia appear to be loans from Malay which the Fijian, Tongan and Samoan forms resemble by chance.

bathe

Apparently a chance resemblance. Although Old Javanese usuh may contain the root *-seq 'wet; wash', *e is regularly reflected as //o// in all of the Batak languages.

battlefield

be out of breath:   pant, be out of breath

Tempting as it is to accept this as a valid comparison, the sound correspondences simply do not work. The Puyuma vowels disagree with those of the Paiwan and Ibaloy forms, and although the latter two languages appear to show a perfect agreement, Paiwan /s/ reflects *S and Ibaloy /s/ reflects *s, making reconstruction impossible. Like many other bases with initial velar nasal, this one probably is a product of convergent innovation involving the phonestheme ŋ-, widely associated in Austronesian languages with the nasal-oral area (Blust 2003a).

beam

beam, house end

bear, endure

This is an example of the type of comparison that clutters Dempwolff (1938) and distracts attention from the many valid etymologies he recognized.

beat, pound

beat, pound

Dempwolff (1938) used this comparison with Javanese kəwut ‘beat out’ instead of the Sundanese form cited here. However, I am unable to find a Javanese form meeting this description in either Horne (1974) or Pigeaud (1938), and the Tagalog form is both phonologically irregular and semantically deviant, leaving little comparative basis for a reconstruction.

bed

bed, bier

beetle

beetle sp.

begin anew

behind:   rear, back, behind

Aklanon, Hiligaynon, Palawan Batak, Cebuano, Maranao and Sundanese, Old Javanese, Javanese, Balinese form two distinct low-level cognate sets. The similarity of these sets to one another and to Nias furi is attributed to chance.

below:   support from below

bend, bent

bend, curl

Probably chance, although both forms appear to contain the root *-kel 'bend, curl'.

bend, bent

bent

beside, next to

between:   space between earth and sky

bier:   bed, bier

bird sp.

bird:   white bird

birth:   be born, give birth

bite down on

black magic

Malay probably borrowed from Javanese, possibly through the medium of a Tagalog dialect (though Panganiban does not list a cognate form for Standard Tagalog). The resemblance of Tetun to Malay, Javanese and Sasak is attributed to chance.

blanket, coverlet

blood:   stench of fish or blood

The Ngaju Dayak, Malay and Javanese forms are cognate, but probably represent a late innovation in western Indonesia. The resemblance of the Tagalog and Malagasy forms to these is assumed to be a product of chance, and although the South Sulawesi forms appear to be cognate, they point to an etymon with penultimate *e, and so do not permit a clear-cut reconstruction.

blow:   to blow

blow the nose

blowpipe

Despite the rather striking general resemblance of these forns this comparison is phonologically irregular, as is best treated as a product of chance. Dempwolff (1938) posited ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tulup ‘blowpipe’, but PMP *sumpit is a far better candidate for this meaning.

blunt

blunt:   dull, blunt

Based on this comparison Dempwolff (1938) proposed Uraustronesisch *calcal ‘to hack off’.

board, plank

Dempwolff reconstructed *bani(r), and Tsuchida (1976) posits *baNiR/. I regard Saaroa, Tsou, Paiwan and Ngaju Dayak, Malay, Acehnese, Sundanese, Sasak as forming two geographically restricted cognate sets. The resemblance of these sets to one another and to Selaru and Yapese is attributed to chance.

boil, carbuncle

boil:   cook, boil

booming sound

Dempwolff (1938) posited *ketug ‘to beat, pound’ based on a comparison of this Tagalog form with Javanese ketug ‘to beat out’. I am unable to find the latter form in either Horne (1974) or Pigeaud (1938), and have substituted Old Javanese kətug for it. In either case, until further supporting evidence is found this comparison is best treated as a product of chance.

border:   edge, border

Dempwolff (1938) posited *te(m)biŋ ‘edge, bank’, but this is one of the rare comparisons in which he allowed massive irregularity, since the expected Fijian reflex would be **tovi or **tobi, and the Ngaju Dayak form also shows an unexplained irregularity in the first vowel. The remaining forms are best regarded as late innovations in western Indonesia, or as loans from Malay.

bore a hole, drill

born:   be born, give birth

breadfruit (seeded)

Despite its initial appeal this comparison is problematic in at least two ways. First, Philippine languages disagree among one another with regard to the presence or absence of a final glottal stop, suggesting a history of borrowing. Second, given the unexplained discrepancy in number of syllables between Philippine and Oceanic forms the wider comparsion is best treated as a chance resemblance.

break off, chip off

breath exhalation

bright:   shine, bright

I am unable to find Tagalog dalaŋ in this meaning in either Panganiban (1966) or English (1986), and the Samoan form, which appears to refer to the shininess produced by a greasy surface, appears only in Pratt (1984). Dempwolff (1938) proposed ‘Uraustronesisch’ *daDaŋ ‘to shine, be bright’, but without better evidence this comparison is best considered a product of chance.

bring, carry

bring, carry

bring:   take, bring

brother-in-law, sister-in-law

brush:   grass, brush

bully:   to bully

bunch

bundle

bundle

burn

Dempwolff (1938) proposed *segseg ‘to burn’, but the Malagasy form is phonologically irregular, and the semantic connection of the Tagalog and Toba Batak forms is too general to permit a secure inference of cognation.

burst out

Dempwolff (1938) posited ‘Uraustronesisch’ *tela ‘burst open’ (aufbersten). I am unable to find the Tagalog form that he gives in any modern dictionary, and the wider comparison is best attributed to chance.

butterfly