The interest of Englishmen in the Malay language began with the early ventures of the East India Company in the Far East, in the first years of the seventeenth century. It was the language of commerce everywhere east of the Bay of Bengal, and our earliest adventurers found it spoken at the trading ports which they visited. The Portuguese had preceded them by a century, and the Dutch had been a little earlier in the same field. Our countrymen seem to have been indebted to the latter for their first Malay vocabulary. The minutes of the East India Company record how, on the 22d January 1614, “a book of dialogues, heretofore translated into Latin by the Hollanders, and printed with the Malacca tongue, Mr. Hakluyt having now turned the Latin into English, and supposed very fit for the factors to learn, was ordered to be printed before the departure of the ships.”1

At present the use of Malay, as far as Englishmen are concerned, is chiefly confined to the officers of the Colonial Government in the British possessions in the Straits of Malacca and in the native states adjoining them, and to other residents in those parts, and in the Dutch settlements in the East. To these may be added the English communities of Labuan and Sarawak, and merchants, traders, and seamen all over the Eastern Archipelago. The limited extent of our Malay possessions, when they are compared with the magnificent 2 islands which make up Netherlands India, excuse us, no doubt, for the secondary place which we occupy in all researches connected with the language and literature of the Malays. To the Dutch their colonies in the Eastern seas are what our Indian Empire is to us; and with them the study of Malay, Javanese, Kawi, &c., takes the place of Persian, Hindustani, Tamil, Sanskrit, &c., which occupy our civilians in India. The extent and value of Dutch works on Malay subjects is, however, but little known to Englishmen in the East, owing to their general ignorance of the Dutch language. It is not too much to say that any one aiming at a thorough knowledge of the language, literature, and history of the Malay people should commence his task by learning Dutch.

Malay is the language not of a nation, but of tribes and communities widely scattered in the East, and is probably spoken with greatest purity in the states of Kedah and Perak, on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. It is spoken in all the states of the Peninsula, in Sumatra, Sunda, Java, Borneo, Celebes, Flores, Timor, and Timor Laut, the Moluccas, and the Philippines. Traces of it are found among the numerous Polynesian dialects, and in the language of the islanders of Formosa. Siam proper has a large Malay population, descendants mainly of captives taken in war, and the language is therefore in use there in places; it is found also here and there on the coasts and rivers of Anam and Cochin-China. No other language of the Eastern Archipelago is understood over such an extensive area, and it is the common means of communication between the numerous tribes and races of the Malay family whose languages and dialects differ.

Logan supposes that the earliest inhabitants of the Archipelago were tribes of Africo-Indian origin, who peopled the Eastern islands as well as the more accessible portions of the Continent, descendants of whom he recognises in the negro and quasi-negro tribes that are still preserved in some of the mountains of the Malay Peninsula, Siam, and Anam. To these succeeded immigrant tribes from Mid-Asia, by way of 3 the Irawadi, whom Logan designates by the term of the Tibeto-Anam family, all the races and languages from Tibet to Anam being included under it. “By a long-continued influx this family spread itself over the Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Celebes; but its farther progress over the many islands to the north and east appears to have been checked by the older races. It was probably only by slow steps and by settling at many points that it gained a firm footing even in the western islands, and a long period must have elapsed before its tribes became so populous and spread so far into the interior as to enable them to absorb and destroy the earlier occupants.”2 The variety which exists among the languages and dialects in the region affected by these movements is thus accounted for by Logan:— “The languages imported by the Tibeto-Anamese settlers differed as did those of the natives, and the combinations formed in different places from the contact of the two families varied in the proportions of each which entered into them. But the structures of the native tongues had strong affinities amongst themselves, and predominated in all these new combinations.”3

The idea presented by this sketch of the origin of the aboriginal Malay language is that of a mixed dialect, borrowing something from the Tibeto-Anam languages (the influence of which would be more apparent in the western settlements), and gradually approaching the Africo-Indian forms farther east.4 “Lastly,” Logan supposes, “a later Indian influence, belonging to a far more advanced civilisation, flowed in a great stream into the Western Archipelago, and cut off that of the Irawadi, before its linguistic operation had made much progress.”5 It is to this epoch that we must ascribe the introduction of the Sanskrit element into the Malay language.

Malay is mainly dissyllabic, but there are not wanting evidences of a former monosyllabic tendency. The syllable 4 bu, bun, or bung, for instance, occurs in a considerable number of words conveying an idea of roundness:—

Many others might be cited.6

Another characteristic list of words might be made, compounded with the monosyllable tang (which in Sakai and Semang means “hand”), and conveying an idea of seizing or holding.

The history of the Malay people is to be discovered in the language itself, for no authentic records of pre-Muhammadan times exist. Just as an insight into the early history of our own nation may be obtained by analysing the component parts of the English tongue, and assigning to each of the languages which have contributed to make it what it is their due proportion of influence, so, by resolving the Malay 5 language into its separate elements, of which native, Sanskrit, and Arabic are the chief, and by examining the words contributed by each, it is possible to follow with some approach to historical accuracy the successive advances which the Malay people have made on the path of civilisation.

The aboriginal dialect, prior to the admixture of Sanskrit, must have been but the poor vocabulary of men hardly raised above savage life. The purely native element in Malay furnishes all the necessary terms to express the physical objects surrounding men leading a primitive life in the forest, and all that has to do with their food, dwellings, agriculture, fishing, hunting, and domestic affairs.

The use of a Sanskrit word for “plough” seems to record a revolution in agriculture. The primitive cultivation of the Malays was carried on by clearing and burning the hill-sides (a system still largely adopted in native states where land is plentiful and timber valueless), and the cultivation of the wet ricefields of the plains, which necessitates the use of the plough, would thus seem to have been resorted to only after the arrival of the Hindus.

As soon as the analysis reaches moral ideas, or objects requiring some advance in civilisation, it is found that they are expressed by words of foreign origin. These are, for the most part, Sanskrit or Arabic. The latter require no notice here, for they are of comparatively recent introduction. For the most part, they consist of terms incidental to the ethical and religious teaching of the Muhammadans. The Arabic element in Malay is not accurately determinable, for new expressions are constantly being introduced.

A sketch of the Sanskrit element in Malay is all that there is space for here.

A careful classification of the principal Sanskrit words which are found in Malay helps to indicate what must have been the condition of society when the Aryan came into contact with the islanders of Sumatra. It shows, independently of other proof, that Hindu colonisation must have 6 gradually introduced the Malay races to institutions, ideas, pursuits, and wants to which they had hitherto been strangers. Many of the incidents of commerce, most of the metals and precious stones, the pomp and ceremony of royalty, and the use of the elephant, are shown, by the Sanskrit nomenclature employed in describing them, to be of Hindu importation. From this it is not difficult to infer the primitive condition of a people to whom all these things were unknown. So, the Sanskrit names of many weapons indicate a period when the rude weapons of savage Malay tribes—blowpipes, spears, &c.—were supplemented by arms of a more formidable character, for which they were indebted to India. Other groups of words show, independently of other proof, that the Hindu religion was successfully planted among the Malays and flourished for a time, and that the monarchical form of government was introduced in Malay countries by Hindu settlers and rulers.

The word “rulers” is used advisedly, for the theory of Marsden as to the manner of the introduction of Hinduism seems to possess greater claims to general acceptance than that advocated by certain other writers, notably Leyden and Crawfurd. Crawfurd asserted that the Sanskrit words adopted in Malay came originally through the Hindu priesthood, and that the priests through whom this was effected belonged to the Telugu race, this, in his opinion, being the people who, commencing by trading with the Malays, proceeded to partial settlement in their country, and ended by converting them to Hinduism and introducing the language and literature of the Hindus. He entirely discountenances the idea that Sanskrit could have been introduced by a people of whom it was the vernacular language.7 He admits, however, that in Southern India Sanskrit was itself a foreign tongue; that Sanskrit has found its way into Javanese and Malay in a state of comparative purity, and not intermixed with Telugu; and that 7 there is no trace whatever of any extensive settlement of the Telugus in the Malay Archipelago.

Marsden’s contention, on the other hand, points to Gujarat as the quarter from which Hindu civilisation penetrated to the far East, and to conquest as the mode in which the way was cleared for its introduction.8

Before proceeding to classify some of the Sanskrit words which are found in Malay, and to deduce any theories from their presence, it is necessary, in order to avoid misconception, to notice several difficulties which cannot be overlooked.

In the first place, it is not meant to be asserted that the Malays have obtained all the words enumerated further on direct from the people of India. All theories founded upon the presence of Sanskrit words in Malay must apply with equal force to Javanese, which contains a larger proportion of Sanskrit words than Malay. “Sanskrit words are found in greatest purity in the Javanese, and next to it in the Malay, their corruption increasing as we recede from Java and Sumatra.”9 It may be assumed, therefore, that in addition to the influence which Hinduism exerted among the Malays of 8 Sumatra by means of direct intercourse with India, there was also a second source from which the Malays derived a great portion of their Hindu nomenclature, namely, the ancient Hindu kingdoms of Java.10

These remarks may be illustrated by reference to the fourth column of the lists of words which follow.

Again, some of the Sanskrit words in the following lists are synonyms merely, there being native or Arabic words, or both, in common use to express the same object.

In some instances, too, the words quoted are not often heard in the colloquial dialect, but occur in books to which in many cases they have been transplanted from Javanese romances.

All these circumstances seriously modify the possibility of drawing general conclusions from an analysis of the body of Sanskrit vocables found in Malay. The questions to be decided seem to be (1) whether it is possible that such a mass of terms for common objects (for they are by no means confined to words incident to the Hindu religion) could have been imported into Malay by any means except by oral communication with a Sanskrit-speaking people; (2) supposing 9 that this could have been effected through some later Indian dialect, itself largely tinged with Sanskrit (as the Latin words in English came to us with the Norman speech), what dialect was this? Telugu, as Crawfurd thinks, Gujarati, to which Marsden inclines, or what?

It is in order to contribute to the settlement of such questions as these that a classification of some of the Sanskrit terms in Malay has been attempted in this Introduction.11 It is hoped that the subject may attract the attention of those more competent to deal with it, and that the researches of Sanskrit scholars may facilitate a decision which there is no pretension to pronounce here.

The centre of Hindu influence in Malay states would seem to have been the court. From the governing classes the use of Sanskrit expressions would gradually spread among the people. To this day there are certain Sanskrit words which are applied to royalty alone, there being native equivalents when the non-privileged classes are intended. The words putra and putrî afford an instance in point. Meaning simply “son” and “daughter” in Sanskrit, they have, from the fact of Sanskrit nomenclature having been affected at Malay courts, come to mean “prince” and “princess,” and are applied only to the sons and daughters of rajas.

At the chief seats of Hindu government, there must have been Brahmans conversant with the sacred writings, whose teaching would gradually be the means of introducing a taste for Hindu learning and literature. Bacha, to read (from bach, to speak), is Sanskrit, but tulis, to write, is a native word,12 and surat, a writing, is Arabic. Language, therefore, in this instance does not throw much light on the progress made by the Malays in the art of writing in the pre-Muhammadan stage of their history. Rock-inscriptions found in Province Wellesley and Singapore prove, however, that at 10 some remote period an ancient Indian character was known on the Peninsula,13 though it was probably confined to religious purposes.

Crawfurd, writing in 1852, stated that Malay can be written or spoken without the least difficulty, without a word of Sanskrit or Arabic, and described the foreign elements in Malay as “extrinsic and unessential.”14 But several words of the first necessity are Sanskrit. It would be difficult to speak Malay intelligibly, while avoiding the use of the relative pronouns yang (Sansk. yas, ya, yat, who, which) and mana (Sansk. mâna, measure), or of the common auxiliary sudah (Sansk. çuddha,15 pure, acquitted), which denotes the past tense. A long list might be made of common words not included in any of the following groups, which are almost pure Sanskrit, such as bawa, to bring (vaha, bearing, carrying); kata, to say (kath, to tell, talk); biasa, accustomed (abhyâsa, reflection); langkah, to step, stride (langh, to stride over); kelahi, to fight (kalaha, quarrel); and niala, to blaze, to burn (jval). Nor is the influence of Sanskrit in Malay confined to words which have been adopted in comparative purity. An extension of the sphere of research reveals whole groups of Malay words which seem to be formed from some Sanskrit root, and to retain to some extent its signification. Thus the Sanskrit root ju (to push on, impel) may perhaps be detected in such words as juwang, to rush against; jungur, prominent, a beak; jungang, prominent (of teeth); juring, sharp, pointed; jurus, to pull, course, direction; juluk, to thrust upwards; julir, a kind of harpoon; julur, to wag, to wriggle; &c.

Ap is a common termination of Malay words, e.g., tangkap, to seize; chakap, to speak; silap, to mistake, &c. The presence of the Sanskrit root âp (to attain, obtain) is not indeed to be assumed in every case, but it is difficult to resist the conviction 11 that it does form a part of many Malay derivations. Dapat, to obtain; rapat, to approach; asap, smoke (cf. vyâpta); awap, steam; tangkap, to seize, grasp; alap (Jav.), to take; are instances which, among others, might be cited.

Gal (Sansk., to drop, to distil, percolate, to fall) is another root which seems to enter into the composition of Malay words, e.g., tanggal, to fall off, to drop out; tinggal, to leave, forsake; tunggal, solitary; panggal, to chop off, a portion chopped off. Compare also gali, to dig; tenggalam, to sink; tugal, to sow rice by putting seeds into holes made with a sharp stick; galah, a pole; gala-gala, pitch.

If it be correct to assign a Sanskrit origin to all or any of these words, they belong to a much earlier epoch than the comparatively pure Sanskrit words, the importation of which into Malay is the subject now under discussion.

The presence of Sanskrit words in the Malay language was first remarked by Sir William Jones,16 and the subject received more attention at the hands of Marsden, who gives a short list of fifteen words, “taken, with little pains in the selection, from a Malayan dictionary.”17 Many of the Sanskrit words are, as Marsden observes, “such as the progress of civilisation must soon have rendered necessary, being frequently expressive of the feelings of the mind, or denoting those ordinary modes of thought which result from the social habits of mankind, or from the evils that tend to interrupt them.” This assertion might have been put in more forcible terms had it occurred to the author to include not only words expressive of thought and feelings, but even some signifying natural objects, though doubtless most of these are expressed by aboriginal words. Hari, day, is clearly identical with the Sanskrit hari, “the sun,” which is also used as a name of Vishnu or Krishna. Mata-hari, the sun (Malay), is thus “the 12 eye of Hari,” and is a compound formed of the native word mata and the Sanskrit hari. Halilintar, a thunderbolt, seems to be compounded similarly of hari and lontar (to hurl), “hurled by Hari.” Here the r has been softened into l. The Sanskrit kapala has almost entirely superseded the use of the old native word ulu or hulu, the head; the latter, however, is found in composition with a Sanskrit word in the substantive hulubalang, a war-chief, from hulu, head, and bala, an army.

The extent to which the Malays are indebted to Sanskrit for words to express the human body and members is shown in the following list:—

Time and its division and measurement have supplied a number of Sanskrit terms to the Malay language, most of 13 which are so necessary in everyday life that it is difficult to conceive the poverty of a dialect which contained no words to express them. The following list contains the greater number of them:—

Another group of Sanskrit words found in Malay is that comprising articles of commerce, weights and measures, &c. Their presence suffices without other evidence to show that for their knowledge of the commercial value of many products the East Indian islanders were indebted to traders from Hindustan, who, indeed, probably introduced not only the names of, but the use of, their weights and measures. Buah pala, the Malay phrase for the “nutmeg,” is in strictness a pleonasm, for phala signifies “fruit” in Sanskrit, as buah does in Malay.

TERMS OF COMMERCE.

Many of the metals and most of the precious stones are known to the Malays by their Sanskrit names, even those which are found in Malay countries.

The implements, utensils, instruments, &c., the names of which, if not the things themselves, the Malay races have 16 borrowed from their Indian conquerors and rulers, are as follows:—

The terms of adulation common in India in the mouths of inferiors addressing superiors have no equivalents in Malay. It is noticeable, however, that some of the most ordinary Malay phrases of politeness are Sanskrit. Tâbek (J. and S. tabé; Bat. santabi; Mak. tabeya; D. tabi; Tag. and Bis. tabi; Tag. santabi, to show respect), which corresponds to the Indian salaam in communications between Europeans and Malays, 17 means properly “pardon,” and is derived from the Sanskrit kshantavya, excusable; sîla, to sit cross-legged20 (the respectful attitude indoors), is the Sanskrit çîl, to meditate, to worship; and sîla, a Malay term of politeness, which in some respects answers to our “if you please,” but which also means “to invite,” has its origin in the Sanskrit word çîla, good conduct, moral practice. The same language, too, supplies a considerable number of words denoting family and relationship:—

The few astronomical terms known to the Malays have been borrowed either from Sanskrit or Arabic, the former supplying the following:—

To these may be added Râhû (Sansk. Râhu, a deity to whom eclipses are ascribed) and Kedû (Sansk. Ketu, the mythological name of the descending node, represented as a headless demon), monsters who are supposed by the Malays to cause eclipses by swallowing the moon. To denote the points of the compass the Malays have native, Sanskrit, and Arabic terms. Utâra (uttara),21 the north, and daḳsina (dakshiṇa), the south, are Sanskrit words; and paḳsina, the north, has evidently been coined by Malays in imitation of daḳsina.

The elephant is most generally known all over the Archipelago by its Sanskrit name gajah. Sanskrit terms are also used to signify the driver of an elephant and several articles used in connection with this animal. From these circumstances we may probably conclude, with Crawfurd, that the 19 art of training and domesticating elephants was first learned by the Malays from natives of India.22

The words of command used by elephant-drivers in the Malay peninsula appear, however, to be adapted mainly from the Siamese, and it is from this people that the Malays of the continent have acquired much of their modern knowledge of the art of capturing, subduing, and training the elephant. The names of animals, birds, &c., indicate, as might be expected, that while most of the varieties known to the Malays are indigenous, there are some species which have been imported, or which, belonging to other countries, are known by name only in the Archipelago. The word morga, (mṛiga) and satwâ (sattva),23 both meaning “an animal,” are Sanskrit, and if the commoner word benâtang is derived, as seems possible, from the Sanskrit vana, forest, there is no purely native generic term to signify a beast or animal. While, therefore, 20 the early Malay tribes had names for all the animals domesticated by them, as well as those which they encountered in their forests, it was not until the period of their intercourse with more civilised races from India that they learned to generalise and to comprehend the brute creation under one term. The following Sanskrit words for animals, &c., occur in Malay:—

Perhaps the Malay word harîmau (Kw. rimong; Bat. arimo, tiger-cat; D. harimaung, panther), a tiger, may have been formed from Hari (Krishna or Vishnu) and mṛiga (an animal). Words similarly compounded with mṛiga (Malay morga) are not uncommon in Sanskrit, e.g., Kṛishṇa-mṛiga (the black antelope), mahâ-mṛiga (an elephant).25 The terms in use for “horse” and “sheep” seem to indicate that those animals were first brought to Malay countries from India. Kûda, horse (Kw. and S. kuda), is derived by Crawfurd from ghora (Hindi), by others from kudra (Tamul). Bîri-bîri (sheep) is said to be borrowed from the Hindi bher, which is itself derived from the Sanskrit bheḍa, a ram, or from bhîru (Sansk.), a goat. Certain fabulous birds and reptiles which belong to the domain of Hindu mythology have their places also in Malay folk-lore; such as garuḍa,26 the eagle of Vishnu, and Jaṭâyu (Malay jintâyu), a fabulous vulture; chandrawâsi, a name given by Malays to a fabulous bird which is heard but never seen, is also evidently of Sanskrit origin. To these nâga, a dragon, may be added (J., S., Bat., Mak., Bu., and D. naga).

The vegetable kingdom supplies a long list of trees, plants, and flowers which are known to the Malays by Sanskrit names. Some of these are closely connected with another group of words to be noticed presently, namely, those which belong to the department of religion. The use of sweet-smelling flowers is a noticeable feature in the religious worship of the Hindus, and the fact that many flowers held by them to be sacred to the worship of particular gods are called by Malays by the same names which they bear in the temples of India, is a remarkable example of an historical lesson latent in words. It points to the fact, abundantly proved by other evidence, that Brahmanism once held sway where it has long been superseded by the faith of Islam, and that words which have no special significance for the modern Muhammadan Malay were fraught with mystic solemnity for his distant ancestors.

In many cases, indeed, the Sanskrit names have been applied by the Malays to different plants from those designated by the same expressions in India. In other cases, names unknown in classical Sanskrit, but obviously compounded of Sanskrit words, have been given by the Malays or Javanese. The common native Malay term for “flower” is bûnga; sâri (Javanese sari, Sansk. kesara) and puspa (Sansk. pushpa) have been borrowed from India.

Pâlas, palâsa, and palâsang are Malay names for trees of different kinds, not one of which corresponds botanically with the Sanskrit palâça (Butea frondosa, a tree which is held by Hindus to be peculiarly venerable and holy). The preceding list affords several illustrations of a similar misuse of terms. To it might be added several words borrowed from other Indian languages, such as nânas, pine-apple (Hind. ananas), bilimbing (Tamul bilimbi), &c., &c.30

Marsden has remarked on the number of Sanskrit words expressive of the feelings and emotions of the human mind which occur in Malay, and Arabic also furnishes several. Either their synonymous native terms have been lost, or the Malays, at the period of Indian influence, had not reached that stage of civilisation when man commences to analyse and name the emotions he experiences and sees experienced by others. Good and bad qualities, in the same way and for the same reason, seem often to bear Sanskrit appellations. The following list does not profess to be complete:—

Inter-tribal warfare is usually characteristic of savage tribes, and an ample vocabulary of words connected with fighting and the art of war may be looked for in a language like Malay. But though the native terms are numerous, many have also been furnished by Sanskrit, among which may be instanced the following:—

Among the Malays the titles of royalty and nobility, and many of the terms in use for the paraphernalia of the court, are Sanskrit. Logan supposes the native Malayan institutions to have been of a “mixed patriarchal and oligarchical” form.32 Crawfurd was not satisfied that the terms alluded to proved that Hinduism had exercised much influence on Malayan government;33 but when to these is added a long catalogue of words connected with law, justice, and administration, it will probably be apparent that Indian influence has played an important part in moulding the institutions of the Malays. The following are some of the principal titles, &c., in use about the court of a Malay Raja:—

The incidents of Asiatic government have caused the introduction into the Malay language of such terms as the following, among others:—

The groups of words remaining to be noticed are those connected with the Hindu religion, and with the demon-worship or spirit-worship, which was the earliest form which the religious sentiment took among the Malay tribes.35 After the conversion of the Malays to the faith of Muhammad, the traditions of Hinduism were gradually confused with the aboriginal superstitions, and neither have been entirely obliterated by the cult which superseded them. The belief in the power of malignant spirits to cause misfortune, sickness, and death is still strong among the Malays, whose pawangs or medicine-men claim to be able to propitiate demons by spells, prayers, and offerings. These men frequently invoke benevolent spirits by the names of Rama, Vishnu, and other Hindu deities, in complete ignorance that they are Hindu,36 to counteract the evil influences of malevolent demons. Practices of this sort prevail most generally in places remote from Arab influence.

The Malays did not altogether discard the theological terms of Hinduism when they adopted a new religion. For instance, puâsa,37 abstinence, fasting (Sansk. upavâsa), is used to express the annual fast of the Muhammadans during the month Ramzan. Heaven and hell also retain their Sanskrit names.

The following are some of the principal theological terms which have passed from Sanskrit into Malay:—

A remarkable instance of the extent to which the Malay language has been enriched by Aryan terms is to be found in their national or racial name. The origin of the word Malayu (the native word from which we obtain our “Malay”) has been made the subject of some discussion by several authors. Some are disposed to trace it to the Sanskrit word malaya, while others prefer to regard it as a purely native word. These views are summarised in the following extract from the introduction to the Malay Grammar of the Abbé Favre:—

“Some authors, and particularly Dr. Leyden, whose authority in this matter is of great weight, derive the word malayu from the Tamil malé, which means ‘mountain,’ whence malaya, ‘chain of mountains,’ a word applied in Sanskrit to the Western Ghauts.

“Marsden asserts that this opinion, being founded upon a mere resemblance of sound between the Sanskrit word malaya and the name of the Malay people, is not sufficient to justify this derivation.40

“Nevertheless the opinion of Dr. Leyden has continued to command belief, and has been regarded as not altogether unfounded by M. Louis de Backer, who has recently published a work on the Indian Archipelago.41

“Another theory, which has the support of Werndly,42 is so far simple and rational that it seeks the etymology of this word in the traditions of the Malays and in books written by themselves. Thus, in a work which has the greatest authority among them, and which is entitled Sulālates-salātin, or Sejārat malāyu, the following passage occurs:—

“‘There is in the island of Sumatra an ancient kingdom called Palembang, opposite to the island of Banka; a river flows there which is still called Tatang, into the upper portion of which another river falls, after having watered the spurs of 36 the mountain Maha Meru (which Malay princes claim as the cradle of their origin); the tributary is called Melayu, or Malayu.’ The meaning of this word is ‘to flow quickly’ or ‘rapidly,’ from layu, which in Javanese as well as in the dialect of Palembang signifies ‘swift, rapid;’ it has become laju, melaju, in Malay by the conversion of ي into ج, a change which is by no means rare in Malay, as it may be seen in يهوري and جهوري,43 from the Sanskrit ayuta and yodi, and in جوري jehudi, from the Arabic جوت yehudi, &c.

“Now the Malays, an essentially nautical people, are in the habit of settling along the banks of rivers and streams, whence it comes that a great number of their towns have taken the names of the rivers on or near which they are situated, such as Johor, Pahang, &c. In this way ‘the country situated near the river of which the current is rapid,’ Sungei Malayu, would take the name of Tanah Malayu, and the inhabitants of this country (governed in those times by a chief named Demang Lebar Daun) that of Orang Malayu, just as the inhabitants of Johor and Pahang are called Orang Johor, Orang Pahang; and their language is called Bahasa Orang Malayu or Bahasa Malayu.

“The name of Malayu thus applied to the people and to the language spread with the descendants of Demang Lebar Daun, whose son-in-law, Sang Sapurba, became king of Menangkabau or Pagar Ruwang, a powerful empire in the interior of Sumatra. A grandson of Demang Lebar Daun, named Sang Mutiaga, became king of Tanjong Pura. A second, Sang Nila Utama, married the daughter of the queen of Bentan, and immediately founded the kingdom of Singapore, a place previously known as Tamassak. It was a descendant of his, Iskander Shah, who founded the empire of Malacca, which extended over a great part of the peninsula; and, after the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese, became the empire of 37 Johor. It is thus that a portion of the Indian Archipelago has taken the name of Tanah Malayu, ‘Malay country.’

“One of the granddaughters of Demang Lebar Daun was married to the Batara or king of Majapahit, a kingdom which extended over the island of Java and beyond it; and another was married to the Emperor of China, a circumstance which contributed not a little to render the name of Malayu or Malay known in distant parts.”44

This theory requires that we should suppose that a word of wide application, which is known wherever Malays have established themselves, is, in fact, a Malay word disguised in a form found only in Javanese and the dialect of Palembang. If the arguments adduced in support of it are to apply, we must first of all admit the very doubtful historical accuracy of the Sejarah Malayu, from which they are drawn.

There is a Malay word, layu, which means “faded,” “withered,” and it is only the exigency of finding a word applicable to a river that makes it necessary to look for a derivation in laju, swift. In this or some kindred sense the word laju is found in Javanese, Sundanese, and Dayak; but why it should give its name, in the form of layu, to a river in Sumatra, and thence to the whole Malay race, is not very obvious. A river named in consequence of its swift current would be called by Malays Sungei Laju, not Sungei Malaju. Even if the derivation of Malayu from melaju had the support of the Malays themselves, Malay etymologies are not often safe guides. Not much, for instance, can be said in favour of the fanciful derivation of Sumatra from semut raya, “large ant,” which is given by the author of the Sâjarah Malayu.45

It is impossible to treat the story of Sang Sapurba, the first Malay raja, as historical. The name, “Maha-Meru,” sufficiently shows that we are upon mythological ground. The story is as follows:— Three young men descend from the heavens of Indra (ka indra-an) upon the mountain Maha-Meru, 38 on the slopes of which they meet two women who support themselves by planting hill-padi. Supernatural incidents mark the advent of the strangers. The very corn in the ground puts forth ears of gold, while its leaves become silver and its stalks copper. One of the new-comers rides on a white bull, and carries a sword called Chora (Sansk. kshura, a razor) samandang-kini. They are received by the natives of the district (Palembang) and made rajas. He who rides the bull becomes king of Menangkabau, and the other two receive minor kingdoms.

It is not difficult to recognise here certain attributes of the god Çiva, with which, by a not unnatural confusion of ideas, Muhammadan Malays, the recipients of the old traditions, have clothed their first raja.

Maha-Meru, or Sumeru, on which are the abodes of the gods, is placed by Hindu geographers in the centre of the earth. Malaya is mentioned in the Puranas as a mountain in which the Godavari and other rivers take their rise. The white bull of Sang Sapurba is evidently the vahan of Çiva, and the name of the sword bears a close resemblance to manda-kini, the name given in heaven to the sacred Ganges, which springs from the head of Çiva. Most of the incidents in the story, therefore, are of purely Hindu origin, and this gives great probability to the conjecture which assigns a Sanskrit source to the word Malayu. The Straits of Malacca abound with places with Sanskrit names. Not to speak of Singha-pura, there are the islands of Langka-wi and Lingga and the towns of Indragiri and Indrapura, &c. Sumeru (in Java), Madura, Ayuthia (in Siam), and many other names, show how great Indian influences have been in past times in the far East. May it not be, therefore, that Malaya or Malayu46 was the name by which the earliest Sanskrit-speaking 39 adventurers from India denominated the rude tribes of Sumatra and the peninsula with whom they came in contact, just as Jawi is the name given to Malays by the Arabs, the term in either case being adopted by the people from those to whom they looked up with reverence as their conquerors or teachers? According to this view, the introduction of a river, Malayu, into the story of Sang Sapurba is an ex post facto way of explaining the name, inserted with this object by the native author of the Sâjarah Malayu.

If it be granted that the story of Sang Sapurba is mythological, it becomes unnecessary to follow any attempt to show that the name of Malayu received additional celebrity from the marriages of granddaughters of Demang Lebar Daun with the Batara of Majapahit and the Emperor of China! The contemptuous style in which Malay, Javanese, and other barbarian rajas are spoken of by ancient Chinese historians leaves but slender probability to the legend that an Emperor of China once took a Malay princess as his wife.47

From this subject it is natural to proceed to another disputed etymology, namely, the origin of the word Jawi, which is often used by the Malays for the word Malayu in speaking of their language and written character, bahasa jawi meaning Malay language, and surat jawi a document written in Malay. It is not necessary to go into all the various conjectures on the subject, which will be found in the works of Marsden, Crawfurd, Favre, and others.

Jawi is a word of Arab origin, and is formed in accordance with the rules of Arabic grammar from the noun Jawa, Java. Just as from Makah, Meccah, is derived the word Makk-i, of or belonging to Meccah, so from Jawa, Java, we get Jawi, of or belonging to Java. When this name was first applied to Malays, the Arabs had not an accurate knowledge of the ethnography of the Eastern Archipelago. Without very strict regard to ethnical divergencies, they described all the brown 40 races of the eastern islands under the comprehensive and convenient term Jawi, and the Malays, who alone among those races adopted the Arabic alphabet, adopted also the term in speaking of their language and writing.48

As in Malay there are no inflexions to denote change of number, gender, or person, the connection of Jawi with Jawa is quite unknown to the Malays, just as the second part of the word senamaki (sena-maki, senna of Meccah49) is not suspected by them to have any reference to the sacred city. There is a considerable Malay and Javanese colony in Meccah,50 where all are known to the Meccans indiscriminately as Jawi.

Marsden devotes several pages of the introduction to his Malay Grammar to a discussion as to the origin and use of the expression orang di-bawah angin, people below the wind, applied by Malays to themselves, in contradistinction to orang di-atas angin, people above the wind, or foreigners from the West. He quotes from De Barros and Valentyn, and from several native documents, instances of the use of these expressions, but confesses his inability to explain their origin. Crawfurd quotes these terms, which he considers to be “native,” and remarks that they are used by the Malays alone of all the tribes in the Archipelago. A much more recent writer characterises these terms as “Noms dont on ignore encore la vraie signification.”51

The expression is not of Malay origin, but is a translation 41 into that language of an Arabic phrase. Instances of its use occur in the “Mohit” (the ocean), a Turkish work on navigation in the Indian seas, written by Sidi al Chelebi, captain of the fleet of Sultan Suleiman the Legislator, in the Red Sea. The original was finished at Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, in the last days of Muharram, A.H. 962 (A.D. 1554). It enumerates, among others, “the monsoons below the wind, that is, of the parts of India situated below the wind,” among which are “Malacca, Shomotora, Tanassari, Martaban, and Faiku (Pegu).”52

Malay is written in a character which has been borrowed from a foreign literature in comparatively modern times, and which but imperfectly suits its sounds. With the introduction of the Muhammadan religion, the Malays adopted the Arabic alphabet, modified to suit the peculiarities of their language.

In Malay literary compositions there is great diversity in the manner of spelling many words. The accentuation of the spoken dialect differs so much from Arabic, that it is difficult, even for native writers, to decide when to write the long vowels and when to leave them out. This is the point in which diversity is most common.

Every European author who writes Malay in the Roman character has to decide on what system he intends to render the native language by means of our alphabet. The Malay alphabet has thirty-four letters, so it is obvious that ours will not accurately correspond with it. It is open to him, if he wishes to obtain a symbol to correspond with every letter of the Malay alphabet, to employ various means to denote those letters for which we have no equivalents; or he may dismiss the native alphabet from his mind altogether, and determine to write the language phonetically. In a language, however, 42 which abounds in Sanskrit and Arabic words, he should, of course, avoid the adoption of any system of spelling which would disguise the true origin of words of foreign derivation.

Muhammadans from India or Persia introduced their own method of writing among the Malays. They wrote Malay in their own character (to the gradual supersession of any native alphabet that may have previously existed), and this became the alphabet of the Malays.

It is now our turn to write Malay in our character. Is it sufficient to do this in our own way, as those did who introduced the Perso-Arabic alphabet, or must we also have regard to the mode of spelling adopted by the latter?

In an elementary work like the present, it does not seem to be necessary to burden the student with a system of transliteration. The native character is not employed in this manual, and there is, therefore, all the less occasion for using special means for denoting peculiar native letters. It will be found that the mode of spelling Malay words adopted by Marsden has been followed in the main.53 In this Introduction the long vowels (that is, the vowels which are written in full in the native character) are marked with a circumflex accent, but it has not been thought necessary to adopt this system in the body of the work.

Sometimes vowels will be found marked with the short sign, ˘. This is only for the purpose of assisting the student in pronunciation, and does not represent any peculiarity in the native character.

The vowels are to be sounded in general as in the languages of the Continent of Europe. Final k is mute.

The correct pronunciation of Arabic words is aimed at by Malays of education, and the European student should get the right sounds of the vowel ain and of the more peculiar Arabic consonants explained to him.