A Dictionary of the Sunda language/Preface
PREFACE.
It will be necessary to say a few words regarding the orthography followed in the following dictionary, and the sources from which information has been derived in making the compilation of the work.
That system has been adhered to, as nearly as possible, which has been followed by Marsden in his Malayan Dictionary and Grammar, which is explained in the prefaces to those works, and which was originally laid down by Sir William Jones for oriental languages. The chief features of which for facility of reference are now here repeated.
The Vowels have therefore the power which is generally ascribed to them on the Continent of Europe.
A is generally sounded full, as in French, Italian, Dutch and other languages of the Continent of Europe, and as in the English words hard, ballast, hammer; but in many words the pronunciation is not broader than in harm, farm, barn, man. Examples in the Dutch are balie, hamer, ballast—and band, hand, rand and man.
In a few cases where the a has an unexpected stress, it has been distinguished by ā, as in Tābĕng, to draw a distinction with Tăbĕng, which though only slightly differing in sound has a different meaning.
A is not, under any circumstances to be pronounced as in the English words Paper, nation, fate, where it usurps the province of the second vowel in every other language that employs the Roman alphabet.
E has been invariably accented é or ĕ, which was necessary to avoid confusion. é is pronounced as in French été, épé; the English bet, lead, send, and the first e in better, letter, seven—or in the first e of the Dutch words ketel, ketter, beler, and in ketting. As ĕ in the final e in the English better, harder, and in herd, and in the Dutch words berde, derde, zerk.
I as in the Italian long i, or as the English ee in been, seen, tree, green, and e in he, she, be, or in the English pill, still, will. The long English sound of i in wine, fine, high, is not that of a simple vowel, but of diphthong ai. Our sound of i is heard in the Dutch words bidden, bril, brigade, pil, pilaar, rilling.
O as in English no, so, port, moment, and Dutch boter, bos, bot, pot.
U is to be sounded as in rule, ruin, obtrude, or with less risk of uncertainly, as the long u, of the Italians and Germans, the oe of the Dutch, the ou of the French, and the English oo in the words moon, stoop, soon. Above all it must not be confounded with the dipthongal sound of the English u in the words mute, acute, puny.
Diphthongs are ai, au, ĕu, oi or oy and ay.
Ai is sounded as the English long i in pike, line, mine; or in the French aile, baille, caillou. It is the same as in the Dutch interjection ai, and as heard in the first part of abjert, bajonet.
Au is pronounced like English ow, in how, cow, as jauh, bau, baur. And as Dutch auw in kauw, lauwcer.
Eu is of very frequent occurrence, but is not heard in Malay. It is also not an English sound, but approaches nearest to pewter, lewd, dew, deuteronomy, duke. It is a common Dutch sound as heard in peuteren, peul, beuren, beurs, beurt, and in French in tailleur, leur, fleur.
Oi is not of frequent occurrence and is pronounced as in English hoist, moist, choice, and French goītre, royal. The ai and oi often assume the shape of ay and oy in the Composition of words when followed by another syllable or letter barai, to pay baraya, relations, poi, a day poyok, to jeerat.
It will be frequently found that two Similar vowels come together, separated by a hyphen—to show that they must each have a distinct sound. This cansesan hiatus which is of very frequent occurrence in the Sunda, as ba-al, sĕu-ĕur, ho-ok, ju-uh, dé-ét, ti-is.
Consonants. B is pronounced as in English and Dutch bend, bib, babble, Tub or bebloed, bek, bang.
C occurs only in ch which is pronounced as English church, chance, chest, torch, detached. The Dutch language does not contain this sound, and it is consequently represented by them by tj, which does not convey the Sound even according to the Dutch use of the letter, as j with them has the power of English y; It rather conveys the force of the French letters so applied. It is represented by the German Tsch.
D is pronounced as in English did, added, and in Dutch, dak, dood.
F occurs only rarely in words from the Arabic, when it has generally been converted into p, as f is a sound which the Malays, Javanese and Sundaese are unable to pronounce. Thus fikir to think, becomes pikir, fasal becomes pasal.
G is always hard as in game, gay, get, give, go, gun; and never soft as in gestūre, giant, wage, for which j is uniformly employed. Care must be taken to always sound this letter according to the examples here given, as it is by no means the gutteral Dutch g in geld, geven, goot, nor the French g in gentil, genou, genre.
H is the aspirate, and may be pronounced as in the English words have, hold, high, and Dutch hard, haring, haver.
J is a character whose power in the English Alphabet is of great utility in expressing all oriental sounds, and is to be pronounced as in jury, justice, jew, also as dg in judge, pledge, lodging, and as g in gem, gentry, sage.
Having in the northern languages of Europe the Sound of the English y. the Dutch write the words wherein it occurs with dj, which for the reasons above assigned under c for tj, rather express a French than an original Dutch Sound. Thus where I have written janji, the Dutch would write djandji, to give the Sound; or would pronounce janji as yanyi, which is often made ridiculous by the Malay example of jagah bai-bai jangan jatuh, which a Netherlander, fresh from Europe and unacquainted with the Malay language invariably pronounces yaga bai-bai yangan yatuh. So also the Dutch call the Island which we inhabit yava, which the natives call jawa, to express which according to his own indeas of the power of letters, a Hollander would have to write djawa.
K has a uniform sound as in king, book, kick, kettle, and in Dutch as koning, kok, ketel, koken, and as will be observed, 1034 out of the 9308 words in the Dictionary, begin with this hard consonant so pronounced. The English c with this power of k has not been made use of.
L is sounded as in land, loll, lily in English, and as lang, lui, lakker in Dutch.
M as in man, maim, mummy in English, und meel, meer, mom in Dutch.
N as in noun, no, linen, nose in English, and as na, naar, nanacht, neef in Dutch.
The combination of letters ng is to be sounded as in sing, ringing, longing in English, and zang, bang, tang, boring, hangen in Dutch. A great many words in Sunda begin with this ng, the pronunciation of which to a beginner is rather difficult and perhaps can only be overcome by a little practice from hearing the natives pronounce it. Thus in ngang'ah to gape, the apostrope after the second ng' shows that the word must be prounced ngang-ah, and not ngan-gah. The ng being in reality one letter sound, for which no European language perhaps possesses an appropriate letter. The apostrophe ' has been inserted wherever doubt was likely to arise as to pronunciation.
P as in past, pope, pippin in English, and as pak, pal, pap, pot in Dutch.
Q is not used in this dictionary, but the power of the English Q is represented by kw or kua.
R sounds as in run, river, barrow, in English, or rot, rand, boor in Dutch.
S as in sun, past, suspect in English, and sober, som, simpel in Dutch.
Sh does not occur in Sunda; the Arabic or Persian words where it ought to occur being softened by the elision of the h thus shah, king becomes sah.
T as in tame, tent, tatter, in English, und teen, toe, tor, tot in Dutch, and never sibilant as in patience, nation. The English sound th does not occur in the language.
V does not occur in any Sunda word.
W is a very common sound, the same as in English wall, weat, reward, or in the Dutch wakker, wand, wild.
X does not occur; its sound would be represented by ks, as kraksan, a place in the Residency Basuki should never be written kraxan.
Y is to be sounded as in yam, yet, yore in English, and not as the Dutch y which has the power of ai. The Dutch represent this letter by j and jong, jood are by them pronounced as yong, yood.
Z does not occur, and when occurring in Arabic words is replaced by s, as the holy well at Mecca, zamzam is called samsam.
The great simplicity of the construction of words and sentences forms the chief difficulty in the language. The nouns are not declined—the verbs are not conjugated, but are modified in meaning by prefixes and suffixes. The most usual prefixes are ka, mi, pa, pang, pi, ba, bĕ, sa, sĕ, ta, tĕ, and suffixes an, eŭn, kĕn.
Thus hadé is good, hadéan, is to make good, to mend; pihadéanĕun, is something which must be made good or mended. sĕuri, to laugh, langhing; pisĕurian and pisĕurianeun something to laugh about, a laughable subject. dua, two, midua, to divide, to part in two. kolot, old, pangkolotan, the most old, the oldest. gĕbug, to strike, pangĕbug, a bludgeon, a stick to strike with. bĕlĕdog, the report of a gun or fire works. Bĕbĕlĕdogan, squibs or crackers. ténjo, to look from a far, tĕtenjoan, a distant view. Kayu, wood, kakayon, timber in general, varieties of trees. Verbs are formed from substantives and adjectives by prefixing nga, as hidi, a fish spear, ngahidi, to kill fish with such a spear. hĕurap, a fishing net, ngahĕurap to take fish with a net. gantang, a rice measure, ngagantang, to receive rice by measure. When the word so used in composition is an adjective, it has generally suffixed an, as hadé. good, gahadéan, to make good. lémbong cleared away, ngalémbongan, to clear up or put in order a bit of ground or a garden.
To form a plural the Sundas like the Malays duplicate the substantives and say imah-imah, houses, jalan-jalan, roads, tuan-tuan, gentlemen, mandor-mandor, heads of villages, gunung-gunung, mountains.
Verbs and adjectives are made plural by a peculiar process of lengthening the word in its middle, for which purpose the letter r, and sometimes l, is generally associated with a cognate vowel of the word with which it comes in contract, and which R or l and its cognate vowel is generally duplicated, unless the consonant R or L already occurs in the crude and singular from of the word. Thus kuda hadé a good horse; kuda hararadé, good horses. hadéan, to make good anything, hararadéan, to make good several objects. Kayu panjang, a long bit of wood, kayu pararanjang, long logs of wood. Batu panas, a hot stone, batu pararanas, hot stones. Jélĕma paih, a dead man, jélĕma pararaih, the people are all dead. Buwah buruk, a rotten fruit, buwah bururuk, the fruit is all rotten. tong bochor, a leaking tub, tong bololochor, the tubs are all leaking. Boro, to go to wards (if one person who goes), bororo, to go to wards in a crowd, several persons going towards. Tarik kayu iyo, drag this piece of wood, tararik kayu na, drag those logs of wood.
When the word begins with a vowel, that vowel with r after it, is prefixed to the word which has to be made plural, as chai na éksél, the rivulet is very scanty, chai na di gunung itu éréksél amat, the rivulets from those hills have very little water in them. Gunung-gunung ururugan, the mountains have shot down from urug.
The initial consonants L and R in adjectives are also frequently duplicated to from a plural. This duplicated consonant is then followed by the vowel a, and not by the vowel which followed it in the crude form of the word, as luhur high gives laluhur, when speaking of several. Gunung luhur a high mountain, gunung laluhur, high mountains. Rowas, startled gives rarowas; Rikĕs, rarikĕs; rugi, rarugi. Thus as if only the consonant letter was duplicated, which has always the vowel a inherent in it. This duplication of the first syllable is of very frequent occurence, and does not always denote a plural , but indicates a modification of the original word so as to express a shade of idea. In duplicating the first syllable the inherent a is short, and is often heard as ĕ, and will be so found in the dictionnary, thus badak is a rhinoceros, bĕbadak, a funnel shaped bambu basket loaded with stones in making dams in rivers, as if it resembled a badak or Rhinoceros. tabĕuh to beat a musical instrument, a drum. Tatabĕuhan, frequently heard as tĕtabĕuhan, musical instruments which are struck, as gongs, drums, and the like.
The short ĕ suffixed to the initial consonant appears often to be made use of, to the exclusion of the vowel suffixed to the initial consonant itself of the crude word, thus we have chēcho-élan, derived of cho-él; tĕto-élan from to-él; chĕcho-oan, from cho-o, and not cho-cho-elan, toto-élan, chocho-oan.
When the vowel attached to the initial consonant is u: that vowel also occurs in the duplicated word, as guru, a teacher, guguru, to get instruction from a teacher. Gunter, a flood, gugunter, to wash away with a stream of water. Turub, a cover, to cover, luturub, any temporary Shelter.
The original word of the Sanscrit from which such initial duplicated words are taken, does not always exist in Sunda, or even in the cognate Polynesian languages, but is nevertheless a Sanscrit word. Thus we have sĕsawi, the mustard plant, from sawi, C. 720, strength, force, with out the latter word sawi being known in Sunda. So also sĕsĕmon, longing for, but ashamed to ask, abashed, from samu, c. 710, leave, permission. Bĕbĕndu and bĕbĕndon, disgrace, loss of favour, dishonour, from bandhu, C. 459 what is bound bandhura, D. 459 injurions, mischievous. The simple words sawi, samu, and bandhu not being found in the Sunda language, though evidently the etymons from which sĕsawi, sĕsĕmon and sĕbĕdon have been derived. This is remarkable and would seem to indicate a greater know ledge originally of the Sanscrit, than we should at first sight be justified in believing.
Another modification of meaning to an original word is indicated by the syllable um inserted in the middle of the word, in the same way as in the plurals, by inserting Ra, as above described. Thus we have from turun, tumurun, to come down by degrees. Tua, old, and agung, chief become tumagung or tumunggung, one of the titles of Javanese nobility. Tumorék, a deuse young jungle, which a man can hardly make his way through from torék, deaf. Many more examples will be found in going through the dictionary. Vide um in voce.
A comparative and superlative degree are formed by the words anan for the comparative, and pang for the superlative see both words in voce. Manan appears to be derived from Mana, where, and may be rendered by where of as Jyo hadé manan itu, this is better than that—as (these two) where of this is good. The word lĕuwih is also used for the same purpose, denoting more, in excess. Lĕuwih hadé, more good. Lĕuwih panjang, more long. Pang is always prefixed to the word to which it imparts a superlative degree, which word then must be followed by the particle and postfix, an or na, as hadé, good, panghadé na or panghadéan, the best. When extra force is wished to be applied to this superlative degree, the word sakali, altogether—is added—as panghadéna sakali, the most positive best.
The past tense is indicated by the word anggĕus, mostly abbreviated to gĕus, as gĕus anggĕus, it is done, it is completed. Gĕus datang, he has come, and corresponds with the malay suda. The future tense is denoted by Mĕngké, answering to the Malay nanti. Mĕngké datang, I will come. Mĕngké hadé, it will become good.
The initial consonants of many words often vary rather arbitiarily for the sake apparently of what appears to be euphony to native ears, thus
Béré |
Méré |
Boro |
Moro |
Nahĕun |
Tahĕun |
Nanya |
Tanya |
Notog |
Totog |
Nyorén |
Sorén |
Nyorang |
Sorang |
Nyĕurĕud |
Sĕurĕud |
Nyukang |
Chukang |
Nyĕkĕl |
Chĕkĕl |
Mĕuting |
Pĕuting |
Mĕuwĕung |
Bĕuwĕung |
when a word cannot be found in the dictionary with one form of initial, an attempt must be made to quess at its cognate affinily, and sought elsewhere, as to have always given the words with their varying shapes would only have unjustifiably tended to swell the size of the dictionary.
An extensive class of words exists in the Sunda, which I have distinguished by the name of idiomatic expressions. They are monosyllables generally of three letters, as if they were a remnant of a very rude and aboriginal state of the language. They are often worked up into composite words, with the usual Sunda pre-and postfixes ka and an, or some other analogons particles. The use of them in the crude form gives strengh to the expression with which they are associated, and indicates a precise line of conduct or action. Such idiomatic expressions will be found scattered through the whole work, such are bĕt, bus, dĕl, dĕs, kĕk, kop, rĕm, rĕp, sĕp, sĕr, top, tut. They have a peculiar force and cannot be translated by any corresponding word in a European language, but their tendency has always been indicated. They may even be left out of the sense of the passage where they occur, without exactly injaring the meaning, but a native makes very extensive use of them, as they give force and precision to what he says. As kop bai di hakan, putting it into his month, he eat it. Kop indicates the deliberate act of putting into the mouth preparatory to eating, and implies that the man was eating it without knowing that there was any harm in it, or suspecting the stuff of being bad or poisonons and yet simply the act of eating is sufficiently implied by di hakan, he eat it.
So also of top, which implies taking hold of seizing top bai di bawa, laying hold of it, he carried it away. We might say that he could not carry it away with out taking it in some way, and that di bawa he carried it away, was sufficient; and so it is, even with a native, but when they prefix top, though we can give no precise translation, the idea is conveyed that there was no harm done in taking it, that no one opposed the act. The full force of these idiomatic expressions can only be learnt and appreciated on learning the language and hearing them used by the natives.
I have throughout the whole dictionary endeavoured to give the etymologies of the proper names of places, of the Archipelago, of the Residencies and of chieftowns in Java, of rivers and mountains, in short of the chief features of the country, whether in the Sunda districts or elsewhere, which may perhaps throw some light on these matters, and is at least an interesting topic of speculation. For examples of these attempts I would refer to the words bali, bantam, boro budur, jawa, sunda, sumatra, prambanan, prawu, priang'ĕn, progo, japara, and many others. An extensive and interesting class of words associated with hyang, Divinity, will be found on reference to this word. Under the heads of awi, chaw, hoih, huwi, paré, orai will be found an extensive classification of the different varieties of Bambus, Plantains, Rattans, Yams, Paddy and Snakes, which are known to our Mountaineers, and which may occasionally prove interesting or instructive. The varieties of Paddy were determined many years ago by collecting samples of them, and getting together a commission of natives to assign the names and point out their differences, which are often only trifling.
Weights and measures have been attended to, and when possible a comparison given between Dutch, English and Javanese articles of this kind. For which purpose reference can be made to the words bauh, pal, koyan, pikul, pond, kati, kaki, éllo, tumbak, gantang, sangga. The comparative details of which have been taken from Doursther's weights and measures, a work in the French language.
It may be also well to give here in a concise form the numerals used in Sunda, the particulars of which can be referred to, under each word in the Dictionary, where an attempt has been made to trace many of the words to their original meaning and indicate the process by which they have been arranged.
| 1 | Siji, Sahji, Sa. |
| 2 | Dua, Duwa. |
| 3 | Tilu, Talu, Tolu. |
| 4 | Opat. |
| 5 | Lima. |
| 6 | Gĕnap. |
| 7 | Tujuh. |
| 8 | Dalapan. |
| 9 | Salapan. |
| 10 | Sapuluh. |
| 11 | Sablas or Sawĕlas |
| 12 | Duablas or Duwawĕlas. |
| 20 | Dua puluh. |
| 21 | Dua puluh siji; Salikur. |
| 22 | Dua puluh dua; dua likur. |
| 25 | Dua puluh lima; lima likur; Salawé. |
| 30 | Tilu puluh. |
| 40 | Opat puluh. |
| 50 | Lima puluh; Sékat. |
| 60 | Gĕnap puluh; Sawidak. |
| 70 | Tujuh puluh. |
| 75 | Tujuh puluh lima; Lĕbak satus. |
| 80 | Dalapan puluh. |
| 90 | Salapan puluh. |
| 100 | Sa ratus; Satus. |
| 175 | Lĕbak Satak; Sa ratus tujuh puluh lima. |
| 200 | Satak; dua ratus. |
| 375 | Lébak samas; Tiga ratus tujuh puluh lima. |
| 400 | Samas; ampat ratus. |
| 500 | Limang kupang; lima ratus. |
| 800 | Domas; delapan ratus. |
| 1000 | Séwu; Sa rébu. |
| 10.000 | Sa laksa; Sapuluh rébu. |
| 100.000 | Sa kĕti; sa ratus rébu; sa puluh laksa. |
| 1.000.000 | Sa yuta; sa ratus laksa; sa puluh kĕti. |
| Sa Rébu, Dalapan ratus, lima puluh lima = 1855. | |
The Sunda people, at present, have no written character of their own. Throughout Bantam and Buitenzorg they use the Arabic Character when writing, which strange to say is hardly ever in their own native vernacular, but when they do write any memoranda it is in malay; In the Preang'er Regencies the Javanese characters are in frequent use. The Batu Tulis near Buitenzorg which has lately been deciphered by Mr. R. Friederich is probably a remnant of a native Sunda character. This inscription, however, contains hardly any recognizable Sunda words, but is a rude attempt to jumble up as many Sanscrit words as possible, which remark also applies to the inscription of Kwali in Cheribon.
In compiling this Sunda Dictionary I have not hesitated to avail of all the information which was within my reach in cognate languages. Both Marsden's and Crawfurd's Malyan dictionaries have been carefully gone over, and every word appropriated which could claim a home in the Sunda. I have to regret my want of understanding the Sanscrit character given by Marsden, to many words in his dictionary, and as he has not given a Romanized version of these words, they are to me, as to most other people, very learned but also very unmeaning signs.
The Javanese dictionary of P. P. Roorda van Eijsinga 1835, has also frequently been consulted, but more nicety of discrimination was often here incumbent, as from the closer affinity of the two languages of Java, it was necessary to be careful not to admit words which had no right to a place, or perhaps only varied slightly from what are used in Sunda.
One work alone I have carefully eschewed, viz; the Sunda Dictionary of A. de Wilde, published by Roorda 1841. A casual glance down its pages soon convinced me that it would rather lead me astray than afford information, and so I was forced to lay it aside, although anxious to avail of all the light which I could find. It may even yet contain some words which I have not given, but to sift them out would be a labour of considerable extent, and probably a loss of time in the end. The work of Mr. de Wilde did not see the light, till many years after he had left Java, and was thus of course without the natives at his elbow to put him to rights when in any doubt, and without other authorities for reference or help.
Even in Java living in the interior, surrounded by natives who speak the language as their mother tongue, it often requires, with many words, some judgment to select the right meaning, and words are current in different districts which are not known again in others, or which have a somewhat modified meaning, and are sneered at when used differently from what is usual with any particular set of people. The Sunda people possess no literature to which reference can be made, and it is consequently a purely oral language spoken by a little better than two millions of people, at the west end of Java, to and with the greater part of Chribon.
The influx of words from that great classical language of the East—the Sanscrit—has also been considerable into the Sunda, where they have been retained with great accuracy during a long period of years, probably not less than 1000 or 1200 years. The same early intercourse with the natives of India, as that which took place with Sumatra and Java proper, or the Eastern parts of our island, no doubt extended also to the Sunda districts, but of this neither written history nor tradition preserves any remembrance, and with few trifling exceptions the Sunda districts retain no traces of temples or stone images indicating the presence of artists from Continental India, but with which the East end of the island so plentifully abounds. The Budhists were driven out of Continental India in the Seventh Century of the Christian Era, when a great trade was carried on with the Indian Isles, for those valuable products which found a ready market in the West—and from the conflicting ascendency of one sect or the other on the Indian Continent, we may fairly conclude that the worsted party had to fly and seek a safe refuge in foreign parts, and no country would offer them a more inviting refuge than the Indian isles. The Budhists were eventually the worsted party and settling in great numbers in Java built boro bodur, and many other old monuments and temples of which we still find the ruins, introducing at the same time the Sanscrit literature and holy books which descending through their children of mixed Hindu and Javanese race gradually imparted to the colloquial tongues that large accession of ideas which they still retain, in the same way as the Arabic derivatives have, at a later period, been introduced with the Mahomedan religion, and by some Arabs intermarrying with the natives, without either Hindus or Arabs having fitted out navies and armies to invade and conquer the country, as done by Europeans in our days.
The language which those Indians, whence soever they came, grafted upon the native stock, was not their own colloquial speech, but the language of their religion and of their sacred books. They probably came from the Gangetic provinces, as neither the Tellugu, Tamil nor Singhalese colloquial languages have made hardly any impression, and if the Sanscrit literature and words were communicated by these latter people, it was through the language of their literature and religion, which throughout India, especially before the Mahomedan invasions, beginning under Mahmud of Gizni in A. D. 1000, was the almost universal Sanscrit.
In the following dictionary I have endeavoured to trace out such words as have had a Sanscrit origin, which I have been enabled to do, with the aid of the Singhalese and English Dictionary of the Reverend B. Clough, Colombo 1830, who, in his preface, declares nine-tenths of the Singhalese to be derived from either Sanskrit or Pali. Not that 1 have any pretentions to a proficiency in the Singhalese language, but I trust that it will be found that such words as will be constantly occurring throughout the following pages, will tend to throw some light upon this part of the language, and will elucidate many words whose Sanscrit origin might not, at first glance, suggest itself. These words from Clough are always marked by the letter C. with a number after them, which is the number of the page where they occur in the Dictionary, the Singhalese words of which are in the Singhalese character.
In this part of my study I have been assisted by the Articles supplied by Mr. R Friederich to the Transactions of the Batavian Society, with reference to Bali, which his knowledge of the Sanscrit has enabled him to do so often with happy succes. I am also further indebted to this gentleman personally for communications on the same matters, which I trust I have, for the greater part acknowledged in their proper places.
I have endeavoured to give the Botanical names to as many of the trees and plants as possible, which occur in the work for the most part taken from Blume's Flora Javae, or selected from various books or writings of which several notices in the Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië, by Dr. G. Wassink have been fruitful sources. Deficiencies have often been supplied by occasional rambles in the Government Palace gardens at Buitenzorg, where the plants are all carefully labelled by Mess". Teysmann and Binnendijk, the gentlemen who have charge of this scientific ornament to the residence of the Governor General of Netherland's India.
The scientific names for the Zoology of Java have had their origin in Horsfeld's Zoology of Java and in various writings and Museums.
With a view to gleaning something of the Ancient lore and language of the Country I, many years ago, used to have a village bard, called a tukang pantun or storyteller to recite his tales. This man was called Ki Gémbang and a dozen or 15 years ago, had a great run of popular native favour, being in great request all over the Western parts of the Province of Buitenzorg. The subject of such sagas is the olden time, when Pajajaran flourished and over which the native of the present day sits the live-long night, listening to the deeds of those who have long slept with the past. Such legends are not worth anything as matters of history, but are rich in native wit and humour, and found to contain a vast deal of words, which are little heard in every day conversation. The mantle of Ki Gémbang has now a days descended on his son.
The last of my authorities, to whom I am perhaps the most indebted, is the present Demang of Jasinga, Raden Nata Wiréja, with whom I have gone over the whole dictionary, that is all words of which I was not sufficiently certain, and who during several months of 1854, at intervals, devoted a couple of hours per day, to assisting me with the elucidation of difficult or doubtful words.
No pains have been spared to render the work as correct and useful as possible; and with this predication the author throws himself upon the good will of his readers. The following resumé of the number of words under each letter of the Alphabet may be interesting in various ways
| Under letter | A | are | 438 | words—awi counting as 1. |
| B | „ | 823 | „ | |
| C | „ | 407 | „ —chaw counting as 1. | |
| D | „ | 261 | „ | |
| E | „ | 95 | „ | |
| G | „ | 437 | „ | |
| H | „ | 292 | „ —huwi and hoih counting each 1. | |
| I | „ | 135 | „ | |
| J | „ | 287 | „ | |
| K | „ | 1.034 | „ | |
| L | „ | 484 | „ | |
| M | „ | 501 | „ | |
| N | „ | 657 | „ | |
| O | „ | 69 | „ —orai counting as 1. | |
| P | „ | 937 | „ —padi counting as 1. | |
| R | „ | 367 | „ | |
| S | „ | 946 | „ | |
| T | „ | 819 | „ | |
| U | „ | 127 | „ | |
| W | „ | 176 | „ | |
| Y | „ | 16 | „ | |
9.308 | ||||
The earlier part is often kindly illustrated by notes by Mr. R. H. Th. Friederich, whom sickness has latterly driven to Europe. The proper pronunciation of the words may sometimes appear doubtful from the necessary printing letters being absent especially where ĕu occurs. The ˘ above the first letter e of which must be considered as circumflexing both letters.
Jasinga, 5 Augustus 1862