49. The active formative um- or -um-. Proof that it is Common IN:
| Formosa, Form, dialect: | comma, "to speak". |
| Phihppines, Bont.: | uminum, "to drink". |
| Celebes, Tontb.: kuman, "to eat". | |
| Borneo, Day.: | kuman, "to eat". |
| Java, Old Jav.: | kuměmit, "to watch". |
| Sumatra, Toba: | sumuruṅ, "to improve". |
| Islands at the back of Sumatra, Simalurese: | lumaṅoy, "to swim". |
| Malay Peninsula, Mal.: | gumilaṅ, "to shine". |
| Madagascar, Hova: | humana, "to eat". |
Note A. — The WB's are ka, inum, kan, kěmit, etc.
Note B. — The number of cases in which this formation occurs in Day. and Hova is small.
Note C. — The Form, comma has been left unaltered in its clumsy spelling; it corresponds with the Tontb. kuma, WB ka.
50. Illustrations of the three active formatives. Old Jav., from the Kuñjarakaṇa: "Others ran away" = waneh malayū; from the Śakuntalā: "He then saw a woman" = S. t. he w. = anon ta sira strī; from the Kamahāyānikan : "To penetrate into the holy mystery" = tumama ri saṅ hyaṅ paramarahasya. Modern Jav., from Meijer Ranneft's Collection of Eiddles: "A snake swallows a mountain" = ula ṅuntal gunuṅ.
Note. — anon is a + ṅ -- WB ton.
51. Specific signification of the three active formatives.
In several languages ma- is intransitive, it- or man- transitive;
but in other languages the active formatives apparently only serve to form the active, without any other shade of meaning. The formative -um- usually plays the part of an aorist, inchoative, or future, and that state of things may perhaps be styled Common IN. — Illustrations of this force of the formative -um-. Bont., from the Head-hunters' Ceremonies: "They start for the settlement " = Start they to t. s. = sumaa ca is nan fohfüy. Tontemboan, from the Story of the Demon.
