Fwd: Re: Fwd: Running "Amucke" (1606)

[Beverly Flanigan]

My Indonesian colleague (born in Java, with Javanese as L1) has found the
early writings on Indonesia interesting.  Her comments follow, with a
question about "boogie man," which apparently was spread around the world.

>X-Sender: soemarms at oak.cats.ohiou.edu
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>Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 16:23:52 -0500
>To: Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at oak.cats.ohiou.edu>
>From: Suharni Soemarmo <soemarms at oak.cats.ohiou.edu>
>Subject: Re: Fwd: Running "Amucke" (1606)
>
>...
>"amok" in Javanese now means "to attack or destroy things blindly." The
>person is usually crazy or depressed and doesn't know what she/he's doing.
>We were always under the impression that "to run amuck" comes from "amok".
>
>"arak" if I'm not mistaken is from Arabic or vice versa [borrowed into
>Arabic] since both in
>Arabic or Indonesian it means "wine". In Indonesian is made from areca palm
>blossoms. The stalk is cut, then the sap is caught in a bamboo tube, similar
>to gathering maple sap, then fermented.
>
>Please check if boogie man comes from Indonesian, too. From what I heard,
>it is originally Bugis man. The Buginese were pirates and dreaded by
>seamen. But someone told me it was not true. The word comes from some
>language in Africa. Thanks.
>
>Suharni


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm