collecting authentic dugong stories

[Robert Blust]

Dear Jim,

Forms of /duyung/ are found in many Austronesian languages outside Taiwan,
generally with regular sound correspondences.  John Wolff, in his
Cebuano-English dictionary of 1972, gives both /duyung/ and /dugung/ for
`dugong, sea cow', but the variant with -/g/- does not correspond
regularly with the -/y/- in other languages.  It even possible that
/duyung/ is the native Cebuano form and /dugung/ a secondary pronunciation
reflecting English influence.  Given the broad comparative picture I can
only assume a mishearing of Malay /duyong/ or a similar Philippine form by
early European recorders who created the -/g/- variant and then perhaps
passed it back.

Bob Blust

On Wed, 9 Feb 2000, Jim Rader wrote:

> Speaking of dugongs, does anyone on the list know the precise origin of the
> word <dugong>?  It first appears as <dugung> in German, it seems, in
> Ernst Christoph Barchewitz' _Neu-vermehrte Ost-Indianische
> Reise-Beschreibung_ (Erfurt, 1752).  I have not examined this book,
> but according to the _Oxford English Dictionary_, Barchewitz gives
> <dugung> as the name of the animal on Leyte.  I believe the Malay
> word--with close cognates in a number of other Austronesian
> languages--is <duyung>.  Whence the <g>?  A simple printing error?
> If so, it's strange that both the Latin taxonomic name and the general
> European name perpetuate a form that doesn't exist in any
> Austronesian language.
>
> Jim Rader
> Merriam-Webster, Inc.
>
>
> > Dear Subscribers,
> >
> > Associate Prof.Masayuki Onishi, who works on Motuna, a Pauan language in
> > Bougainville Island, is collecting authentic dugong stories in different
> > parts of Oceania. If you are generous to give him your information on
> > literatures about such stories in your languages, hopefully with original
> > texts (and recorded materials, if available.), he would really appreciate
> > it.
> >
> >
>
>