Ama, Ambonese

[Waruno Mahdi]

> I've been also meaning to ask a question about "ama". Could the Malay word
> "ambau"  be a cognate to "ama"?

Not under known regular sound correspondences, because for a POC cognate
of _ambau_ one would have expected something like _abo_ I think.

Malay _ambau_ denotes not an outrigger (_katir_), but a raft-like
construction eithersides of the hull. The word looks suspiciously like
it could be a loan from Dutch _aanbouw_ 'added or augmented construction,
annex', but this may simply be coincidence or my own folk etymology :-)

> There are also the words "cadik" and "katir" in Malay that I've seen
> glossed as 'outrigger'. Can anyone tell me the difference between these?

I think they are synonyms. But _katir_ is the more common and neutral
style word for 'outrigger'.

> Then there's "gandung" : 'raftlike construction attached on port and
> starboard side of a prow either used as an outrigger or to provide more
> cargo space.' (Echols&Shadily 1961) I've taken "prow" to mean 'bow' here
> but on second thoughts 'perahu' makes more sense.

The Standard Indonesian dictionary (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia) treats
_gandung_ as synonym of _ambau_, hence 'prow' here must indeed refer to
'proa' as you rightly figured, not 'bow'.

> A further boat question: Ian Charles Stewart's book Indonesians: Portraits
> from an Archipelago has a nice photo with the caption "Twin-sailed,
> twin-hulled sailing vessels, quite different in appearance from the Bugis
> *prahu pinsi*",  are common in this area." The area is Southeast Sulawesi,

the Bugis vessel is _perahu pinisi_, ultimately a loan from English _pinnace_
via Malay _penis_ (pronounced with schwa in the first syllable), is single-
hulled and without outriggers, has a sharp (streamlined) bow like that
of a schooner. I can't remember having heard about double-hulled boats in
Sulawesi (a fast sailing single-outrigger boat was reported in the 1930-s),
but I'll look in literature I have at home tonight.

Regards,  Waruno