Etymology of Malay berhala

Wed Jan 21 16:34:12 UTC 2009

Dear AN-Lang list members,

A colleague is seeking  ideas as to the etymology of  the Malay term "berhala", a term used for "idol, image". Wilkinson provides no etymology.

He has proferred the possibility of derivation from Sanskrit/Pali "vihara" and would appreciate any comments on the phonetic feasibility of this suggestion, and/or the occurrence of the term "berhala" in other Austronesian languages.

Many thanks

Geoff Wade

geoffrey.wade at anu.edu.au
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/an-lang/attachments/20090122/d83f3683/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
An-lang mailing list
An-lang at anu.edu.au
http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/an-lang