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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I wish to thank our AN-LANG colleagues who shared
what they knew of this matter. Jean-Paul, thanks for your anecdotes and
your observations on your Philippine experiences.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From what I can gather so far, both from previous
info and the info from Paul, Ben, Dan, and Jean-Paul, BABAYLAN (Visayan) is
semantically associated with FEMALEness via the fact that spirit
mediums/shamans/priests were mostly female or female-like. However,
formal-etymologically, it does not appear to be related to the word for
woman/female in Tagalog (BABAE) + Visayan (BAqI) and BAYBAYIN (pre-Spanish
orthography). If BABAYLAN < BELIAN, it could not have developed from
the same root BAI of BABAE and BAYBAY.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any further comments?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks again. Regards, Paz</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>P.S. I noticed on the envelope of the letter
I recently received from my cousin in Manila, the official Postal Service stamp
cancelling the postage stamp still read PILIPINAS. It IS officially
spelled FILIPINAS (and FILIPINO) even if many or most Filipinos pronounce the
/f/ as /p/ - perhaps the government does not have enough money to change their
machines accordingly.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>