ringgit, benggol, sen

[Waruno Mahdi]

David,

In the period between World War I and the present, for supra-regional
usage (i.e. there may be local deviations in periphereal regions), I
know of the following "inofficial"/colloquial Indonesian Malay names
of coins of Netherlands East-Indies/Indonesia (names for domestic coins
no longer in circulation for several decades I'll mark with an asterisk):

1 ringgit = 2.50 pérak = 2.50 rupiah = 2.50 *gulden
    ("2&half NEI Guilders" up till 1942, "2&half RI Rupiahs after 1945;
     "ringgit" was the Indonesian Malay equivalent of Dutch "rijksdaalder",
      and still is that in speech of Indonesians living in the Netherlands
      today; For Indonesians living in Malaysia, of course, it refers to
      the Malaysian "Ringgit")

1 pérak = 1 rupiah = 1 *gulden = 100 sén
    (before 1945, "rupiah" was colloquial for "gulden";
    "pérak" was and still is a colloquial word used to refer to the
     principle currency denomination locally in circulation in any
     country, like "buck [US], quid [UK]", except that "pérak" is
     also used by Indonesians abroad for the local currency there;
    "pérak" is also the Indonesian Malay word for "silver [the metal]");

1 talén = 1 tali = 0.25 pérak etc. = 25 sén;
    ("talén" is more widespread in Java, "tali" in Sumatra; the former
     resulted from suffixation of "-an" to the latter with subsequent
     fusion of _ia_ to _é_ in accordance with Javanese phonology;
     there is a proverb that sets 1 "tali" equal to 3 "uang"-s, but there
     was no coin in circulation in the above-mentioned period under
     the latter name, which, like "duit", had become to mean "money";
     "tali" literally means "string", and the monetary denomination
     originally referred to three "uang" coins [which each had a hole
     in the center] strung together;
     "talén" is used for "quarter" by Indonesians abroad, refering to
     any local coinage having the value of 25/100 of a "pérak")

1 picis = 1 ketip = 0.10 pérak etc. = 10 sén;
    ("picis" is also used for "dime" by Indonesians abroad, refering to
     any local coinage having the value of 10/100 of a "pérak";
     I have not noticed "ketip" used this way, but cannot exclude that
     it is)

1 *bénggol = 1 *gobang = 0.025 pérak etc. = 2.5 sén
    (both names remain in the active Indonesian vocabulary, but a
     coin of this denomination has not been in circulation for
     several decades, the result of runaway inflation; apparently
     not used for local coinage abroad, perhaps because coins in
     this fraction of a "pérak" are rare)

1 sén = 0.01 pérak etc.
    (also occasionally used by Indonesians abroad for local coinage
     having the value of 1/100 "pérak", even if not called "cent" in
     the local language, e.g. penny, pfennig, centime, kopek, etc.)

1 *pésér = 1 *rimis = 0.005 pérak etc. = 0.5 sén
    (same comment as to "*bénggol"; all given names for 2.5 and 0.5
    "sén" coins occur figuratively in the current language as the
     equivalents of English "cent" in expressions like "it's not worth
     one cent!", but "sén" itself is not normally used for this)

For computers with diverging font-response: the character given
as "é" in the above items is an "e" with acute accent, and is pronounced
approximately like an "e" with grave accent in French. Since 1948,
the accent is no longer placed above the "e", which leads to ambiguity
with the vowel that was spelled already before 1948 as "e" without
accent, pronounced as schwa (as in _gulden_, _ketip_).

The "c" in "picis" is the spelling as of 1972 of what had up to then
been spelled "tj" (corresponds to English "ch", but without the additional
aspiration; i.e. more like Spanish "ch" or Italian "ci").

"Rupiah" was spelled "roepiah" before 1948; the spelling of "gulden"
remained unchanged.

That's all I have. I am not so familiar with numismatics of the preceding
centuries, when coins bearing these names (also "uang", "duit", etc) may
have had different relative values. Perhaps someone else knows more.....

Regards,   Waruno




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Waruno Mahdi                  tel:   +49 30 8413-5411
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