kalabaw

[potetjp]

Waruno,
I can see that you have a very scientific mind.
1) "the dictionary entries do not suggest that Tag _kalabáw_ refers to any
other variety than _anwáng_."
They suggest nothing of the sort perhaps because the _anwáng_ may have been
no more different from a  Siamese _kràbyy_ than a Normandy cow from a
Charolais cow, although specialists will tell you no confusion is possible.

2) "Spanish may have acquired _carabao_ from Malay, and Tagalog borrowed it
from Spanish."
I don't think so because Spanish would have the word _*crabao_  which, as
far as I know, doesn't exist. Conversely Spanish _carabao_ conforms to the
phonetic "law" whereby intervocalic Tag. [l] became [r] in Spanish in most
cases.

3) "Alternatively, the word could also have entered the Philippines through
Tausug, or perhaps Maranao."

3a) The SIL's Tausug dictionary has the word _ka:baw_ for "carabao" (the
entry "buffalo" doesn't exist). It also has a word for "cow": _sapi'_ with a
cross-reference to _mandangan_ "(Of cows and carabao) adult, male, bull".
Apparently Tag. _anwáng_ has no cognate in Tausug.
If Tausug was the intermediary, then we should find a word on the continent
of a similar form. My intuition tells me that -al- in _kalabáw_ was wrongly
perceived as an infix, then dropped. I have no proof for this

3b) MacKaughan's Maranao dictionary has  _karabao_ for "carabao", and
_oplon_ for "buffalo". There doesn't seem to be any cognate of Tag.
_anwáng_.
You might have a point here, unless the term was merely borrowed from
Spanish in the 19th c.

The calves may have been brought directly from Indochina. For some periods,
ships from Cambodia and Siam are entered in the registries. They are
recorded for the first time during the 1627-1640 period: 6 from Cochinchina,
12 from Cambodia, none from Siam; 1656-1670: 1 from Tonkin, 9 from
Cochinchina, 4 from Cambodia, 13 from Siam etc.
source: Pierre CHAUNU (1960)
_Les Philippines et le Pacifique des Ibériques (XVIe, XVIIe, XVIIIe siècles)
/ Introduction méthodologique et indices d'activité_
Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N.
Unfortunately there is no index of the items imported and exported. I'll try
and find other documents.

4)  "Is there any way of determining how early the word already existed in
Cebuano? whether perhaps earlier than in Tagalog?"
The Cebuano dictionaries I have are very recent. And the ones in French
libraries only date back to the 19th c. This is a good track to follow. Has
anyone on the list a Cebuano/Visayan dictionary published in the 16th or
17th c.?

5) "If a new variety [of buffalo] had been introduced by the Spanish in the
lowlands, there must have been some difference between highland and lowland
carabaos, perhaps till today? Is there any indication that highland carabaos
are considered
inferior in quality?"
At least there should exist the possibility to point at genetic differences.
This would be for the Philippine Bureau of Husbandry to answer; they may
have genetic studies in their files. I have no document on this question.
What might serve as a guide is Lawrence REID's _Philippine minor languages_
(1971). "# 43: carabao"  could be used to draw up a map of the areas where
_kalabáw_ or a look-alike is used, and contrast them with the other areas
where a native term is used. This map in its turn could be used to determine
whether a given name corresponds to a given genetic stock. In the absence of
genetic studies, it would be interesting to know whether, for instance, the
_nua:ng_ of the Attas looks different from the _kalabáw_ of the Tagalogs.
Perhaps the Filipino scholars on the list know the answer.

Best
Jean-Paul