interpreter

[potetjp]

Waruno,
I forgot:
Yes, of course, there is no doubt that if Enrique and the Siamese merchant
conversed, it was in Malay.
If there were Siamese merchants trading with Malays they might as well have
learned their language, with the advantage of using it with Filipino kings
and chieftains.
That some or all of the merchants coming from Siam were Malays is a
possibility.
If so, what would they have used to refer to the water buffalo? Probably
Mal. _kerbau_ .
There again we stumble on the problem of the Malay intermediary.
Mal _kerbau_ would have given *_kalbao_ not _kalabáo [kalabáw]_.
Best
Jean-Paul