penguin 3

[potet]

1) "Proto-Oceanic *kanawe probably referred to a tern. I believe there are
extra-Oceanic cognates, but I don't have the information at hand. This
certainly looks like one." Ross CLARK

Thanks a lot, Ross, for this precious piece of information. It supports the
theory that Tag. _kanáway_ originally referred to a bird.
There is no doubt that, as with plants (remember John U. WOLFF's paper),
names for birds and other animals were loosely used by Austronesians during
their expansion .
If or when you get them, could you please quote a couple of terms from which
*kanawe was reconstructed?

2) "I wonder if "pajaro bobo" could refer to a booby? My suggestion would be
that the lexicographers are using "pinguino" with customary looseness, and
that nobody had ever actually seen a penguin anywhere near the Philippines."
Ross CLARK

The Spanish lexicographer glosses  _kanáway_ as _pájaro bobo_ = penguin"
(Noceda & Sanlucar 1860: 81). He doesn't use the term _pengüino_ that is
entered in modern Spanish dictionaries along with _pájaro bobo_ . The
Spanish-Tagalog part, that reflects the states of both languages in the
middle of the 19th Century, has no entries for _pájaro bobo_  or _pengüino_,
which means that the bird had been extinct long ago.

Now, I suppose that the Spanish lexicographer wouldn't have used the term
_pájaro_ with _bobo_ if he only meant "moron". At least the Spanish
dictionaries I have do not gloss _pájaro bobo_ as _bobo_, but as _pengüino_.
So I am pretty sure that _kanáway_ refererred to the bird, and that it was
used figuratively in Tagalog - not in Spanish - to refer to a moron.

The first edition of Noceda & Sanlucar's dates back to 1754; it is an
enriched and edited compilation of all the preceding Spanish lexicographers'
manuscripts. For instance _kanáway_ "pájaro bobo = penguin" is entered in
the manuscript left by Francisco de SAN ANTONIO, OFM, who died in 1624. It
is also entered in the manuscript left by Miguel RUIZ, OP, who died in 1630.
[Both manuscripts were recently published by the Ateneo de Manila
University.]

Ruiz's gloss is a little different from San Antonio's: "palabra con que
llaman a otro animal, bruto, canauay ca, eres un animal. in. ser llamado
asi. Idem: un pajaro que se llama asi. = a term with which they call
somebody an animal, a brute [Note that here _animal_ and _bruto_ rather
refer to a creature deprived of reason than to a cruel one.]. Kanáway ka.
You are an animal. in [verbal suffix]. to be called thus. Ditto: a bird thus
called.".
For Ruiz, the figurative meaning prevailed over the original one.
Interestingly enough he wasn't able to identify the bird, whereas San
Antonio was. The problem is did San Antonio make the proper identification?

_Kanáway_ is glossed as _pajaro_ in the finder list of San Buenaventura 's
Spanish-Tagalog dictionry published in 1613 (p. 640). unfortunately it is
not mentioned under _pajaro_ in the main part, where some brief descriptions
are given.

In brief Tag. _kanáway_ referred to an awkward bird - the tern is not - and
was used figuratively to refer to a stupid person. Therefore I tend to think
there may have been penguins or penguin-like birds in the Philippines when
the Spaniards conquered them.

Interestingly enough, French makes a distinction between _manchot_ that
refers to the antarctic bird and _pingouin_ that refers to the arctic bird.
[Both are translated as "penguin" in my French-English dictionaries. What is
the proper term for the arctic bird?]
Now, the original meaning of _manchot_ is "one-armed or armless", and its
figurative meaning is "awkward", often used in the negative: Il n'est pas
manchot. = He is not armless / awkward. > He is quite clever with his hands.

Best regards

Jean-Paul G. POTET. B. P. 46. 92114 CLICHY CEDEX. FRANCE.


P.S. I may have sent Ross CLARCK's message back to the list by mistake. If
so, please accept my apologies.