etymology of BELIAN

[Robert Blust]

Dear Paz,

There is an entry with documentation from nineteen languages in my online
'Austronesian Comparative Dictionary'.  You can get access by request to
David Stampe at UH (stampe at hawaii.edu).

Best,

Bob

On Fri, 20 Jul 2001, Paz B. Naylor wrote:

> Does anyone know the word BELIAN 'spirit medium' - and its etymology/original literal meaning?
>
> According to Dr. Penelope Flores (San Francisco State University), this is what the Tagalog word BABAYLAN 'priestess' came from.
>
> In 1984, I was informed that the Fijian WAQA 'boat' when reduplicated, WAGAWAGA means 'spirit medium'.  This makes me wonder if BELIAN (> *BAILAN) also had a literal meaning that, upon partial reduplication,  served as a metaphor for 'medium of transport for the spirit'.
>
> Another question:  was the role of spirit medium restricted to women?
>
> Thank you in advance for any information on these matters.  Paz
>
>
>