singkatan

[Carl Rubino]

Jean-Claude,
Just wanted to point out that the Philippine Tagalog/ Ilocano/
Kapampangan..) stem ..kanela.. is really just a Spanish borrowing (canela)
'cinnamon' (see my Tagalog dictionary), so if your etymology is correct, the
name can't be as old as you imagine - as the Tagalogs occupied the Manila
area before the arrival of the Spanish.
  Here are some more of the more common portmanteaus in Tagalog:

Philippine breakfasts:

tapsi- bbq beef (beef jerky) + fried rice (tapa = jerked beef; sinangag =
fried rice)
tapsilog- the former with an egg (itlog)
tapsigaw- tapsi with porridge (lugaw)

  Filipinos love to create new words in this fashion. I know quite a few
families that name their children from various permutations of the parents'
names.

  The National Academy also tried to coin professions with the help of the
root 'dalubhasa'' 'expert'. These have not caught on:
  dalubwika'  linguist
  dalub-aghamtao  anthropologist (agham = science, tao - man)

  Have a nice weekend everybody,
  Carl


-----Original Message-----
From: potet <POTETJP at wanadoo.fr>
To: AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS <AN-LANG at anu.edu.au>
Date: Friday, May 11, 2001 6:27 AM
Subject: singkatan


>Dear Joe,
>Here are a few examples of abbreviations, acronyms and portmanteaus in
>Tagalog.
>Best
>Jean-Paul G. POTET. B. P. 46. 92114 CLICHY CEDEX. FRANCE.
>
>
>
>balarilà [ba-la-ri:-la?] "grammar" < bála-na "everybody" + -ng (linker) +
>dilà "tongue" [coined by Lope K. SANTOS]
>
>daglát "abbreviation" < daglî "instantaneous" + súlat "writing"
>
>EDSA < Epifanio de los Santos Avenue "a famous Metro-Manila thoroughfare
>where important political events took place, hence the political concept of
>popular upheaval against the president in charge"
>
>Gomburza < Gomez + Burgos + Zamora "three priests condemned to the death
>penalty for sedition by the end of the Spanish period"
>
>Luzviminda < Luzon + Visayas + Mindanao "the Philippines [very seldom used
>as such]; also a girl's name"
>
>Malakañan / Malakányan "the name of the presidential palace < ma-
>"adjectival prefix" + lakán "grandee + linker" + diyán "there"
>NOTE. This etymology was invented in the 20th Century. There is every
reason
>to believe that the place was named after a plant growing there. This plant
>name is of the _mala-_ "false" type, e.g. _kalíngag_ "cinnamon tree" >
>_malakalíngag_ "false cinnamon tree". The _-an_ suffix is that of place
>names.
>The stem must have been *_kani_, but no such stem in entered in old
>dictionaries. Conversely the stem _kaníla_ does exist in Ilokano, Bikol and
>Kapampangan and means "cinnamon". If such is the stem, it would be
necessary
>to posit _*mala-kaníla-an > *mala-kaníha-an > *mala-kanía-an > *malakanían
>
>malakányan_ (the evolution of some intervocalic Ls into /Ø/ is well-known:
/
>l > h > Ø /). This would imply that the name is very old and dates back to
a
>period when Tagalogs where not yet in the Manila area. Whatever, in the
>absence of solid written references, my theory rests on its own merit.
>
>Susmaryosép "Oh, my God!" < Hesús "Jesus" + María "Mary + Husép < Joséph
>"Joseph [16th Century Spanish pronunciation]"
>
>tatsúlok "triangle" < tatló "three" + súlok "corner"
>
>
>    ZORC's Tagalog slang dictionary has plenty of them. Here is one.
>
>buwisíta "unwanted visitor" < bisíta < Span. visita "visitor" + buwísit
"an
>importune"
>< Hokkien Chin. bö-uî-sít "no-clothes-food > unlucky" [ö = o with a macron]
>