Ama, Ambonese

[Olli Salmi]

I've been also meaning to ask a question about "ama". Could the Malay word
"ambau"  be a cognate to "ama"?

There are also the words "cadik" and "katir" in Malay that I've seen
glossed as 'outrigger'. Can anyone tell me the difference between these?

Then there's "gandung" : 'raftlike construction attached on port and
starboard side of a prow either used as an outrigger or to provide more
cargo space.' (Echols&Shadily 1961) I've taken "prow" to mean 'bow' here
but on second thoughts 'perahu' makes more sense.

A further boat question: Ian Charles Stewart's book Indonesians: Portraits
from an Archipelago has a nice photo with the caption "Twin-sailed,
twin-hulled sailing vessels, quite different in appearance from the Bugis
*prahu pinsi*",  are common in this area." The area is Southeast Sulawesi,
around Kendari. I'd like to know the name of such a vessel. It looks as if
it had a platform with a hut built on it and doesn't look like a jukung.

Olli Salmi

At 15:23 +0200 11.1.2002, Jim Rader wrote:
>First:  is the word <ama> designating the outer float or hull of an
>outrigger canoe used in any Polynesian language other than
>Hawaiian?  I have no way of checking this easily.