Fw: Origin of the word 'batik'?

Tue Apr 15 20:40:48 UTC 2003

----- Original Message -----
From: "Malcolm Ross" <Malcolm.Ross at anu.edu.au>
To: " AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS" <AN-LANG at anu.edu.au>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 5:10 PM
Subject: Origin of the word 'batik'?

> Among the many people who replied to let me know that the list is  working fine -- thank you all -- was Takeshi Ishizawa. Apparently no one answered the question repeated below. Can someone please help?

As no expert has spoken yet, I hope the following may help a little as a stop-gap explanation: The American Heritage Dictionary cites the PAN reconstruction as *baCík 'tattoo' (> Malay batek [via Javanese]) "from the fact that the original process of piercing the waxed cloth prior to soaking was similar to tattooing".

http://www.bartleby.com/61/42/B0114200.html

Piotr Gasiorowski