[An-lang] Re: Etymology of Malagasy "valiha"

[MPI EVA Jakarta Field Station]

Hi Ed, Don, and all:

I quote from Dahl's 'Migration from Kalimantan to Madagascar' (1991), page
115:

"...Merina VALIHA 'harp made from thick bamboo and played with the hands
turning round on all sides of it'.  The name must be from PMP *balik 'turn'
+ -an expressing place of the action..."  By a strange coincidence, this
etyomology appears in a chapter entiled 'Loanwords from Sanskrit' (in
Malagasy), but the example is given in order to show an internal Malagasy
sound change, not in the context of a theory about VALIHA's alleged Sanskrit
origin (which Dahl does not mention).

As for Sanskrit loanwords in Malagasy in general, in 'Malgache et Maanjan'
(1951), Dahl identified 30 Malagasy words of Sanskrit origin.  His 1991 book
does not appear to add any new ones.  As Adelaar pointed out (OL XXVIII No.
1 1989 pp. 1-46), 29 of these 30 words also occur in Malay or Javanese,
indicating that these languages were probably the direct source of Sanskrit
loanwords in Malagasy.  Under these cirumstances, the claim that 'more than
five hundred words of Sanskritic origin remain in the Malagasy language'
seems excessive, if not far fetched.

Uri Tadmor

on 6/18/04 7:14, Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies at
ipngs at global.net.pg wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Rakotomala (1998:786) writes that the term 'valiha' is from Sanskrit
> 'vadhya' 'ionstrument of sacred music'. "It originated in Indonesia in the
> pre-Islamic period (1100s to 1500s), from which more than five hundred
> words of Sanskritic origin remain in the Malagasy language." What do you
> think?
>
> Reference:
> Rakotomala, Mireille
> 1998    "Performance in Madagascar". In Africa, ed. Ruth M. Stone,
> pp. 781-92. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, 1. New York: Garland
> Publishing, Inc.
>
> Regards,
> Don
>
> Don Niles
> Head & Senior Ethnomusicologist
> Music Department
> Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies
> P.O. Box 1432
> Boroko 111
> PAPUA NEW GUINEA
>
> tel.:    [675] 325-4644
> fax:    [675] 325-0531
> email:    ipngs at global.net.pg
>
> At 22:35 -0700 16/6/04, Edmundo Cruz Luna wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've just received a question from some of my friends regarding the
>> (possible) etymology of the Malagasy "valiha" (a bamboo tube zither). Some
>> people had proposed a link between this word and the island of Bali, but I
>> was highly skeptical about that. Would anyone have a possible source for
>> this particular term?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> - Ed
>>
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>
>
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