Copper alloys (brass, bronze)

[Richard Parker]

Tumbaga, tunbak, and tumbak seem to have a variety of etymological sources, all coming from the Middle East:
   
  Here's a quick bit of googling:
   
  Tumbaga 
  An alloy of  copper and gold - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbaga
   
   Bible translation: 1 Samuel Chapter 17, Verse 5 - http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/lo/lorica.html
   English: And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of  
   mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 
   Cebuano: Ug siya may usa ka salokot nga tumbaga sa iyang ulo, ug siya sinul-oban sa
   usa ka saput nga hiningbis; ug ang gibug-aton sa saput may lima ka libo ka siclo sa 
   tumbaga.
   
  Blust R., 1992, ‘Tumbaga in Southeast Asia and South America’, Anthropos, n° 87, pp. 443-457. Not available on internet.
   
  Sanskrit Words in Cebuano-Visayan Language - Jose G Kuizon
  http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/afs/pdf/a150.pdf
   
  5. a. Skt. : tamra, "copper"
  b. Jav. : t6mbaga "copper"
  c. Malay. : tambaga "copper"
  d. C. Bis. : tumbaga' "copper"
  Phonetic changes:
  Skt. Jav. Malay. C. Bis.
  tam- te'm- tum- tum- (a ) u, e)
  -ra -baga -baga -bags? (r ) b, g) ?
  - -ga -ga -ga' Aphaeresis of -ga?
  Semantic changes:
It is doubtful whether or not the Javanese, Malayan, and Bisayan terms are of Sanskrit derivation because of what seem to be irregular changes in the terms, especially in form. However, if the Javanese, Malayan, and Bisayan terms are of Indianorigin, it may be inferred that the Sanskrit word has undergone folk etymology in diffusion.
   
  I don't really understand that quotation, but this paper lists so many Cebuano words of Sanskrit origin (including many of trading and mercantile interest) that it persuades me just a little bit more that most of the modern 'Filipino' languages derive from migrations from Sumatra and Java, to the south, within the last two millenia, or at least since the Sri Vijaya maritime empire.
   
  One of the byways on this googling found 'depletion gilding' - if you make something from a gold/copper alloy, and then bash it with a bit of strong acid, you get a bright gold covering on a heart of  old crud. I'm putting a few of my home-made gold bars up for sale on E-Bay.
   
  Tumbaq - "It may also be that the kettledrum (or one size of kettledrum) was known in Uigur as *tümbak or *tumbaq (Chag. tünbak, dumbaq, Ott. tümbük, which refer to various kinds of drum or kettledrum) or *tümbülük ( Chag., Ott. dümblük 'kettledrum'). All five types of dun¬balalc (dünbülük) discussed by Chelebi are varieties of kettledrums (Farmer, 2, pp. 646-7). - http://tinyurl.com/23jvec
   
  Tunbak is a Persian bronze kettledrum. 
   
  tumbak : tobacco [from Per]  - http://etymological.freeweb.hu/AEDweb.htm
  Tumbac is Arabic for tobacco, and refers specially to the flavoured leaves, dampened and pressed, used on a nargileh or hubble-bubble.
   
  Tamako, tamaku - (or something similar) is also the word for tobacco in Amis, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, and Kavalan (according to Ibis, Paul. "Auf Formosa: Ethnographische Wanderungen." Globus 31 (1877): 234-35) - http://academic.reed.edu/formosa/lingtables/ling_index.htm Table VII
   
  Although quite how that word became common in Taiwanese languages supposedly surviving contemporaneity with 'proto-Austronesian' is a bit of a puzzle.
   
  best regards
  
Richard Parker
Siargao Island, The Philippines. 
  
I have started a weblog - Notes From a Small Island - An Numbers , at http://smallislandnotesan.blogspot.com/ about Austronesian numbering systems.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/an-lang/attachments/20071020/d7ae59ef/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
An-lang mailing list
An-lang at anu.edu.au
http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/an-lang