[An-lang] An-lang Digest, Vol 137, Issue 1

[Uri Tadmor]

Hi David,
The root sih appears with various prefixes in various western Austronesian languages with the meaning 'pity', 'love', 'generous', e.g. in Malay kasih-sayang 'love', kasihan 'pity, poor X!', the compound sumbangsih 'contribution, assistance'; Old Javanese sih/asih 'love, affection, sympathy, generosity'; and modern Javanese sih 'love, favor'.  The missing link to the semantic shift from 'pity' to 'give' in Bazaar Malay can be seen in Onya Darat (a Land Dayak language of western Kalimantan) where the manse (it's a direct cognate, I can explain to you the derivation separately) means 'to give out of pity'.  The prototypical use of manse is giving meat after a hunt to members the community who are too old or weak to participate in a hunt or do not have family members who can participate in a hunt (e.g. widows and orphans).  Loss of the final -h is not unusual in Bazaar Malay (and in fact in Java Malay kasih 'give' retains the -h).  The initial ka- is indeed an affix but I'm not sure it can be related to Malay ke 'to' or akan 'about, etc.'.  It is the same ka- or ke- found in the circumfix ka-an/ke-an.
Best,
Uri



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Today's Topics:

  1. etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give') (David Gil)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:13:49 +0900
From: David Gil <gil at eva.mpg.de>
Subject: [An-lang] etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give')
To: Austronesian languages <an-lang at anu.edu.au>
Message-ID: <54D5BB2D.5030905 at eva.mpg.de>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

Dear Austronesianists,

I am trying to find an etymology for Malayic "kasi" ('give').  Can 
anybody ...

(1) point me to a previously proposed etymology for "kasi"?
(2) suggest possible cognate forms in other (non-Malayic) Austronesian 
languages?
(3) offer any other relevant thoughts and suggestions?

So far I have not been able to find anything.  My current thinking is 
that "kasi" may be part of a complex of interrelated forms such as 
Standard Malay "ke" ('to'), "akan" (future, oblique), and "=kan" 
(causative, applicative), but this remains speculative.

Thanks,

David

-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550333
Email:gil at eva.mpg.de
Webpage:http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/



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