[An-lang] Etymology of Malayic "kasi" ("give") David Gil

Sun Feb 15 23:27:43 UTC 2015

Hi David and all,

I can’t comment on your proposed etymology. And I admit I am not familiar with the meaning “give” for kasi. I can see the logic in Uri's explanation where "pity/care about" becomes via metonymy "give out of pity/caring about."

My comments here probably relate more to kasi meaning “care/love” (e.g. Terima kasi, etc.), and may not be helpful, not hopefully are at least interesting!

In SW Palawano (PLV) on southern Palawan in the Philippines, so far south it is practically in Malaysia/Indonesia, we have the following:

kasi means “love.” It is a noun, and a verb root (letter e here is schwa-like vowel):
kesien (transitive, so-called object focus, etc.)

…an adjective (with common me- derivational prefix)
mekasi “loving"

There is also a derived adjectival form (from CV2 + -en)
kekesien “beloved"

Now “pity/mercy” in Palawano is ingasi?

My theory on this one is that it comes from:
in- + root

We have an interesting prefix in- which creates various social/interactive/relational stems, sometimes adding the idea of completeness or action. Sometimes it seems to derive a different kind or degree of transitivity.

in- assimilates to tbe initial consonant in some cases; other times it creates a portmanteau.

It is not a productive affix, but only shows up in in a very limited set of fossilized forms where the (apparent) new stem functions as a verb root. Here are some examples of how it works, plus the ingasi (pity/mercy form, which I believe is related to your kasi question.)

kaan         root: “to eat”
kumaan “to eat a food"
mengaan “to eat a meal"
menginaan “to eat together socially”  (my theory: meng- + [[in- + kaan]])

seod root: “to find out, learn”
seuden “to find something out”
keseudan “knowledge"
menginseod-seod “to ask after someone” (also penginseod-seod) (my theory: [[in- + seod]] + RT2 distributive)

poon         root: “stem/trunk, source”
impoonan “to cut x off at the trunk” (my theory: [[in- + poon]] + -an)

kulit         root: “skin”
inkulitan “to skin x" (my theory: [[in- + kulit]] + -an)

kasi root: “love”
kesien “to love”
ingasi          stem: “pity/mercy” (my theory: [[in- + kasi]])
ingesinan “to show pity/mercy upon x” (my theory: [[in- + kasi]] + -an)
(note we have the Agusan Manobo-like a-> schwa shift)

Back to your theory on kasi coming from a complex form, interestingly, perhaps, we also have a root asi? which might mean “to take care.” I’ve only heard it in imperative forms like these:
Asi-asi ga!         “Watch out! / Be careful!"
Asi-asi na diki mededag!         “Watch out that (you/it) don’t/doesn’t fall!"

So might kasi come from ke- (non-volitional/abilitative/stative) + asi (care for)?

Hmmmm.

-Bill

On Feb 8, 2015, at 5:01 PM, "an-lang-request at anu.edu.au<mailto:an-lang-request at anu.edu.au>" <an-lang-request at anu.edu.au<mailto:an-lang-request at anu.edu.au>> wrote:

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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2015 09:04:49 +0000 (UTC)
From: Uri Tadmor <uritadmor at yahoo.com<mailto:uritadmor at yahoo.com>>
Subject: Re: [An-lang] An-lang Digest, Vol 137, Issue 1
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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

     From: "an-lang-request at anu.edu.au<mailto:an-lang-request at anu.edu.au>" <an-lang-request at anu.edu.au<mailto:an-lang-request at anu.edu.au>>
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? 1. etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give') (David Gil)

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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:13:49 +0900
From: David Gil <gil at eva.mpg.de<mailto:gil at eva.mpg.de>>
Subject: [An-lang] etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give')
To: Austronesian languages <an-lang at anu.edu.au<mailto:an-lang at anu.edu.au>>
Message-ID: <54D5BB2D.5030905 at eva.mpg.de<mailto:54D5BB2D.5030905 at eva.mpg.de>>
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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<http://eva.mpg.de>
Webpage:http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/<http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/>

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