[An-lang] etymology of Kasi(h), and sayang...

Wed Feb 25 22:47:18 UTC 2015

I’m enjoying this discussion.

I appreciated the affirmation from Ate Nicole regarding my thoughts on SW Palawano *ingasi* (pity/mercy) coming from in- + kasi. Interestingly, SW Palawano does not use the Brookes Point Palawano form *kasi-kasi* for “little gift.” The degree of such differences between relatively close locations is amazing at times.

Koine Greek also has a word which straddles “mercy/gift.” The word *charis* (often translated “grace” in the New Testament) means both love/grace/kindness AND the “gift” for which such grace is the motivation. I think that in the case of *kasi* careful work would be required to tease apart the possibility of any confusing and similar blurring of lexical meaning and associated emotions and motivations.

I cannot speak to the meaning of *saiyang* in Malaysian, but all over the Philippines, this word is hard to pin down. It is most often an exclamation. *Sayang!* is often translated “What a waste!” but also “What a pity!” but this is a difference sense of “pity” than the more social one. However, there is an underlying common ground of ascribing value to the object wasted or the person pitied. SW Palawano has the word *sayang* used as an exclamation in this way. But it also a verb in PV -an form, expressing the idea of “wasting” something intentionally through neglect of its potential, not taking advantage of its benefits, etc. In that usage, the meaning seems to be the opposite of “valuing,” and it something more like “ignoring the value.”

-Bill

> On Feb 22, 2015, at 5:00 PM, an-lang-request at anu.edu.au wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Re: etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give') (David Gil)
>   2. Re: etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give') (antonia soriente)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2015 13:38:02 +0900
> From: David Gil <gil at eva.mpg.de>
> Subject: Re: [An-lang] etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give')
> To: Austronesian languages <an-lang at anu.edu.au>
> Message-ID: <54E95D2A.8040008 at eva.mpg.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> To return to the semantic strand of this ongoing discussion:
> 
> By sheer coincidence, I was just browsing through a wordlist of Tidung 
> (spoken in Tarakan, Kalimantan Utara), and the word for 'give' is given 
> as /saiyang, /which is clearly related to the familiar Malay /sayang/ 
> 'love'/'compassion'/'pity'.  Seems like an almost completely parallel 
> semantic change to that which was posited by several discussants for 
> Malay /kasi(h)/, and, in my view, the clincher for this proposed etymology.
> 
> Appell-Warren, Laura P. (1978) "The Tarakan Dialect of the Tidung 
> Language of East Kalimantan: Distribution and Basic Vocabulary", in A.S. 
> Wurm and Lois Carrington eds., Second International Conference on 
> Austronesian Linguistics: Proceedings, Pacific Linguistics C-61, 148-166.
> 
> -- 
> 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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> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2015 16:05:02 +0100
> From: antonia soriente <asoriente at unior.it>
> Subject: Re: [An-lang] etymology of Malayic "kasi" ('give')
> To: an-lang at anu.edu.au
> Message-ID: <54E9F01E.7060807 at unior.it>
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> Il 22/02/15 5:38 AM, David Gil ha scritto:
>> To return to the semantic strand of this ongoing discussion:
>> 
>> By sheer coincidence, I was just browsing through a wordlist of Tidung 
>> (spoken in Tarakan, Kalimantan Utara), and the word for 'give' is 
>> given as /saiyang, /which is clearly related to the familiar Malay 
>> /sayang/ 'love'/'compassion'/'pity'.  Seems like an almost completely 
>> parallel semantic change to that which was posited by several 
>> discussants for Malay /kasi(h)/, and, in my view, the clincher for 
>> this proposed etymology.
>> 
>> Appell-Warren, Laura P. (1978) "The Tarakan Dialect of the Tidung 
>> Language of East Kalimantan: Distribution and Basic Vocabulary", in 
>> A.S. Wurm and Lois Carrington eds., Second International Conference on 
>> Austronesian Linguistics: Proceedings, Pacific Linguistics C-61, 148-166.
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> An-lang mailing list
>> An-lang at anu.edu.au
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> Dear David,
> I do not know Tidung well but it is indeed spoken in the area where I 
> collect my data and by a large population in Malinau, Tarakan and in 
> Kecamatan Tana Tidung and is related to other Murutic languages spoken 
> in Kalimantan and Sarawak. Many Tidung people consider themselves 'orang 
> Melayu' having embraced the Moslem religion. This means that they are 
> heavily influenced by the Malay culture and language. I have checked on 
> some wordlists and dictionaries I have (Bolongan, Murut etc) and I have 
> found nowhere the word saiyang for 'give'. It seems to me that the 
> informant associated the meaning 'affection' and 'give' of the Malay 
> kasih to his/her language. Among the many languages I work on this 
> association is not common.
> Next time I go to Tarakan, I'll make sure to check with Tidung speakers.
> Antonia
> 
> -- 
> Antonia Soriente
> Indonesian language and literature
> Department of Asia, Africa and Mediterranean
> University of Naples 'L'Orientale'
> Piazza San Domenico Maggiore
> 80134 Napoli - Italy
> asoriente at unior.it
> 
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