[An-lang] Melinjo, emping, gnetum

Wed Jan 11 13:24:26 UTC 2023

Dear Jim,

Historically emping was (also) made from rice. Wilkinson’s 1932 Malay dictionary glosses it as:

“Rice-grains taken before they are quite ripe (at the stage known as masak pĕr-ĕmping, Min[angkabau] galu-galu), pounded in a special mortar (pĕngĕmping or lĕsong pĕngĕmping), then toasted and eaten, either dry or with coconut and palm-sugar.”

A number of similar-looking and probably related Austronesian and Austro-Asiatic word are listed in Shorto’s Mon-Khmer comparative dictionary (entry 617), including the proto Mon-Khmer reconstruction *[s]piǝŋ ‘(kind of) cooked rice’ and Kharia (a Munda language spoken in India) 'ɔmpɛŋ ‘flat rice’.

I always assumed melinjo was derived from Malay meninjau ‘to stretch out one’s neck; to watch over’ on account of the tree’s narrow cylindrical appearance, but this might be a coincidence.

As far as I’m aware, the highest order reconstruction for Gnetum gnemon is proto Malayo-Polynesian *suka, but I’m not sure who first proposed it.

Rumphius’ use of “Amboins” always referred to the indigenous languages of Maluku, whereas his “Maleyts” sometimes denoted Ambon Malay and sometimes generic Malay. “Baleys” and “Bandaas” are indeed Balinese and Bandanese. It may be added that the tree is still called ganemu in Ambon Malay and ganemo in Manado Malay, ultimately reflecting Ternate ganem(u). The direct donor of “gnemo(n)” could thus have been a local Malay variety.

Regarding the possible derivation of “gnetum” from “gnemon”, perhaps the book Order out of Chaos: Linnaean Plant Types and their Types might be of use? Unfortunately I don’t have access to it myself.

Hope some of this helps,
Tom

________________________________
Van: An-lang <an-lang-bounces at anu.edu.au> namens James Rader <jrader at m-w.com>
Verzonden: dinsdag 10 januari 2023 20:26
Aan: Austronesian languages <an-lang at anu.edu.au>
Onderwerp: [An-lang] Melinjo, emping, gnetum

I have questions about some words of Indonesian cultural origin that have recently appeared in English publications. The immediate source of these words is relatively clear, while their further etymologies are not.

The words are

1)     melinjo  "a gnetum tree (Gnetum gnemon) of Southeast Asia that has glossy leaves used in cooking and bitter nutlike seeds used especially to make emping"

2)     emping  "a slightly bitter cracker or chip popular in Indonesia that is made from the dried flattened seed of a melinjo tree (Gnetum gnemon)"

3)     gnetum  "any of a genus (Gnetum of the family Gnetaceae) of small tropical trees and woody vines that are gymnosperms with glossy elliptical leaves and fleshy ovoid seeds"

The Indonesian dictionary of Stevens and Schmidgall-Tellings has pohon belinjo as "tree with edible seeds, Gnetum gnemon." There are cross-references to this from malinjo, melinjo, mlinjo and meninjau. Is one of these forms primary and the others derived? Does melinjo have an ulterior etymology, or is this sort of unknowable?

The word emping or krupuk emping is defined by Stevens and Schmidgall-Tellings as "a crisp chip resembling a potato chip, made from young rice plants, pounded flat, dried and fried or (= mlinjo) made from the meat of the seed of old mlinjo, Gnetum gnemon." Again, I'm curious as to any ulterior etymology of emping.

The earliest documentation of both the melinjo and gnetum etyma appears to be Herbarium amboinense (Amsterdam, 1741), the posthumously published work of the botanist Georg Eberhard Rumpf or Rumphius (1627-1702).  Rumpf gives vernacular names for plants in both Latin and Dutch, the text being written in parallel Latin-Dutch columns. In a chapter devoted to the plant, Rumpf has "op Maleyts, Baleys, en Bandaas Meninjo en Maninjo : in Ternaten ende de omleggende eylanden Gnemon, en Gnemo : op Amboins Utta Soä : op Macassers Culang, of eygentlyk Cylang Bantam : dog de Javanen noemen den boom Soo, en de vrugt Medinjo." I assume "Maleyts" is Ambonese Malay, unless "Amboins" refers to Ambonese Malay. "Baleys" is perhaps Balinese? "Bandaas" ("Bandanicus" in the Latin version) is presumably Banda/Bandanese. The language used "on Ternate and the adjacent islands," from which the forms gnemon, gnemo derive, is presumably the non-Austronesian Ternate language (unless this word was taken up by Ternate Malay). This origin would seem to be confirmed by a word list in Rika Hayami-Allen, A Descriptive Study of the Language of Ternate, the Northern Moluccas, Indonesia, a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Pittsburgh in 2001--the author records the word as ganem "kind of tree Gnetum gnemon L (Malay sej. pohon)." According to the author, "many Ternatean words have two variants, with or without the word final high vowel." Judging by Rumpf's gnemon/gnemo, recorded in the seventeenth century, he doesn't seem to have heard the first vowel at all, and recorded the final vowel as o rather than u, with or without a nasal coda.

The Latin genus name Gnetum is the invention of Carl Linnaeus, who published a description of the plant based on Rumpf's description. He appears to have turned the vernacular word gnemon into Gnetum, though exactly how is unclear.

My thanks for any etymological suggestions that list members might have.

--Jim Rader

Merriam-Webster, Inc.

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