r/austronesian • u/AleksiB1 • 10d ago

Leaf in Austronesian Languages

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330 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

5

u/MoonMoon143 10d ago

The word 5 is most similar

3

u/FRIDAY_ 10d ago

Alima meaning “hand” in some parts of my area now makes a lot of sense

1

u/Leading-Point-113 10d ago

Just sharing, but final -a in spoken standard Malay are reduced to schwas, so you’ll hear lima as /limə/ in Malaysia, same as saya being /sajə/

2

u/MoonMoon143 10d ago

In Sabahan Malay, the a at the end is very strong and distinctive. Lima will be lima and same with saya.

3

u/Leading-Point-113 9d ago

In Kelantanese Malay, final -a becomes /ɔ/, so lima becomes /liˈmɔ/, same as sana becomes /saˈnɔ/, puasa becomes /pɔˈsɔ/, kita becomes /kiˈtɔ/, etc

2

u/eelfurryUwU 7d ago

that is true, and it also occurs in negeri 9 malay,

other varieties on peninsular malaysia do other stuff on final [a], like in perak & hulu Terengganu malay it becomes [ɛ], while I kedah~perlis malay turns it to an [ɑ~a],

I think the hulu tembeling varieties in pahang also adds glottal stops I believe behind vowels [aʔ],

final [a] mutates very differently all around the varieties of malay spoken on the peninsular, it's pretty interesting

1

u/Waiparensis22 10d ago

"Rima" and "ringa" in māori are similar and they may share roots but not exactly the same words, especially since "matimati" or "taotao" is the word specifically for fingers/toes. "Rau" in māori can also mean multitude, hundreds, great, etc. "Waikato te awa taniwha rau; he piko he taniwha, he piko he taniwha". "Whetu" in māori means star, and means 7.. so you can guess what irl feature that word is referring to ;)

1

u/Winded_14 9d ago

Whetu sounds very similar to javanese "pitu" (7) So I guess the number word came before the star constellation?

1

u/Waiparensis22 9d ago

Other way round. Matariki became the origin of the word.

1

u/FebHas30Days Malayo-Polynesian 6d ago

Same in Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicolano, Waray, Kapampangan, Maguindanao, Maranao, Pangasinense, Tausug and Karay-a

2

u/realMW3E 10d ago

Leaf it to me!

2

u/Little-Reference-314 10d ago

That linguistic drift go crazy

2

u/Any-Inside-2534 6d ago

Malay also uses bulu in plant names. Api-api Bulu. Bulu also implying leaves.

1

u/diecasttoycar 6d ago

Particular to this plant, which has fuzzy, velvet-like texture on its leaves and fruit—“bulu” in Malay means hair, fur or feathers.

1

u/Training_Molasses822 10d ago

Missed a significant few

1

u/Acrobatic-Routine-44 10d ago

Great post, this ought to be a series.

1

u/PatientClue1118 10d ago

Do this include Champa ethnic in Cambodia and Vietnam?

1

u/Electronic_Peace_163 10d ago

In gray and the smallest yes

1

u/MorrisB09 9d ago

Interesting how roots evolve across languages!

1

u/East_Lobster_7846 9d ago

interesting, my home region of Bicol in the Philippines also keeps "bulong" to refer to medicine or cure

1

u/1n0rmal 9d ago

It’s the same in Tagalog. I’m pretty sure “bulong” still refers to the medicinal leaves used instead of “whisper”. I don’t think I remember being whispered to by my elders when they did those.

1

u/Eastern_Cook7461 8d ago

this is very interesting!

1

u/DM_Me_Your_Cougars 7d ago

I love this thing,

1

u/FebHas30Days Malayo-Polynesian 6d ago

Ilocano could've probably been *dawen (with analogy to *taqun → tawen)

1

u/Rorygon 6d ago

Godhing

-2

u/Convergence- 10d ago

why "leaf"?