Page:A Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language with a Preliminary Dissertation- Dissertation and Grammar, in Two Volumes, Vol. I (IA dli.granth.52714).pdf/28

 rapid conversion, by the Arabs, of the nations of Western and Northern Asia. The earliest conversion of the islanders took place 574 years after the death of Mahomed, and long after the zeal of his followers had evaporated. The conquest of the Archipelago, however, even had, it been attempted, under the most favourable auspices, was an enterprise too remote and difficult for the Arabs to have achieved, and the conversion was, in reality, brought about by the only feasible means by which it could have been accomplished.

It is probable that some Arabic words were introduced into Malay previous to the conversion. This may be inferred from our finding them, at present, in the Balinese, the language of the only unconverted civilised people of the Archipelago. The nature of the Arabic words admitted into Malay may be judged by a brief analysis. Taking 112 from the vocabularies appended to Sir Stamford Raffles's History of Java, 102 are found to be nouns, six to be adjectives, three to be verbs, and one only to be a particle. To suit the Malay ear, all of them are altered in pronunciation, and none of them are so essential to the language that it cannot be written or spoken with accuracy and propriety without their assistance. The proportion in which Arabic enters into some of the other principal languages of the Archipelago may be judged from the same vocabularies. The 112 in Malay is but seventy-six in Javanese; seventy-two in Madurese; sixty- five in the Lampung; sixty-one in the Sunda; twenty-five in the Bugis, and twenty in the Bali. In a copious dictionary of the Tagala of the Philippines I can find only ten or twelve words. From the similarity of circumstances under which the Arabic has been introduced into these languages, and from their being often communicated from one tribe to another, it may be added that the words are, for the most part, the same. Every- where such words as have been naturalised have been so altered in pronunciation that an Arab would, in most cases, not be able to recognise them. Thus the word săbăb, " cause,” is in Malay, sabab, and in Javanese, sawab; făkăr, "to think,” is in Malay and Javanese, pikir, and in Bugis, pikiri; the word făl'uli, "to meddle,” is in Malay and Javanese, paduli; the word wăkt, "time," is in Malay and Javanese, waktu, and in Bugis, wakatu;