Page:A dictionary of the Sunda language of Java.djvu/404

Rh :Wāchchya, C. 634, success, prosperity, literally: ancient prosperity, old luck. Para puachi, of the number of the Puachi, which may have been a designation of lower household penates. See Achi. In general terms Puachi means fairies, genie male or female; supernaturally endowed beings.

Puachi Rumbayang Jati, the genius who presides over dyeing cotton yarn of a red colour. Rambhā, C. 586, one of the Apsaras or courtezans of Swarga. Hyang, divinity. Jatya, C. 210, well born, of good family;—— thus the goddess, the courtezan divinity who is of good birth,—— who is invoked to lend her aid in making so difficult yet fine a dye as the Red for cloth. The Rumba is probably an easy corruption of Rambha.

Puak, to fart.

Pua-pua, a person with a frizzled head of hair. A negro of the Indian Archipelago. This word may be a duplication of the word Puwa, C. 411, former, prior, ancient, the Elu form of Purwa,—— and might have originally been used, by the people from continental India, to designate the former inhabitants of the land, whom civilization tended to drive Eastwards. In Malay they are called Puwah-puwah or Papuwah,—— vide CRAWFURD in voce,—— which latter is the same word with the usual preposition Pa, and in that language means the woolly headed race of men who now inhabit New Guinea or Papua. A small population of these woolly headed black negroes still exists on the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, and some also linger in the Malayan Peninsula under the name of Samang and Bila; but from Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Celebes they have disappeared, nor is there even a tradition that they ever existed there, though a curliness in the hair of many natives would seem almost to indicate a trace of such original connexion. Puas, or Puwas, efficient, satisfactory as to strength or other requirements. Likely to answer any purpose. Panggilingan puas amat, a mill that is complete and fit for work. Puru, C. 410, much, many, exceeding; Asū, C. 65, wish, desire;—— contracted into Puwas, exceeding desire, all that you can desire.

Puasa, fasting, abstaining from food. Puwasa, C. 412, greediness, avarice, covetousness, miserliness. Bulan Puasa, or the fasting month, is also known by the Arabic name of Ramalan, which is the ninth Mahomedan month, during which no Mahomedan may eat or drink, whilst the sun is above the horizon. From the above Sanscrit derivation we may infer, that the professors of Hinduism on Java, or in the Archipelago, derided the early Mahomedans with their fast, attributing it to mere miserliness not to eat in the day time. As Hindu worshippers they had also their abstinence or penance, which they called Tapa, by which was meant fasting entirely both night and day. See Tapa.

Puchat, pale in colour, wan; pale or sallow from illness.

Puchuk, the outermost end of a branch; the top branchlets of a tree. The tender sprouts or shoots of any leafy plant coming up out of the ground, as paddy. The fresh leaves of a palm tree, as they are developed from the spadix. Leaf buds.