Page:Baba Malay. An Introduction to the Language of the Straits-born Chinese.pdf/7

RABA MALAY, 55 brother chek, is ‘nchek; sister’s husband, chid-hu, is chau; and so orth.

Another very large class of words which the Babas have borrowed from the Chinese language are those relating to household affairs. The construction of their houses is Chinese in plan rather than Malay, and they have given Chinese names to the different parts of the house—the front room or hall where the idols are placed is called the fia” (Chinese thia"); the central court open to the sky is chimchi (chhim-chi") ; the upper floor is lotery (lau- térg); the inside balcony is largkan (Chinese ldry-khary, open space) ; bedroom is parykery (pdry-kerg) ; the outer balcony open to the sky is la-pe" (? ldu-pi") ; a lamp is tery or targlory (tery-lidry) ; a carpet or rug is lanak (thdn-d) ; paint is chat (chhat) ; and even a cockroach is kachuak (ka-tsodh). Kitchen utensils are called by Malay names, but anything peculiar to the Chinese receives a Chinese name, as, tea pot, fehuan (4é-kodn) ; soup spoon, trgsi (thrg-si) ; kettle, telo (té-kd-) ; chopsticks however are known as sumpit, presumably a corruption of the Malay spit; the table at which they eat their meals is invariably known by the Chinese name toh: to cook by steaming is known by the Chinese name tim (tim), but Malay words are used for all other cooking operations ; many kinds of food are known by Chinese names, such as, bami (bah-mi), tauyu (tdu-it), kiamchai (kidm-chhai), kuchai (ku-chhai), pe- chai (peh-chhai), chaipo (chhai-po-), kueh charg (ké-chaig), kueh tiau (ké-tia@u), ete. Several articles of clothing have names of Chinese origin, that which is most familiar being of course the queue, tancharg (thau-tsarg) ; also we have Chinese mourning, toaha (tod-ha) ; a child’s binder, oto (io-té-) a man’s purse, opau (io-pau) ; a woman’s purse, otoa (khé-tod) ; stockings, boek (beh) ; to adorn one’s self, chagkan dirt (ts1g) ; and we might here mention the flat-iron, ulau (ut-tiu).

As might be expected, nearly everything connected with the religious ceremonies of the Babas is known by names of Chinese origin: the Chinese temple is bio (bid), the Buddhist priest is hoe- sio (hé-sin") ; the idol is topekorg (toa-peh-kory), sio-hto (sio-hiu") is to burn incense, kui (Kit) is to kneel, and teyan (t6e-ién) is to give a subscription. ‘

Business affairs, medicine, and games (gambling) also con- tribute a number of words of Chinese origin, such as, toko (tho kho-) for shop, korgsi (korg-si) association or company, taukeh (théu-ke) head of a firm, jiho (ji-hd) shop sign; koyok (ko-ih) plaster, po’ho (poh-ha) peppermint, pekak ( poeh-kak-hiu") aniseed, sinse (sien-si") teacher; and the following games, pakau (phah- kin), susek (sti-sek), chiki (chit-ki), kau (kau), tan (tan), ete.

The Babas also use a good many words of Chinese origin to

express abstract ideas, but not always to express the same meaning that the word conveys to the Hok-kien chinaman. For instance, for ungrateful the Babas use bo-jin-chery (bé-jin-chérg), for a R. A. Soc., No. 65, 1913.