Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. (IA mobot31753002412044).pdf/164

 brother, chek, is ’nchek; sister's husband, chiá-hu, is chau; and so forth.

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 tiaⁿ (Chinese thiaⁿ); the central court open to the sky is chimchi (chhim-chíⁿ); the upper floor is loteng (lâu-téng); the inside balcony is langkan (Chinese làng-khang, open space); bedroom is pangkeng (pâng-keng); the outer balcony open to the sky is la-peⁿ (? lâu-pîⁿ); a lamp is teng or tanglong (teng-liông); a carpet or rug is tanak (thán-à); paint is chat (chhat); and even a cockroach is kachuak (ka-tsoâh). Kitchen utensils are called by Malay names, but anything peculiar to the Chinese receives a Chinese name, as, tea pot, tekuan (tê-koàn); soup spoon, tngsi (thng-si); kettle, teko (tê-kó͘); 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 (tīm), but Malay words are used for all other cooking operations; many kinds of food are known by Chinese names, such as, bami (bah-mī), tauyu (tāu-iû), kiamchai (kiâm-chhài), kuchai (ku-chhài), pe-chai (peh-chhài), chaipo (chhài-pó͘), kueh chang (ké-chàng), kueh tiau (ké-tiâu), etc. Several articles of clothing have names of Chinese origin, that which is most familiar being of course the queue, tauchang (thâu-tsang); also we have Chinese mourning, toaha (toà-hà); a child's binder, oto (io-tó͘); a man's purse, opau (io-pau); a woman’s purse, kotoa (khó͘-toà); stockings, boek (bèh); to adorn one's self, chngkan diri (tsng); and we might here mention the flat-iron, utau (ut-táu).

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 (biō), the Buddhist priest is hoe-sio (hê-siūⁿ); the idol is topekong (tōa-peh-kong), sio-hio (sio-hiuⁿ) is to burn incense, kui (kūi) is to kneel, and teyan (tôe-iên) is to give a subscription.

Business affairs, medicine, and games (gambling) also contribute a number of words of Chinese origin, such as, toko (thô͘-khò͘) for shop, kongsi (kong-si) association or company, taukeh (thâu-ke) head of a firm, jiho (jī-hō) shop sign; koyok (ko-io̍h) plaster, po'ho (po̍h-hô) peppermint, pekak (poeh-kak-hiuⁿ) aniseed, sinse (sien-siⁿ) teacher; and the following games, pakau (phah-káu), susek (sù-sek), chki (chit-ki), kau (kau), tan (tán), etc.

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-cheng (bô-jin-chêng), for a