Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra75771917roya).pdf/115

 The Malay Rice Cycle.

In Kedah there is a phrase běrtému kop for the 'completion of a cycle of years.' It is pretty certain that kop is derived through the Siamese kab from the Pali kappa, which in turn is the Sanskrit kalpa. It is used by Hindus and Buddhists to express an aeon during which the physical universe is destroyed. In Malay, it is applied to a cycle of a few years, generally to the 12 year eyele of the rice pawang, the years of which are designated by animal names. The cycle is common to Siamese, Cambodians, Chinese and Japanese. But both the word kop and the Malay names for the animals are from the Siamese and not from the Cambodian. The Cambodian form is kalba = kalpa, and the Cambodian words for the animals are more remote from the Malay words, while the Siamese words are almost identical:—

The cycle is not known to the Mons.

This settles the problem discussed by Mr. Shaw on p. 7. of his paper on 'Rice Planting.' The linguistic evidence proves conclusively that the cycle was borrowed directly from the Siamese, who in turn may have borrowed from the Cambodians.