A grammar and dictionary of the Malay language : with a preliminary ...

DISSERTATIOX. c.Txix
of his theory. I conclude, then, by expressing my conviction,
that as far as the evidence yielded by a comparison of the
Tagala, Bisaya, and Pampanga languages with the Malay
and Javanese goes, there is no more ground for believing
that the Philippine and Malayan languages have a common
origin, than for concluding that Spanish and Portuguese are
Semitic languages, because they contain a few hundred words
of Arabic, or that the Welsh and Irish are of Latin origin,
because they contain a good many words of Latin ; or that
Italian is of Gothic origin, because it contains a far greater
number of words of Teutonic origin than any Philippine language
does of Malay and Javanese.
The only part of the continent of Asia, the Malay peninsula
excepted, in which the Malays have settled, and to which their
language has extended, is Kambodia, correctlv Karaboia, ''
The Ian- , . , , \^ , \ ^ ^
giiage of which appears to be a Malayan word. In that country
they seem to have established a little independent
principality called Champa, well known both in Malay and
Javanese story. Both the Malays of the peninsula and the
Javanese appear to have carried on a commercial intercourse
with Champa, and the same commerce still goes on be-
tween Champa and the British settlement of Singapore.
Of the time when, and the manner in which, the settlement
or colony of Champa was established there is no record. The
last king of Majapahit in Java, however, married a princess of
Champa, and in his time, therefore, about the beginning of tlie
fifteenth century, it must have been an established country,
and its inhabitants still professing the Hindu or Budhist
religion, since the princes of Java were as yet of a Hindu faith.
It was from a merchant of this country trading with Singa-
pore, that I received a short list of 81 words of the lan-
guage of Champa. Out of this number 16 are the ordinary
numerals, and therefore 65 only remain for a fair examination.
Of these then, 20 are Malay, 3 Javanese, 23 Malay or Javanese,
6 Sanskrit, and 14 of some unknown local language. Among
these words, 44 are nouns, 9 are adjectives, 4 are pronouns,
3 are auxiliaries, and 5 are particles. Of the nouns 5,—of tl;e
adjectives 3, and of the pronouns 1, belong to the unascertained
k