Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

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APPENDIX
but they have, on the other hand, made a few new ones on their own account,
so that there is not much to choose between them. Comparison inter se and
with other sources is generally sufficient to show which is in the right when
they differ.
All these versions have been included in the Comparative Vocabulary, but in
estimating their value as evidence it must be remembered that each group is only
one source, and that their weight is therefore not in any way increased by the
number of the versions, which have only been reproduced by reason of the
variations which occur in them.
A letter written by the Rev. Father Pupier, dated Penang, the 2nd October
1825, and printed in the Annahs de la Propagation de la Foi (1826), tom. ii.
p. 303, contains a few Semang words and phrases also, apparently, from a
district in or near Province Wellesley, but collected independently from the
above materials and expressed in a French orthography. This source is of no
great value, but has never been noticed hitherto, so I have thought it worth
while to mention it. A diligent search in other missionary records may perhaps
lead to the discovery of more such material.
P. J. Begbie, in his rather rare book the Malayan Peninsula (1834), pp.
14-18, gives a list of about 160 Semang words (including, of course, a few
Malayan loan words) which was furnished him by an unnamed friend of his.^ It is
not stated where the dialect was compiled, but it is undoubtedly a Semang
dialect,- and from a source quite independent of those already mentioned, but
related more nearly to the Juru than to the Ian (or Kedah) Semang. The
spelling appears to be rather good, but the list has been badly printed, so that in
ten cases vowels are left out and represented by turned letters, thus ". This,
however, is not due to Begbie's own printer, for Begbie apologises for it on p.
xvii. , at the end of the Errata, and explains that these blanks occurred in his
original, which (having himself no knowledge of the aboriginal dialects) he was
unable to correct. It appears, therefore, that Begbie's list is founded on a
printed source, which I have been unable to trace.
The same list appears to have been reprinted in the J\/alacca Observer, in an
article on the missionary journey of the Rev. Jacob Tomlin, mentioned in J. S.
Vater's Litteratur der Gramniatiken (2nd ed. , by B. Jiilg, 1847), p. 537, and a
copy of this reprint is preserved in the Royal Library, Berlin. I have not had
access to it, but from the words extracted from it in Griinwedel's Glossary and
.Schmidt's work it is evident that it is identical with Begbie's list ; one or two
minor differences are noted in the Comparative Vocabulary, but otherwise this
so-called " Tomlin's Semang" is not embodied in it.
The next list to be considered is Newbold's Vocabulary, headed " Orang
Benua," printed in his already mentioned work. This is a long list of about
450 forms (including some trifling variants) being the equivalents of about 250
English words. In some cases there are as many as five synonyms, generally
there are two or three.
In point of fact this list is a heterogeneous agglomeration of at least three
distinct dialects belonging to three quite different groups.
As Schmidt points out, one element in it is Semang, of a type so closely
allied to that of Begbie's list that it must be referred to the same or at least a
neighbouring dialect ; but the spelling differs from Begbie's, and is somewhat
less accurate, so that perhaps Schmidt is right in concluding that the two do
not go back to the same written source. On the other hand, in a few cases
^ Probably the Rev. C. Thomsen, a Aborigines,
missionary and scholar, of Malacca and - In No. 27 of the Straits Asiatic
Singapore, to whom Begbie in p. ix. of Jotirnal I wrongly expressed a doubt
his Introduction makes his acknowledg- on this point. Probably the dialect
ments for a paper treating of the was recorded in Southern Kedah.