ON SUNDANESE VERNACULAR NAMES. 359 



daily. It lias already been mentioned by different antbors tliat the in- 

 habitants of" the western part of Java (the ISundanese) are known to be 

 good botanists, and tliat they use in sonie degree tiie Linnajan nomen- 

 clature. They have ordinarily names for certain groups, and for the 

 species of tliese groups they have also a special name. In the classification 

 of tliese groups they often are mistaken, but this is especially the case 

 with those plants that are only to be found iu tlie woods of the higher 

 regions; for, as there are no villages (kampoenjj), the names of those 

 plants are unknown to them. As an illustrating instance I give the 

 name of tjanl'uji (pron. tyanteeguee), which they apply to nearly all the 

 Ericaceae, to Mijrsine and Leplospermum, and perhaps to other plants 

 with leaves similar to the above-mentioned. 



Mr. Motley's remark, quoted by Mr. ColUns in the same volume, page 

 36 1, is thus very true. For example, the name for nearly all the Lan- 

 rii/ea is koeroe (vYOii. hooroo), at 8uinatra and Haugka md(Mi/ff ; for all 

 the Melastomacece, hdrhidoug ; for almost all the Perns, ^«/.oe (pron. 

 pakoo) ; for all the epiphytous Orchids, diiggrtk ; for several Acanthacea 

 and Lablutce, djarong ; the name kiara (pron. kee-ara) is used for many 

 species of the genus Flcns ; kilampani (keelainpanee) for Ard'mu and 

 Vlhiiucavdra ; kaiieka for the RldzophorecB ; pdm for Oaks. Concerning 

 Dr. de Vry's remarks, also quoted by Mr. James Collins, I must remark, 

 (1) that klara is only the name for certain groups of the genus Fie us ; 

 for the other groups otiier names are adopted : (2) that the Qnercus 

 fusifurmis, Jungh. {Q. Jmujlinhnii, Miq.) does not bear the name o^ kiara. 

 Tliis tree, as is known, varies from the other Quercus by its peculiar 

 habit and by its fruits. It is thus not surprising that the natives 

 do not recognize tliis tree as a Quercus {pasan). Junghuhn misunder- 

 stood the name, which is really tjara-anak \tjara — resembling to ; anak 

 = children). In other parts of Sunda the name is rijoeng-anak (pron. 

 rccyoong-anak ; rijoeug = around). 



There are two causes for depreciating the value of vernacular names. 

 The first cause is that not all the natives know all the indigenous plants. 

 Must of them know the names of those common plants which are used 

 for medical and culinary purposes, but only few know the plants which 

 are found in the midst of tlie forest. Besides, the natives believe it un- 

 polite not to answer a question, and, to please the interrogating traveller, 

 they give a name of whose exactness they are not certain. The second 

 cause is tlie small linguistic knowledge of most of the travellers. I 

 have always applied myself to a careful inquiry about vernacular names, 

 and tliough 1 am already a little accustomed to the foreign Sundanese 

 souiuls, 1 am often obliged to (piestion my collectors several times before 

 getting certainty about the names. One must be accustomed a long 

 time to a language before being able to catch the sounds. 



Usually the i\Ialayan names are given more correctly than tlie Sun- 

 danese ones. The greater part of the Europeans in the Archipelago 

 speak more or less the Malayan language, but those who speak also Suji- 

 danese are very few. In consequence a great confusion is to be found 

 in the Sundanese names. 



For their specific names they like to use some characteristic words: for 

 example, soesoe (pron. soosoo), they use for a fruit which has the form of 

 the breast of a young maiden ; cnrit (pron. cureet), properly mouse, for a 

 small sort; miujak (oil = smooth), for unarmed species of a genus that 

 commonly possesses thorns (for example, Erglhrina). 



