Tregeak. — -On a Phase of Hypnotism. 85 



been a source of delighted study to me for the last few 

 months, for in Bima there seems to have been left behind 

 among the Malays a belated colony of Polynesians as they 

 moved eastward in the great migration. Mynheer J. C. J. 

 Jonker, of Batavia, has lately published a Bima-Dutch dic- 

 tionary, and in this work, under the head of lata, he writes as 

 follows (I translate): "Lata is only used in the expression 

 batu lata ro hatu nggeiide, ' to follow without thought ; to 

 keep following as if begging,' and is used as the translation of 

 the Arabic taqlid. In Makassar lata signifies ' to repeat one's 

 words scornfully ; to imitate.' " So far M. Jonker. I cannot 

 discover in Makassarese precisely the meaning he gives, but it 

 will be well to remember M, Jonker's information as to 

 " repeating and imitating," and the Bima idea of following 

 some one about, in the light of other references. In Bima the 

 word as well as the sense is evidently obsolete, but we have 

 the idea of a tame animal followmg like a dog, and also that it 

 is applied to men as well as quadrupeds. 



In Dr. E. F. Mathes's magnificent Makassar-Dutch dic- 

 tionary he says that lata is applied to a person who starts at 

 the slightest noise and begins to say and do all kinds of crazy 

 things. This applies only to women. In the Bugis dialect 

 (Celebes) the word has the same signification. Lata-lata is, 

 Dr. Mathes tells us, "a certain nervous indisposition of 

 women, who under its influence blab out everything that 

 comes to their lips, and mimic everything that others do." 

 He derives it from the Sanscrit lata, " childish." Sunda, the 

 western portion of the Island of Java, has a very fine dic- 

 tionary, prepared by Mr. Eigg. He says that in Sunda lata 

 means "a person who is half-mad; often a woman who 

 labours under aberration of mind, and has extraordinary 

 fancies. It is known at Batavia and Bali. Gericke gives — to 

 laugh without interruption, which is a sign of people who are 

 lata." 



Since, then, Dr. Mathes, in Makassar, and Mr. Crawfurd, 

 in Malay, both refer the word lata to Sanscrit, it will be 

 well to see what foundation there is for supposing the word to 

 be continental, and, if of Sanscrit origin, allied to our own 

 group of languages;''' also, if it be Sanscrit, whether the 

 original word showed any tendency of meanmg towards 

 " hysterical disorder." The greatest authority (in a dic- 

 tionary sense) as regards Sanscrit is Professor Monier Wil- 

 liams. In his Sanscrit dictionary he gives us the meaning of 

 lata as follows : " One who speaks like a child, a blockhead, a 



* The Sanscrit lata, " childish," which in Malay becomes " to creep, 

 to crawl," and in Polynesian " tame, stupid," is probably represented in 

 the Teutonic branch by lat, " slow, tardy." It is in Icelandic lata, " to be 

 slow," and in English "late," &c. 



