252 LEXICOGRAPHICAL COINCIDENCES IN KHASI & MALAY. 



essays, there is no excuse for students of the Malayan languages 

 to be ignorant of the methods of scientific philology. Each langu- 

 age of a group should first be compared with its own immediate 

 cognates, e.g. Khasi with Xicobarese, Wa, Palaung, etc., before it 

 is compared with distant relatives. From such a comparison we 

 can discover the limits of phonetic variation of the individual 

 sounds and can often deduce from the modern forms a more 

 archaic form for each group. We ought, for example, to get at 

 the original or primitive Austroasiatic and Austronesian forms 

 respectively and then compare ; not compare modern Malay 

 with modern Khasi. It is not enough to assume that a Malay t 

 can be represented by a t in Khasi : it should be shown that an 

 Austronesian t is in a whole series of cases represented by a i in 

 the Austroasiatic group and that that t is retained unchanged in 

 the two modern languages. Only then can we assume that the 

 Malay t or b or n corresponds with the Khasi t or b or n and so 

 that Malay words and Khasi words containing similar roots are 

 really related. 



I have neither time nor opportunity for this scientific 

 thoroughness. But I venture to print the list given below for one 

 cogent reason. Scholars in Europe with a book knowledge of 

 Malay are apt to miss nuances of meaning familiar to those ac- 

 customed for years to hearing the language spoken : and so to over- 

 look real affinities. For most of the coincidences given in my list 

 are very close and remarkable, and one has only to glance at them 

 to see that many are coincidences the' most rigorous philological 

 method could not reject; coincidences not only of root but of 

 •duosyllabic and trisyllabic words. 



One is tempted to connect the Khasi 'Eynkhiang' dry, parched 

 with the Malay 'Rengkiang^ granary, 'Shynkup' first room in Khasi 

 house, enclosed porch with 'Sengkuap' a lean-to, kitchen adjunct; 

 ■'Mangkalaf long legged of fowls with 'Mengkalaf' unfinished, having 

 long trailing ends-, of mat-work. Malays have a Hantu Sungkai, 

 Khasis a Syngkai Bamon (= Brahmin). May 'Anak Dara Suntf 

 virgo intacta and 'Smiting' to pluck a flower actually or figuratively 

 find their explanation in 'Syntiw' a flower? Possibly Khasi throws 

 light on some unexplained place-names in the Peninsula : Sungai 

 Teriang is a common name for a river: 'Teriang' in Khasi means 

 eel. 'Xaneng' in Khasi means from above. 



Malay. English. Khasi. English. 



Bengkok "] bent. Pynkhoh to curve, bend, wrestle. 



Cf. Tagalog )- 



Pangkok J to curve, bend. 



Tingkap thatched dropping ] [ Tvngkhap insert, hide, infix; 



ivindows in walls [ \ Tvngkhap- carefully hidden. 



of Malay house. ] [ tyngkhip 



Tang-kap seize. "] Khap gripe, fasten, close. 



Tekap close, mouth with \ 



hand. J 



Jour. Straits Branch 



