98 REV. FR. J. HOFFMANN. S.J. 



mind precisely in that light in which true poesy must present them. To give but one 

 example : the word horse simply calls up the picture of a domesticated quadruped 

 which is one of the most useful among man's animal helpmates. The word steed calls 

 up the picture of the same animal, but this picture brings out prominently those very 

 qualities which we admire with fond pleasure in the horse : his noble bearing, his 

 graceful swiftness and his fiery courage even to death on the battle-field. 



In addition to poetic words the Aryan poet has, at his disposal, the greater elasti- 

 city of his sentences and the generally more ample and abstract character of his whole 

 language. These advantages, coupled with rhyme and rhythm, powerfully assist 

 and stimulate the mind to conceive objects easily as causes of the emotions and passions 

 which form the very inner essence of poesy. 



The Munda must, with his simpler means, try to obtain the same effect. Possibly 

 the synonymous repetitions under consideration are precisely intended as one of these 

 means. 



By expressing his idea once in the concrete terms at his disposal, he calls up in the 

 first line the image he intends using or idealizing for his poetic purpose. By repeating 

 it in the subsequent line in synonymous terms, he helps and urges the mind to look for 

 special features, i.e., to bring into prominence those very features which are calculated 

 to cause the emotions he wants to stir up. Habit lends a charm to these repetitions 

 and thus assists this primitive means to do for the Munda what our richer and subtler 

 means do for us. 



The Mundas have a large number of qualitative words which belong to the class 

 of jingles, because they are formed, either by the repetition of the same word, v.g., 

 chom-chom, pir-pir, jilib-jilib, or by the juxtaposition of two similarly sounding words. 

 In this class of words the second word presents either one or two vowel changes, e.g., 

 kandang-kundung , bangad-bungud , or one or two consonant changes, e.g. keleng-beleng 

 rarae-barae, or both consonant and vowel changes, e.g., nambar-dumbar , kere-bore. 



With regard to their meaning these jingles may be divided into two classes : 



(i) Those which are clearly intended to imitate some sounds, v.g., siraen-soroen, 

 whizzing ; chere-bere, used of the twittering of many birds ; rarae-barae, used of the 

 cuiifused noise caused by a multitude of people all talking at the same time. 



(2) Such as would appear to be imitative in a wider sense, i.e., not of sounds only, 

 but of impressions produced through the senses of sight and touch, smell and taste. 

 Thus jilib-jilib is descriptive of the flashes caused (e.g.) by the movements of polished 

 arms of men marching : bijir-balang differs from jilib-jilib inasmuch as it is descriptive 

 of the shimmering effects of bright light reflected from shining or brilliant objects in 

 rapid motion, such as the twirling of a sword, the play of small silvery fish in clear 

 water : biana-bocona is descriptive of graceful wavy movements, such as the flight of 

 certain birds, the swaying of tall trees with rather flexible branches : kere-bore is 

 ^scriptive of the smoothness and tenderness of fresh young plants and animals : 

 umg-lomong is descriptive of the impression of softness and richness produced on the 

 eye by young plants : rese-pese is used of the pleasing effect produced by a regularly 

 arranged or co-ordinated number of small bright objects, such as a fine set of small 



