200 
ON THE MALAYAN ANT) POLYNESIAN 
lippine languages have often undergone great corruptions, both in 
sound and sense. Thus, the word bdli, or “ bli ” “to buy,” in Ma¬ 
lay, is written bill in Tagala, and interpreted “ price,” or “ cost.” 
Buna , in Malay, is “a flower” or “ blossom,” and in Tagala it is 
“fruit.” Pintu , in Malay and Javanese, is a “ door” or “ gate 
but in Tagala, written pinto , it means “ a house.” Laban, in Ma¬ 
lay, is a “hole,” “aperture, or “pit:” and in Tagala, written 
bun , it signifies “interment,” and “a grave.” Utan , in Malay, 
means “ a forest” or “ wild but in Tagala, “ foliage” and “ ver¬ 
dure.” 
Sometimes one of the Philippine languages gives the sense more 
correctly than the other. Thus, the Malay word baa, “ odour” or 
“ smell,” is, in Tagala,” “ stench” or “ bad smell,” while in Bisava 
the Malay sense is correctly given. In Malay and Javanese, the 
word tali signifies “ a rope,” “ string,” or “ cord,” but in Bisaya it 
is “ a sash while in Tagala it is correctly rendered. Nana, “ to 
gape,” in Malay, is, in Tagala, “ to open,” “ to masticate,” “ to 
eatwhile in Bisaya it signifies “ to open the mouth,” making a 
nearer approach to the true meaning. 
The Sanscrit words introduced into the Philippine language have 
been equally corrupted with the Malayan. Thus, the word cinta, 
“ affection,” is correctly written in Malay and Javanese, but in the 
Tagala and Bisaya the letter c not existing, 5 is always substituted 
for it, and cinta becomes sinta. 
The well-known Sanscrit word Avatar, meaning “ descent,” and 
commonly applied to a descent or an incarnation of Vishnu, is cor¬ 
rupted in the Malayan languages into Batara, and not confined to 
the incarnations of Vishnu, but applied as a generic term to any of 
the chief Hindoo gods. This is the sense in which it was used by 
the Philippine islanders on the arrival of the Spaniards, but by a 
permutation that is frequent with words introduced from the Ma¬ 
layan, l is substituted for % and an aspirate being added, the word 
has become Bathala. 
The Spanish missionaries found this word ready to their hand, 
and applied it as an appellative to the Deity: so that, by a strange 
