; C H A P T E R VIII.
Language.—Little Tcno'wi to Europedns.—‘D’iffèrentLdnguAges oV Dialects
‘ Those ó f Sundd, Madera and B ali cotnparéd with that h fja fa 'Proper
i Th&polite !Ëaiï$udg&rJ ot* Langudgè o f H bnour.~The Kawi,^ or1sacred and
classic' Lmhgïtdg:è .—'Nïtfoidtüldi^-Lhdndra (lSahgkdla.—Literature-.—Cont-
pbdtims M: the Kdwi Language^ arid in the mbdéfa J a'vanl—ïnf.ue'nce o f
Hindu Literature.—LntrbdUctlon o f Arabic Literature.—’P o ^n 'i-^fh e
t Brdta Yud’ha, a Poem.—MÜsk'.—Paihüngi—SMipture.—frc h itftu fe .—
Aftthmetici^Asfooëbrmf.’’
tLoi tEtluer okpneoawnns.
T H E extensive .prevalence of the Javan language, and .ifs-cpqnexio.nijwith
we languages of continental India, were not'overlopked byhttjqse intelligent
Europeans who visited these islands at an early pexiod; fprwe find Valentyn*
quoting the authority of Flaccourt, who published in li36Iy and of thespr-
tuguese Jan de Barros7 for conclusions with regard""toThe^pspaitof Javan
commerce in remote ages, drawn from the resemblance'ifteiPtraced between
thb languages of Java and those of Madagascar and Ambdn (Amboipah
‘*lThe Javans,” observes this author, “ -must doubtless-have Wated^oro-
“ mandel and Malabar, for the high of-court language is,’An^diree-rparts out
“ of four, derived from the Sanscrit or Brahminical language/ Many Malabar
“ ‘ words also enter into the composition, and it is-1 besides cdmppsgq in a
“ great measure from the Dekan, which is the aricietf language o"f/India, -
“ in'the same manner as the Sanscrit is the sacred language.”
The alphabet has been exhibited, though imperfectly, by Valentyn^Ee
Brun, and Reland, and an Alphahetum Bantemense is, said "to ‘naytbbeen
found amongst the posthumous papers of the learned Hyde J but the. language
does not appear to have/ been regularly cnSiV&ted by Europeans
until within the last very few1 years. Some of the .oUtffites of the Javan
mythological stories—bad previously appeared In a, Hutch dress, in the
Transactions of the Batavian Society; and these, with the translation of the
Lord’s
* Vpl. iv, Book 2, Chap. I .
LANGUAGES. 3SZ
Lord’s Prayer into the high and low languages, published by Valentyn, some
short vocabularies,- and a short comparative .'view- of the'Javan and Malayan
languages,-1which appeared in a Dutch work .entitled* V.Begin en vortgang
den'Oost IndCdmpenf or the Rise and Progress of the East-India Company,
are'the only contributions to our knowledge of Javanditerature with
whiefh I am acquainted. Jr " ‘ 1 '-:t ' , "l .
r-lThenative.population of Java, Madhmrand BdU} .islands most intimately
cptmected with' eacb efther m/every respect,- use exactly the. same written i«ts.
Character, and it appears-thatftne*(generic--language prevails throughout
these islands; Of 'this generic-language, however, there'-are fout dialects,
differing Wmaterially^om^each other-as to be generally-considered separate
language. It is,- however; rather by admixture of-other languages
than (by- mere- difference of- dialect that they -are distinguished. These
dialects or languages are the Sdnda,- spoken'by the inhabitants ibfdhe moun-’
tainous districts of Java west oLT6gal';,\he Jdwa» or.--Javan,-iwhich. is the
general language of Java-east-"of Cheriboh, and throughout the-;districts
%&fg’ortfthe northern1,coast’.of- the. island; the Madura md'ih&Bali,- being
the dialects el- languages belonging to those'islands respectively.^
^.-iHuw-far these dialects of JaUguages radically^assimilitc with each other, Vocabularies.
and< justify the opinion that tone, generic language prevails throughout,-'may
b&.determinediby an inspection of-the annexed vocabulary.* ’The Lampung
isi-added; on' account, of the vicinity of that part of Sumatra to‘ Java, and
the intimate political connection which at alt times -subsisted^-betweeri itbe
people, and in order to-eiiabletbe' reader to- comparettbem all-with the pre-
> «sailing' language ofi the- cAr chipelagoi1: the Maldyu is prefixed. Under the
Javants inpluded-the Bdsa frdma, orpiolite language, which will be more
particularly nqtjbud- hereafter. ■ '1
In this vocabulary, ^such words only have been introduced aMdrd'used
iniconversation,: ' and-in ordinary-’epistolary-composition; but th'e inhabitants
dftthese islands possfesiHurther a classid language, j altogether distinofrfitam the
o r d i n a r y languages of the country, andwh-ichJsto them what, the Sanscrit is
to'the Pracrii -language. of" Hindustan, and-whatthe P ali is to the Birmaft
and Siamese. ‘ This language is> termed Kdwi.t} d'-Tbe attifexed ■ vocabulary,
No;
4-* See comparative vocabulary of the 'Malayu, 'Javan, Madurese, lBdli,- and Limping languages.
Appendix E. :: . • • _ • . .
H | x h e term Kiwi seen}? to have been borrowed from the Sanscrit Kami, meamng, in that
language, poetry or poetical.