Atjehnese langa — the Atjehnese word for “plough”, cognate with Malay tanggala, Batak tonggala, Balinese tonggala, Madurese nangghālā, and ultimately derived from Sanskrit langgala (लङ्गल) — is the linguistic evidence cited by Dr. Van Naerssen in his chapter De oudste cultuurstroomen in Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk (1946) to place the Atjeh language within the wider Austric (in Van Naerssen’s usage) / Austronesian linguistic family, and to document the early Indian (Sanskritic) influence on the agricultural vocabulary of the archipelago.
Van Naerssen’s account
Van Naerssen’s wording: “Some languages have for this agricultural implement a word derived from langgala, for example the Malays, the Bataks and the Balinese (tŏnggala), the Madurese (nangghālā), the Atjehers (langa), etc.; other languages have for it words of different origin: the Javanese (wluku and brujul), the Sundanese (wuluku), the Malays (also: bāluku, luku and bajak), the Boeginezen and Makassaren (pajeko and tengko).” The Atjehnese langa thus groups with the Malay, Batak and Balinese forms in the langgala-cognate set, against the Javanese, Sundanese, Boeginees and Makassar forms that have different origins.
The two hypotheses
Van Naerssen considers two hypotheses for the spread of the langgala-cognate set. The first: the word “has reached Indonesia via Sanskrit — that is, imported by the Hindus”. The second: the word “came with one of the many cultural streams in prehistory out of the stamland” — that is, the Austronesian homeland in mainland Southeast Asia — “centuries before the arrival of the Indians”. Van Naerssen does not adjudicate between the two hypotheses, but his inclusion of the Atjehnese langa in the langgala-cognate set is itself significant: it places the Atjeh language within the same linguistic grouping as Malay, Batak and Balinese, against Javanese and Sundanese.
Significance for Atjeh
For the Atjeh-focused reader, the Atjehnese langa is significant as one of the few pieces of linguistic evidence in Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk that bears specifically on the prehistory of the Atjeh language. The same word — langa — places Atjeh within the wider Sanskritic-influenced agricultural vocabulary of the archipelago, alongside Malay, Batak and Balinese, and against the non-Sanskritic plough-words of Javanese, Sundanese, Boeginees and Makassar. The Atjeh language’s membership in the langgala-cognate set thus connects it to the early Indian cultural influence on the archipelago, an influence that predated the Islamisation of Samudra in 1297 by many centuries.
Dutch terms used in this article
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk — What the Indies Received and Gave
- Wereldbibliotheek N.V. — World Library Ltd.
- oudste cultuurstroomen — oldest cultural streams
- Atjeh — Aceh
- Atjehers — Acehnese
- Acheh — Aceh
- Java — Java
- Sumatra — Sumatra
- Bali — Bali
- Batak — Batak
- Samudra — Samudra
- Bacson-Hoabinh — Bacson-Hoabinh (mesolithic culture)
- Sumatra-bijl — Sumatra axe (mesolithic tool type)
- Boeginezen — Bugis
- Makassaren — Makassarese
- tanggala — plough
- langgala — plough (Sanskrit)
- langa — plough (Atjeh form)
- wluku — plough (Javanese)
- brujul — plough (Javanese)
- wuluku — plough (Sundanese)
- bāluku — plough (Malay)
- luku — plough (Malay)
- bajak — plough (Malay)
- pajeko — plough (Bugis)
- tengko — plough (Makassar)
- nangghālā — plough (Madurese)
- tŏnggala — plough (Batak/Balinese)
- zen — Zen
- Dr. — Doctor
See Also
- Arabic loanwords in Acehnese Malay
- Bacson-Hoabinh culture in Atjeh
- Sumatra-bijl
- Acheh
- F. H. van Naerssen
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk
Source
Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., 1946), p. 46 (chapter De oudste cultuurstroomen door Dr. F. H. van Naerssen).