The Atjehs buffalo vocabulary is the set of Atjehnese-language (Atjehs) terms for the water-buffalo, its varieties, its husbandry-implements, and its ritual-legal-economic functions, as documented in Kreemer’s *De Karbouw* ([[1956)]] and his *Atjeh* (1922-23), and in the lexicographical sources Djajadiningrat’s Atjehsch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek and Hazeu’s Gajosch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek. The vocabulary is exceptionally rich — a single small language-community maintains distinct terms for the buffalo itself, for its colour-varieties (albino, blaze, piebald), for its feral form, for its vocalisation, for its wallow, for its herd-leader, for the various implements of its husbandry (plough, harrow, yoke, restraining stock, bell, brake-shoe, freight-cart), and for the various ritual-legal concepts (earnest-money, half-share arrangement, fattening custom, nose-rope) attached to its commercial and ceremonial use.
The principal terms
The buffalo and its varieties
| Atjehs term | Meaning | Source in De Karbouw |
|---|---|---|
| *keubeuë* | the water-buffalo (the generic Atjehs term) | p. 22 |
| *doeroebiö* | cattle, livestock (formal register; cf. Mal. dorbia, OJ drewja) | p. 22 nt. |
| *keubeuë djagat* | albino (white) buffalo | p. 28 |
| *keubeuë poetëh talaq* | blaze buffalo (blesbuffel, with white forehead) | p. 30 |
| *keubeuë oeteuën* | feral / forest buffalo (“forest karbouw”) | p. 35 |
| *keubeuë peunoelang* | bride buffalo — gift from mother-in-law to Atjehse bride | p. 215 |
The buffalo’s voice and place
| Atjehs term | Meaning | Source | | *waq-waq*, *wèq-wèq*, *waq-wèq* | the buffalo’s call (onomatopoeia) | p. 35 | | *koebang* | buffalo wallow / mud-pool (same word as Malay) | p. 38 |
Herd-leadership
| *oelëë kawan* | “foremost of the herd” — lead buffalo | p. 53 | | *in ông keubeuë* | “elder / superior of the karbouwen” — lead buffalo | p. 53 |
Husbandry implements
| *langaj* | plough | p. 18 | | *tjreuëh* | harrow (eg) | p. 94 | | *joeq* | yoke (cognate with Skr. yoga, Eng. yoke) | p. 95 | | *leunggoeq* | restraining stock (dwangjuk) for wild buffaloes | p. 80 | | *bòh pè* | pulley-extension on plough-handle to keep buffalo walking straight | p. 81 | | *taq-toeq* | buffalo bell | p. 64 | | *djhoeng* | nose-rope of a buffalo | p. 59 | | *grobag* | buffalo freight cart | p. 102 |
Animal husbandry practices
| *peuteumbôn* | fattening of buffaloes for the two Ramadan feasts | p. 59 | | *peulhò keubeuè* | buffaloes trampling the soil plant-ready | p. 92 | | *sakét oelèe neuraja* | buffalo maturation-crisis (“illness at onset of maturity”) | p. 172 |
Sale and trade
| *tjaram*, *tjinggram* | earnest-money / advance to bind a sale | pp. 97-98, 128 | | *meudoea laba*, *meudoea hareukat* | “halving the profit” — half-share cattle arrangement | p. 98 | | *tjinoe* | whole coconut-shell dipper used in the buffalo-consecration rite | p. 128 |
Ritual slaughter
| *teungkoe meunasah* | village religious official and ritual slaughterer | p. 117 | | *keutjhiq* | village head (alongside the teungkoe) | p. 117 | | *hanji* | foul-smelling (meat) | p. 117 | | *tjaroeëh* | binding the slaughter-animal (collective task) | p. 118 | | *maq meugang* | the two Ramadan slaughter-days (paid fee) | p. 118 | | *Moloet* | Mawlid — anniversary of Muhammad’s birth (no fee) | p. 118 | | *hakikah* | sacrifice for a newborn (Arab. aqiqah; never a buffalo) | p. 118 | | *Koeroebeuën* | Qurbān sacrifice at Id al-Adha | p. 118 | | *kanoeri’s* | sacred meals on other important occasions | p. 118 | | *poewôê siê* | first-year husband’s obligation to bring meat to his wife | p. 113 |
Folk-belief and magic
| *seumapa* | cognate of Mal. tasapo — ill from evil spirit’s address | p. 165 | | *phét* | gall-bladder of buffalo/cow/goat (swallowed whole as remedy) | p. 167 | | *oetaq toeleuëng* | joint-marrow of buffalo/cow, used medicinally | p. 167 | | *baris-Laksamana* | magic circle drawn around the stall to protect livestock | p. 172 | | *laqseumana* | Atjehs (per Djajadiningrat) for the same magic-circle | p. 172 | | *doea* | Arabic-sounding incantation forming a magic circle/streak | p. 172 | | *poephon blang* | first inauguration of field-work, performed by a malim at midnight | p. 178 | | *kandoeri* | offer-meal / sacrificial meal | p. 177 | | *pantang* | taboo / forbidden | p. 178 | | *malim* | scriptural scholar who calculates auspicious moments and knows rice-lore | p. 177 | | *gigòe glanteuè* | “thunderstone / thunder tooth” — neolithic axe found in soil | p. 200 | | *goeroe boeja* | Atjehse crocodile-charmers | p. 82 | | *seurapi* | golden necklace with horn-motif | p. 191 | | *koeta djaq* | “wandelende fort” — mobile buffalo-hide siege-shelter | p. 146 | | *kawōm* | genealogical lineage / kinship group | p. 217 | | *keubeuë peunoelang* | Atjehse bride buffalo | p. 215 |
Lexicographical sources
The principal lexicographical sources on the Atjehs buffalo-vocabulary are:
- Hoesein Djajadiningrat’s Atjehsch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek (Acehnese-Dutch dictionary), cited in De Karbouw for pandaq (p. 146) and laqseumana (p. 172).
- G. A. J. Hazeu’s Gajosch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek (Gayo-Dutch dictionary), cited for doeroebiö (p. 22 nt.), kangkoe (p. 53), tjaram (p. 128), klamboen (p. 171), pepandji / keklip (p. 171), tali (p. 128), koetö (p. 146) and djalang (p. 30). The Atjehs language is, as De Karbouw notes (p. 22), a member of the Sumatran group of Austronesian languages and is “especially related to” (vooral met het Atjehs geparenteerd) the Cham language — a linguistic connection that points to the historical Atjeh-Cham relationship familiar from Snouck Hurgronje’s work.
Significance
The Atjehs buffalo-vocabulary is significant for the encyclopedia of Acheh history as the linguistic documentation of the integration of the buffalo into every domain of Atjehnese village life — agricultural, economic, ritual-legal, magical, and cosmological. The vocabulary documents that the buffalo was, in Atjehnese village society, not merely an economic asset but a culturally elaborated animal whose every variety, implement, function, and ritual-legal status had its own named term. The vocabulary is the principal linguistic monument of the Atjehnese buffalo-complex as documented in *De Karbouw* and *Atjeh*, and is the basis on which many of the concept-entries in this wiki rest.
Sources
De Karbouw — Zijn betekenis voor de volken van de Indonesische Archipel, by J. Kreemer (‘s-Gravenhage / Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve, 1956), passim.
Atjèh, by J. Kreemer, 2 vols. (1922-23). Atjehsch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, by Hoesein Djajadiningrat. Gajosch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, by G. A. J. Hazeu. De Atjehers, by C. Snouck Hurgronje, 2 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1893-94).
See Also
- Atjehs language
- Cham language
- Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje
- G. A. J. Hazeu
- Hoesein Djajadiningrat
- J. Kreemer
- Kreemer’s Atjeh (1922-23)
- Kreemer’s De Karbouw (1956)
- baris-Laksamana
- bòh pè
- keubeuë djagat
- keubeuë peunoelang
- keubeuë
- koeta djaq
- langaj
- leunggoeq
- poephon blang
- sakét oelèe neuraja
- teungkoe meunasah