Boh thenë was the Acehnese name, current throughout Groot-Atjeh, for the leucoma corneae — the white corneal scar left after keratomalacie or an eye inflammation. The term means the eye, or the egg, of the boeroeng balam, a kind of bird.
The term
Dr. C. E. Gomperts recorded: “Het leucoma corneae na eene keratomalacie of na eene oogontsteking staat overal in Groot-Atjeh bekend als boh thenë, hetgeen beteekent het oog òf het ei van de boeroeng balam, een soort vogel” — the leucoma corneae after a keratomalacia or after an eye inflammation is known everywhere in Groot-Atjeh as boh thenë, which means the eye or the egg of the boeroeng balam, a kind of bird.
Unlike penjikit sisë, the Acehnese name for active xerophthalmie, which was current only in the moekims Lhong, Lho-Nga and Lam-Kabeuë, the term boh thenë was known throughout the surveyed area — an indication of how widely the end-state of the disease was recognised among the population, even where the active disease had no distinct name.
Clinical significance
The maculae corneae and their complicated form, the leucoma adhaerens, were tabulated separately by Gomperts: 56 cases of maculae corneae among 6,113 boys and 32 among 5,133 girls, 112 among 3,732 men and 90 among 3,830 women; of these, the leucomata adhaerentes — which bring great danger of blindness — numbered 9 among boys and 6 among girls.
See Also
Source
Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.