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Old Malay

Posted: 2018-01-30, 22:22
by atalarikt
So I was looking for Old Malay on Google and found this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWCtaxZHNLc

Re: Old Malay

Posted: 2018-02-04, 12:40
by atalarikt
The translation of the Kedukan Bukit inscription (the one in the video);
All hail and prosperity! In the year 605 of the Saka calendar, on the eleventh
day in the month of Waisaka, His Majesty rode
a boat to make a profit. On the seventh day
on the full moon of Jyesta, His Majesty
brought 20000 troops and
312 people in boats from firth of Tamvan, With 1312 foot soldiers
and came to Matajap
happily. On the fifth day on the bright moon of ...,
they docked and opened a country ...
Great, prosperous and peaceful Srivijaya!

Notice that the inscription is missing a few words, hence the ellipses.

Vocabulary

vulan/wulan = month (bulan in Modern Malay)
nayik = to go up, ride something (naik)
samvau/samwau = sampan/traditional wooden boat
mangalap = to look for/take something (mengambil/mencari)
marlapas = to take off/extricate (berlepas)
mamava/mamawa = to bring (membawa)
vala/wala = soldier troops (bala -> balatentara)
laksa = ten thousand (dua laksa = twenty thousand)
dangan = with (dengan)
sarivu/sariwu = a thousand (seribu)
tlu/telu = three (tiga)
sapuluh dua/sepuluh dua = twelve (dua belas)
vanakna/wanakna = the large number of sth. is... (banyaknya)
sukhacitta = happiness (sukacita)
marvuat/marwuat = to make/form something (membuat)
vanua/wanua = country (banua -> benua, now means continent)
ko = to (ka/ke/kat)

A thread from Kaskus (an Indonesian forum website) on Old Malay

Re: Old Malay

Posted: 2018-02-04, 13:37
by atalarikt

Re: Old Malay

Posted: 2018-02-04, 18:19
by rmanoj
That's interesting. Laksha is 100,000 in Sanskrit, not 10,000. Did the meaning change when loaned, or is that an error?

Re: Old Malay

Posted: 2018-02-04, 21:35
by atalarikt
rmanoj wrote:That's interesting. Laksha is 100,000 in Sanskrit, not 10,000. Did the meaning change when loaned, or is that an error?

According to this Wikipedia page, laksha in Old Malay is 10,000.

As for whether its meaning changed or it's an error, I don't know much yet.

EDIT: I have asked this question in an Old Malay learning group, and other members seem to agree that dua laksa in the inscription, indeed, is 20,000, not 200,000, as the latter number was apparently a very big number in the 7th century Nusantara. Also, the Srivijaya kingdom was still pretty new back then.