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Journal of Ethnobiology 51-73 Spring/Summer 24(1): 2004 THE CATEGORY OF ANIMAL' EASTERN INDONESIA IN GREGORY FORTH Department Anthropology, University Alberta, Edmonton, of of T6G 2H4 Canada Alberta, — ABSTRACT. among It is a generally accepted idea ethnobiologists that most nonwestern languages lack a term for 'animal'. Evidence from eastern Indonesia reveals that, understood as labels for an ethnotaxon comparable to vernacular En- such terms by no means glish 'animal', are rare in this part of the Austronesian- speaking world. At the same time, the lexical resources employed to name a general 'animal' category reveal a notable diversity that corresponds to the variety documented by K. Alexander Adelaar in regard to Austronesian languages as a whole. In this article, review terms translatable as 'animal' in several eastern I Indonesian languages. conclude by addressing issues illuminated by the eastern I Indonesian evidence, including the perceptual salience of the 'animal' taxon and Berlin's evolutionary thesis concerning the lexical recognition of categories belonging ethnotaxonomic to different levels. Key words: Eastern Indonesia, Austronesian languages, ethnotaxonomy, ethnozoological nomenclature, terms for 'animal'. — RESUMEN. La idea de que la mayoria de las lenguas no occidentales carecen de un termino que signifique 'animal' esta generalmente aceptada entre los et- nobiologos. Los datos de Indonesia oriental muestran que estos terminos, enten- didos como etiquetas para un etno taxon comparable al de 'animal' en espanol mundo vernaculo, no son en absoluto escasos en esta parte del de habla austro- nesia. Al mismo tiempo, los recursos lexicos empleados para nombrar una cate- goria general de 'animal' revelan una notable diversidad que corresponde a la En variedad del conjunto lenguas austronesicas. este articulo reviso los terminos traducibles como 'animal' en varias lenguas de Indonesia oriental. Finalizo pro- poniendo basadas en evidencia indonesa, sobre la prominencia perceptual ideas, la del taxon 'animal' y la tesis evolutiva de Berlin en lo que concierne al reconoci- miento de categorias de diferentes niveles taxonomicos. lexico RESUME.— admis generalement pas Parmi ethnobiologistes, est qu'il n'existe les il non au terme «animal» dans plupart des langues occidentales. d'equivalent la Cependant, dans regions ou Ton parle malayo-polynesien, de pareils termes les ne sont pas rares et des faits provenant de Test de l'lndonesie indiquent que ces pour un ethnotaxon comparable au terme anglais termes en qu'etiquettes pris tant vernaculaire «animal» existent. Aussi, de fagon parallele, les ressources lexicales nommer une de afin documentee dans l'ensemble des langue Dans une synthase fournis nesiennes. cet article, je parmi yn these incluant reconnaissance ethnotaxonom FORTH No. Vol. 52 24, 1 INTRODUCTION maxim become In the study of ethnobiological classification, has a virtual it that terms in nonwestern languages denoting a category corresponding to English — uncommon 'animal' are even "normally" absent (Berlin 1992:15, 27, 190; Ber- cf. Among Brown Austronesian lin et 1973:215; 1984:4; Levi-Strauss 1966:1). the al. languages of Indonesia, however, such terms are not nearly so rare as this gen- would same eralization suggest. At the time, as Adelaar (1994:12-13) has noted, Proto-Austronesian, the hypothetical ancestor of Austronesian languages, ap- all means pears to have lacked a general term for 'animal'. Accordingly, the lexical employed by modern Austronesian speakers to refer to 'animal' are remarkably various. 1 among The purpose paper demonstrate comparable of this to a variety is general terms for 'animal' encountered in several eastern Indonesian languages spoken on the islands of Flores, Sumba, Roti, Timor, and Seram. further consider I the implications of this variety for ethnobiological theory pertaining to folk zoo- One logical classification. interest in this connection evidence indicating that is among 'animal' exists, at least as a covert category, even speakers of languages that lack a term unequivocally denoting the taxon. Especially relevant here the is widespread incidence of numeral coefficients (or cognate with Malay classifiers) Proto-Austronesian Dempwolff which em- ekor *'ikuy 1938:68), are 'tail' (cf. 'tail', when ployed counting or enumerating any kind of animal (see Berlin et 1974: al. 30; also Taylor 1984:107, 1990:44). ways In his review of 'animal' terms, Adelaar (1994:13) four general in lists which the folk taxon appears to be labelled in Austronesian languages. These naming include: with a descriptive phrase (or paraphrase) such as 'living creature' word or 'animate thing'; with a denoting a particular animal kind; with a term word referring to 'domestic animal'; or with a loan (often deriving from Malay As binatang, Sanskrit sattva, or Arabic hayioan). demonstrate below, of these I all methods much more are reflected within a restricted group of eastern Indonesian languages. This variety is discernible within clusters of the most closely related and some languages or dialects, in instances even possibly within one and the same language. LANGUAGES AND OF SUMBA, TIMOR FLORES, mem- languages survey here have been by identified Blust (1980) as I Titral-Malayo-Polynesian grouping within Malayo-Polynesian fam- the -onesian languages. Included in this grouping are two subgroupings Bima-Sumba and Ambon-Timor More iv Esser (1938) as the erouos. Wurm and Hattori have proposed more (1981) a concern spoken on Sumba, Savu, western and Sum- Bimanese language of eastern Ambon-Timor group cle, Esser's in- spoken more Lama- those in including Sika, the Timur) and the smaller islands immediately Spring/Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY 2004 53 — to the east (Solor, Adonara, Lembata/Lomblen) as well as Rotinese, the Tetum (or Tetun) language of Timor, and the Nuaulu language Seram. of begin by reviewing Bima-Sumba I languages, partly because their ethnozoological lexicons are rather better documented than those of Ambon-Timor languages, and begin with Nage and I closely related dialects of western Keo, since know ethnozoologically this is the case that best (see Forth 1995, 1999, 2004). I An alternative procedure might have been to frame the lexical data with regard methods to the four of labelling 'animal' isolated by Adelaar. However, since some languages more than one ways exhibit of the four of referring to animals in general, this less convenient. is BIMA-SUMBA LANGUAGES — wa Nage The Nage term ana (and Western Keo), Central Flores. labels a category of living things that closely corresponds to the English vernacular sense of 'ani- where By same mal' contrasts with 'human'. the token, the expression corre- it sponds modern Indonesian (and Malay) binatang Accordingly, Nage to 'animal'. number and recognize the taxon as comprising a of labelled unlabelled (or covert) wa and ana life-form taxa, including nipa 'snakes', ika ta'a co 'flying crea- 'fish', tures' or 'birds7 (coinciding mostly with the zoological class Aves), even though wa mammals the focus of ana large and then especially domesticated varieties is (Forth 1995:47-48). 3 Instancing an apparently universal feature of folk taxonomy, wa human Nage ana definitely excludes beings (kita ata), although, as discuss I human presently, the term can be applied metaphorically to a certain category of beings. common means ana In most usage, 'child, children' or 'child of. In a its human member any broader sense, the term can further refer to a of collectivity ana assembly or social unity for example, loka 'participant in a ritual or (see, wa wa means ana other ana one 'insider', one 'inside'). Since 'wind,' activity'; cf. might thus be glossed as 'children, people of the wind'. Entailing a figurative usage (insofar as Nage contrast 'animals' with 'people'), this interpretation is rec- who ognized by Nage themselves, rationalize with reference to the idea that, it and wind but unlike humans, animals are uncontrolled unpredictable in like the Nage with Consistent representation, behavior (Forth 1989, 1995:47). this their — who wa one apply ana small children (ana eno; Forth 1995:47-48), as further to — do understand speech and cannot be constrained informant explained not yet how commands connection, the informant noted by admonition. verbal or (In this 4 toddlers will heedlessly grab at everything in sight.) some Nage use ana alone with reference to contexts 'child' Contrariwise, in attempting animals, although mostly appears with reference to birds. In to it example, one might thus inquire ana apa identify a particular kind of bird, for ana might simply be construed ke? 'what (animal, bird) is that?'. 5 In this context, an can be understood as specifying ana wa; as an abbreviation of alternatively, it 'member of the larger group of 'flying animals' instance of a larger collectivity, a Rembong Wangka (northwestern wa dialect of the (ana Interestingly, in ta'a co). anak reman (reman refers to anak occurs Manggarai), the cognate similarly in anak) general by Verheijen (1977 as a wild vegetation, see note 16), identified s.v. FORTH No. 54 Vol. 24, 1 Nage names ana term for Also relevant here the mostly optional use of in 'bird'. is — many for kinds of birds koka and ana koka Helmeted friarbird, Philemon (e.g., names buceroides), although ana also occurs in the of other sorts of small animals — — ana gu house ana ana bo and Hemidactylus tadpole; lizard, frenatus; (e.g., fe — ana two tebhu kinds of freshwater fish). Nage Wae Interestingly, a clan resident in villages near the center of Bo'a is named As shown naming 'Ana Wa' by their alternative simply as 'woe Wa' (clan name Wa), however, the in this context does not necessarily translate as 'animal', mean but usually understood to 'Wind people'. According to another local is interpretation, can be construed as 'animal', but only in the metaphorical sense it of 'small children'. wa However ana be understood, Nage term precisely to the clearly instanc- is — es the use of a descriptive phrase to express the general sense of 'animal' or to label an ethnotaxon at the level of the 'kingdom' (or 'unique beginner', Berlin As wa known 1992:15). a general term for 'animal', ana also in western Keo, is where was and defined as referring to all four-footed animals, livestock, birds, it Two Keo when snakes. other terms, both asking about terms elicited local for ngawu and bugu Meaning 'animal', are nitu lata. 'possessions (goods, wealth) of ngawu more spirits', nitu precisely denotes wild animals, and reflects the idea, Nage found also in (Forth 1998:70-72), that various wild creatures are the domestic animals of free spirits (nitu). The endemic Flores giant rat (Papagomys ar- mandvillei, betu) thus considered the water buffalo of these Green jun- is spirits, glefowl (Gallus varius) are their chickens, and so on. As these specific equations number by humans are restricted in only virtue of the fact that possess limited (if how kinds of domestic animals), is equivocal far ngawu nitu can be understood it as including all wild creatures. Nevertheless, in response to questioning, was I — assured nip a example which more man- that (snakes), for are often identified as ifestations of nitu spirits themselves rather than as some particular kind of animal — belonging to the spirits are also included in this category. The second Keo term, bugu (owned by lava, refers specifically to livestock A synonymous humans). expression recorded Nage bugu most in For the is beti. ngawu part equivalent to ('wealth, possessions'; also, in context, specifically 'bridewealth'), the relevant sense of bugu bugu 'thing, possession, good(s)' is (cf. ngawu, wealth, including both and No livestock inanimate one ques- objects). I tioned could explain either lata or beti in these contexts. The usual sense of Keo Nage lava laza), however, while in neighboring Ngadha, (cf. is illness', beti 'ill, Nage bugu means (Amdt One beti) also (cf. 1961). possibility, therefore, is 'ill' that the phrases distinguish domestic animals from other possessions as things which are subject to illness, and which thus may decrease through sickness and death. wa introduce these expressions in order to demonstrate while ana I that, includes both domestic and wild animals Keo in as well as Nage, there are also terms and special distinguishing wild domesticated kinds. Like the general term, moreover, the latter are descriptive phrases designating essentially utilitarian clas- animals and humans ses of as the 'property' of spirits respectively, though a ngawu peculiarity of nitu is that, by virtue of a cosmological principle of "recip- Spring/Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY 2004 55 human rocal inversion' (Forth used 1998), it is to specify not livestock but wild ' creatures One wa interest of the western Keo use ana of relates to the fact that while wa Nage word is the for 'wind', in western Keo 'wind 7 waya. Yet one does not is hear ana waya. This circumstance, then, suggests the use of a loan word for though one adopted from 'animal', a neighboring dialect rather than from Malay or another quite different language. and inhabitants and Ende the Lio regions speak dialects that are closely related those Nage, to of Keo, and Ngadha. Indeed, they form a single grouping with from these, distinct both the language of Sika (spoken immediately to the east of Lio) and Manggarai Wurm language western and :map (the of Flores; see Hattori 1981 40). what In remains the major source for the Lio lexicon, Arndt's dictionary (1933) two may One lists terms that be glossed as 'animal' binata, clearly a loan from is Malay The same term given Endenese (see binatang). for 'animal' in (Stokhof is Arndt more 1983; Suchtelen 1921:330, for the dialect). For Lio, defines binata 'Ja'o' specifically as 'large animal, especially four-legged animals'. However, according who to Takashi Sugishima, 6 an anthropologist has recently conducted extensive among employed research Lio, the term further in the general sense. (Sugishima is used term 'human also states that binata often in contradistinction to a for is being' with from Malay in a dictionary Suchtelen — word must dated 1921 in a publication lists, it century. In the adoption fact, . administration, a circumstance iling by Church elementary establishment the of Malay in (Arndt primary The term thus comparable to Malay/ Bahasa is worm, insect caterpillar, form tronesian or Proto-Malayo-Polynesian that referred, at least primarily, to named worms and similar creatures. 7 In regard to the variety of small creatures by Malay appears largely to correspond to the sort of the term, ule (like ulat) 'wug' neologism formed from widespread taxon generally designated (a folk compound names 'worm' and Brown Yet ule further occurs in see 1984:16). 'bug'; Among denote 8 these are ule a 'crow', ule of several Lio folk generics that birds. small Stokhof 1983, ule mi'u bird that shrieks mi'u', ule si 'a bird', tnesi 'heron', 'a A with birds further ule molo, and ule polo. 9 particular connection of Lio ule is haba (Arndt indicated by the term haba ule 'bird's nest' 1933:132, s.v. '(bird's) manu haba nest', 'hen's nest'). cf. compounds by Arndt denote folk generics Other Lio with ule listed (1933) term worms, and regard the application of the to including grubs, insects. In to birds, interesting that of five insect terms, at least four refer to flying insects is it FORTH No. Vol. 24, 1 56 (see ule ae Various sorts of dragonflies', ae 'water'; ule apt 'wasp with a red lower body7 api ule hetu 'moth'; ule n'gake 'butterfly'; ule si sort of beetle, 'fire; 'a , chafer' but also a small bird). Apparently nonzoological applications of Lio ule include ule 'bad, mean, ugly'; Nage and ule ola, both of which re'e (re'e cf. 'e'e) (German The however, Arndt Arndt term, translates as 'evil spirit' boser Geist). first wa Nage ana additionally glosses as poisonous snakes' (see note regarding 3, 'all ta'a Ye). worms and appears term denoting similar therefore that in Lio, a originally It small creatures has become extended so as to encompass a far more inclusive category of living things. In other words, one evidently dealing with an instance is of a word denoting a particular animal kind being applied, not to animals in if general, then to a significantly wider variety of creatures than those originally labelled by the term. Interestingly, a remarkably similar extension appears to have occurred in the Tetum language of Timor, as indicated by Hull's (2001) gloss of ular as both 'worm, caterpillar; crawling insect' and 'creature, animal'. Further who term provided by Arndt evidence the Lio translates ule as for is (1933), worm, grub maggot, (German: Wurm, Made, 'creature, (larva), bird' Getier, Larve, Arndt also the compound ule age as kinds of animals, worms, Vogel). lists 'all On reptiles, and birds' {Getier, Wtirmer, Reptilen, Vogel). the other hand, according to more recent evidence provided by Sugishima (see note ule age refers exclu- 6), sively to birds, serving as "a general term for birds, except chickens." may In view of the meaning of ule (and cognates) in other languages, be it compounds which significant that, in addition to birds, the majority of Lio in ule occurs severally denote small creatures (dragonflies, wasps, larvae, moths, cater- worms). According Sugishima note Lio do not apply pillars, butterflies, to (see 6), mammals ule to or fish, although they do refer to some poisonous snakes as ule bani (bani 'angry', 'aggressive, bold'). Also noteworthy in this connection the is German fact that Getier, Arndt's first gloss of ule, not only has the collective sense of 'creatures', but also applies especially to insects (see Tyrell et Getier). s.v. al., There thus a suggestion that Lio ule refers only to certain kinds of animals, is may mostly smaller ones, so that the term accurately be glossed as 'animal' (or and so on) only compound where 'bird', 'snake', in the context of expressions, word modified by the is another, or in expressions referring collectively to a where variety of creatures, the inclusion of particular kinds ambiguous. is Insofar as ule can refer to snakes, should be noted that the Lio term cannot it be worm' interpreted as a retention of Proto-Austronesian *ulaR (or *qulej) 'snake, Not had become (Zorc 1994:593, 550). only 'snake' separated the Proto-Malayo- at Polynesian as *nipay (Zorc and perhaps Proto-Hespe- level, 1994:550), earlier (in = ronesian-Formosan Western Austronesian and Fbrmosan, Zorc 1994:550) as *buLay, but the evidence of other Flores languages reveals cognates restricted to worms, maggots, and other similar small animals. would appear, therefore, that It the Lio usage represents a special development, not simply a reversion to a more meaning generalized but one more a shift to evidently inclusive than that of the Proto-Austronesian form. Obviously, the suggestion that ule serves as a general term for 'animal', like Nage ana wa, requires considerable qualification. Nevertheless, clear that, in it is Lio, the term has acquired an ethnozoological sense more than that far inclusive is Spring/Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY 2004 57 maggot', and which moreover subsumes creatures belonging more than to — wmp n™ -form notablv. birds and snakes. YpL bv tnkpn cannot f-hp ethnotaxon zoological life-form taxa, or figures as a component of productive expressions Nage wa ana (such as ta'a co 'flying animals' or The Lio compound 'birds'). ule age does not necessarily contradict this characterization. Since age appears have to no meaning, separate cannot be decisively interpreted as a modifier specifying it a particular segment of animal kinds. Nor does clearly function adjectivally, in it On this context or in any other. the other hand, another Lio term generally denoting wild birds, ule bene (see note 6), can be analyzed as 'wild ule' (see bene instance cannot mean be used alone to 'animal'. While in the absence of further evidence regarding Lio usage one cannot definitely conclude that ule designates an 'animal' taxon, a fascinating comparison may be found in Chinese chong (or chung). Like the commonest gloss of chong ule, worm, word but other senses of the include and is 'insect', 'caterpillar', 'larva', 'vermin' Pocket Chinese-English Dictionary 1978). In addition, various kinds of (^4 evidence indicate that, in the past, chong has functioned as a general term for Xu 'animal' According to the etymologist Hao, in sixteenth-century China chong was method used for 'animal' regardless of the of locomotion or physical form of the creature referred to (Chinese Etymological Dictionary 1981). Accordingly, names animal chong further occurs in the of a variety of particular kinds, including 'tiger' (da-chong, literally 'big worm') and 'snake' (chang clwng 'long worm'). At present, however, of these categories possess alternative names. Also, in all modern term dong wu. 10 Chinese, the general for 'animal' is there an explanation for this similarity between Chinese and Lio, might If is it be found in a widespread, and probably universal, conception of animals as things that move are animated). Thus, as the smallest and morphologically simplest (or humans, of moving things, and perhaps as creatures which, for display a partic- movement worms, perhaps kind (wriggling or crawling), or better ularly salient of said 'wugs', might be regarded as something like 'atoms' of animation. 11 Also Sumbanese worth noting connection makayidi-yadaku, the eastern term in this is more component yada below, includes the for 'animal', which, as describe fully I swarm, team, wriggle, fidget' 'to Eastern Sumbanese.—As recently discussed in another article (Forth 2000), eastern name Sumbanese one expression that functions as a general for possesses at least This makayidi-yadaku 'things that move', a sense that reveals another 'animal'. is The instance of the use of a descriptive phrase to label 'animal'. basis of the two roughly meaning mo\ terms 'to and 12 Both Onvlee (1984) twist turn'. further excludes Nage ana wa, however, the category definitely or (Like creatures'. 'all makayidi-yadaku used mostly human As might beings.) these glosses suggest, is individuals when speaking of 'animals' in general, rather than referring to single FORTH No. Vol. 58 24, 1 or single kinds. Nevertheless, not only the term regularly applied to a variety is of animals, but recognized by Sumbanese speakers as denoting a category it is mahawurungu that subsumes less inclusive categories, particularly 'flying things' and (mostly birds) and tnabei 'creeping, crawling things', a large internally di- amphibians, and even verse category that includes insects, arachnids, reptiles, fish. nonhuman Although makayidi-y adaku can denote animals, focus ap- all its mean yada pears be undomesticated kinds. Consistent with can 'wild, to this, untamed, difficult to tame', as well as 'to move, be capable of movement' (Kapita 1982; Onvlee 1984). According to Onvlee, yada refers more specifically to a quick movement; thus he further translates the word as 'to teem, swarm' and 'to wrig- fidget' Somewhat curiously (since one might expect the contrast to be with gle, movement yada), he also describes yidiku as denoting a slower than yidi. Nage and Sumbanese term Similar Keo, eastern possesses a special for to main which domestic animals. This banda, the sense of 'goods, possessions, is is wealth' Bahasa Indonesia benda; also Nage and Keo bugu, ngawu). As this (cf. may term mainstay derivation suggest, the refers particularly to large livestock, a Sumbanese economy. Informants Sumbanese do- of the traditional in the eastern main of Rindi stated that banda could be understood in the wider sense of 'animal' (Bahasa Indonesia binatang), and that wild animals could then be distin- matamba guished as banda 'wild banda'. Yet neither Kapita (1982) nor Onvlee Sumb the principal lexicoeraphers of phr Whatever the extent of their semantic overlap, makayidi-y adaku and banda obviously related by taxonomic inclusion. By the same token, banda sug- t utilitarian category, referring mostly, not entirely, to a class of economic if values. Mostly in the sense of 'wealth', variants of banda appear in other eastern A where more meaning become Indonesian languages. case the inclusive has restricted, not just to 'domestic animal, livestock', but to a particular domesticate, name Nage, where the cognate bhada the of the water buffalo, the most is is Nage animal economy. valuable in traditional — As term Manggarai kaka Manggarai, Western Flores. a general for 'animal', in some ways presents a more complex case than any of the usages reviewed above. Mang- To a greater extent than Lio ule, the lexeme appears in a large variety of pygmy names kaka Sunda which garai bird ketok, woodpecker), of ap- (e.g., all Appendix names parently label folk generics (see also occurs in generic for 2). It other kinds of animals, mostly snakes and insects kaka Green tree ta'a, (e.g., and viper, Trimeresurus albolabris), as well as in the life-form terms for 'bird' 'snake', kaka lelap (lelap 'to fly') and kaka lewe (lewe 'long'). 13 For purposes of internal comparison, should be noted that, in place of kaka, several Manggarai it animal terms comparably incorporate kala (see kala mango, a kind of crab; kala and wura wara, a kind of small red ant; kala 'watercock'; Verheijen 1963:686; 1967). According to Verheijen, kala derives from kaka by dissimilation (1963:685 14 Whether component names two n. this also applies to kara, a of the of just 68). birds (kara kuak and kara kua wie, the White-breasted waterhen and the Night heron) not 15 indicated. is — Spring/Summer JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY 2004 59 In all of these usages, kaka and variant forms resemble Lio ule insofar as the compounds resultant apply primarily and kaka to insects, birds, snakes. Yet dif- from worm fers ule (mostly in the sense of 'maggot, 7 in by appears that, itself, it ) not to designate simultaneously any folk generic, intermediate, or life-form taxon. This circumstance lends support to Verheijen's (1963, 1967) interpretation of kaka as a general term for 'animal'; hence an expression kaka might like lezve 'snake' be straightforwardly animal/ and kaka translated as 'long lelap 'bird' as 'flying animal/ To illustrate the general sense of animal, Verheijen further the phrase cites tjala one kaka (1967 kaka 'perhaps some animal has he entered'. This, s.v. I) may notes, can refer, for example, to a wild pig that have invaded a cultivated an field or ant that has crawled into a placenta (kept after the birth of a child) usages which affirm that kaka can refer to quite various zoological kinds. 16 Other usages with the same import include akit kaka be) bitten by an animal' le '(to (Verheijen 1967, soro and ngo bang kaka go hunting', which incorpo- s.v. II) 'to rates ngo go' and bang bring', and more specifically means bring dogs 'to 'to 'to in order to hunt' 1967:186, kaka; see also bang motang hunt wild (ibid. s.v. 'to motang 'wild pigs', pig', ibid.: 29, 337). The character of the Manggarai term, however, complicated by the appear- is ance of kaka in Nage and Ngadha names for quite diverse natural kinds, includ- kaka ing, in a couple of instances, plants. In these languages, occurs as a reference number names what to living things only in a limited of binary for are apparently Nage such names. While few folk generic categories. contains six similarly in Ngadha compounds from number, the refer partly to creatures different those designated by the Nage terms. Further variety revealed by ethnozoological is categories named with kaka which Verheijen records for Komodo, a language Manggarai Appendix closely related to (see 2). Some from evidence suggesting explanation for this diversity available that, is homonymous in some of the Nage terms, kaka reflects usages. For ex- at least Nage name construed an ono- ample, kaka of the Dollarbird locally as in the is matopoeic imitation of the bird's harsh cry, whereas in kaka kea, the more elab- may name simply kaka be orate of the Yellow-crested cockatoo (also called kea), same understood as a cognate of words with the or similar referent in other Sum- Ngadha and Manggarai keka, eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages (see banese kaka, Malay/ Bahasa Indonesia kakatua 'cockatoo'; Proto-Polynesian Wurm By and Wilson ka(a)kaa or *kakaa 'parrot species', 1975:147). further name contrast, kaka watu, the Nage for a fish that characteristically inhabits the kaka can be interpreted as incorporating in the rocky bottoms of bodies of water, and watu conceivable sense of 'to stick, adhere, be attached to' 'stone, rock'. (It is name kaka kaka has meaning in the of the Praying mantis, koda.) that also this Ngadha The sense of adhere, be attached which applies in as well as Nage, 'to to', names would also explain the occurrence of kaka in Florenese for life-forms other two Ngadha terms, kaka bheto and kaka kaju, denoting than animals. Thus, the and or vines (Verheijen 1990: an unidentified edible plant species of Ficus, ferns, bamboo' and 'what can be translated respectively as 'what attaches to bheto 26), 17 clings to trees'. Nage and Ngadha com- This evidence tends to rule out the possibility of which kaka consis- pounds representing remnants of an earlier classification in FORTH No. 60 Vol. 24, 1 more and an tently denoted a far inclusive category of living things, ultimately 'animal' taxon according to Verheijen, does at present in Manggarai. as, it It is how Manggarai similarly difficult to see kaka, either in or central Flores languages, could represent a semantic expansion of a term that formerly possessed a more restricted range of reference hypothetically, Lio ule once did). For the (as, Manggarai more can be found usage, a likely interpretation in further glosses of kaka listed by Verheijen (1967). These include 'thing, object, article' and nomin- alizing functions of kaka, in particles translatable as 'that which', 'the thing which', 'one who' Bahasa Indonesia yang). Rather than 'flying animal', there- (cf. fore, the Manggarai term for 'bird' {kaka lelap) might be glossed as 'that which ma Sumbanese where eastern mahazvurungu, the nominalizer) or flies' is 'fly- (cf. name ing thing' Similarly, kaka langu, the one nonzoological Manggarai incor- mushroom porating kaka, which denotes a toxic (Verheijen 1967:186 kaka), s.v. can be which langu translated as 'that intoxicates' (see 'to intoxicate', 'to act as though drunk'). Further supporting this interpretation, the large majority of Manggarai kaka compounds referring to living things do indeed translate as 'that makes which (has a certain appearance)' or 'the one that (behaves in a certain way, a sound)' Appendix 18 The point applies equally compounds certain (see to 2). may with kola. Thus kola wura (watercock), for example, be interpreted as 'one name which wura dead in Verheijen provisionally glosses the is (a spirit)'; fact, as 'animal of the spirits of the dead' (1963:868, n. 87). 19 In view of Verheijen's knowledge of the Manggarai language and of Mang- and one can hardly doubt kaka garai culture natural history, his interpretation of as a general term for 'animal'. Nevertheless, the usage likely to have developed is whereby word meaning come as a synecdoche, a 'thing, entity' has to denote more something specific, namely, 'living, animate thing'. Yet there remains the methods Mang- question of which, any, of Adelaar's four of designating 'animal' if my may kaka kaka have garai exemplifies. interpretation correct, 'thing' If is its X X ultimate source in a hypothetical compound, *kaka 'thing that where was X', a word designating movement or the quality of animate Thus we may ulti- life. mately be dealing with a descriptive phrase comparable to eastern Sumbanese makayidi-yadaku kaka 'things that move'. Yet also possible that 'animal' it is from compounds simply represents a generalization the variety of referring to — which particular animal kinds in the term occurs that as a kind of Active is, Although etymology. Verheijen (1967) gives 'livestock' as one gloss of kaka, there is no reason to believe that this is the primary meaning, or that this meaning is more the derivation of the general sense of 'animal'. AMBON-TIMOR LANGUAGES — The Rotinese. Rotinese term for 'animal', bana (dialectal banda, Jonker 1908), pro- vides an instance of a term denoting domestic animal having come to be used in the more general sense. Although bana obviously cognate with Bahasa Indo- is nesia/Malay and Sumbanese benda (see previously) eastern banda, unclear it is whether term primary the retains 'domestic animal' as sense. Jonker glosses its word and bana and the as 'animal, especially a four-footed animal', fuik first lists bana aek as compounds specifying 'wild animal' and 'tame, domestic animal'