Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Bugis keris :Owned by or a gift to Makassar walikota 1967 ?

A. G. Maisey · 17th October 2018, 09:49 PM

Indonesia has a strong thread of militarism running through it. One of the products of this is that words get abbreviated and become acronyms (singkatan). In newspapers and magazines these acronyms proliferate to the extent that ordinary people often cannot understand an item of news --- and that's OK, because if they cannot understand it due to the use of acronyms, then it is obvious they were not intended to understand it. So you get the situation where people will ask one another what a particular acronym means, sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. From time to time newspapers will publish a list of new acronyms, so people can follow the text.
There is a flow on from this official use of acronyms that is extremely unfortunate in development of the use of language and improvement of education --- but I won't go there.

In any case, in respect of "H. M Dg."

Dg. is an easy one, it is an abbreviation of "Daeng", which is a title in Southern Sulawesi.

In this case, "H" would be an abbreviation for "Haji", and "M" would be "Mohamad".

So:- Haji Mohamad Daeng Patompo.

There are other words that "H" can be an acronym for, and other words that "M" can be an acronym for, but in this case the words I have given are the most probable.

Now, Haji Mohamad Daeng Patompo was a very wealthy Bugis merchant who lived in Singapore in the early years of the 2oth century. My memory is that his name was much longer than that, but I've forgotten the rest of it. I think there was some story that he was actually Bugis/Chinese.

Incidentally, the word "Daeng" does not mean the same as "Walikota", or in English "Mayor". In Southern Sulawesi it is is a title of respect that would be given to an older person, or a person who because of social position or personal characteristics was regarded as "older".

The word "Kotamadya" is equivalent to "municipality" in English, possibly this might be what caused the confusion that "Daeng" is equivalent to "Mayor" or "Walikota". It would be reasonable to accept that perhaps a Walikota might be given the title of respect of "Daeng", because of his position, but "Daeng" does not equate to "Walikota".

But how does all that fit with a date of 1967?

Somebody else can have a go at explaining that, its beyond me.

17th October 2018, 09:49 PM	#6
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,697	Indonesia has a strong thread of militarism running through it. One of the products of this is that words get abbreviated and become acronyms (singkatan). In newspapers and magazines these acronyms proliferate to the extent that ordinary people often cannot understand an item of news --- and that's OK, because if they cannot understand it due to the use of acronyms, then it is obvious they were not intended to understand it. So you get the situation where people will ask one another what a particular acronym means, sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. From time to time newspapers will publish a list of new acronyms, so people can follow the text. There is a flow on from this official use of acronyms that is extremely unfortunate in development of the use of language and improvement of education --- but I won't go there. In any case, in respect of "H. M Dg." Dg. is an easy one, it is an abbreviation of "Daeng", which is a title in Southern Sulawesi. In this case, "H" would be an abbreviation for "Haji", and "M" would be "Mohamad". So:- Haji Mohamad Daeng Patompo. There are other words that "H" can be an acronym for, and other words that "M" can be an acronym for, but in this case the words I have given are the most probable. Now, Haji Mohamad Daeng Patompo was a very wealthy Bugis merchant who lived in Singapore in the early years of the 2oth century. My memory is that his name was much longer than that, but I've forgotten the rest of it. I think there was some story that he was actually Bugis/Chinese. Incidentally, the word "Daeng" does not mean the same as "Walikota", or in English "Mayor". In Southern Sulawesi it is is a title of respect that would be given to an older person, or a person who because of social position or personal characteristics was regarded as "older". The word "Kotamadya" is equivalent to "municipality" in English, possibly this might be what caused the confusion that "Daeng" is equivalent to "Mayor" or "Walikota". It would be reasonable to accept that perhaps a Walikota might be given the title of respect of "Daeng", because of his position, but "Daeng" does not equate to "Walikota". But how does all that fit with a date of 1967? Somebody else can have a go at explaining that, its beyond me. Last edited by A. G. Maisey; 17th October 2018 at 10:11 PM.