Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 2nd July 2018, 04:29 AM

Rasjid, true, "an" can have other applications, but my post was already too long, too complex, and I did not want to turn it into a lesson in Indonesian grammar.

I probably used a bad word for an example of the use of the "an" suffix, but I wanted the use of the suffix to be clear, I did not want to give lessons in grammar. It was bad example because I used a verb as my root word, which does give good contrast for clarity of comprehension, but since "pulung" is a noun I guess it can also cause confusion, especially to someone like you, who is a native speaker of B.I. Please accept my apologies.

So let me try again:-
verb + an = noun that is result of action ( I probably used eat & food as my example because I was eating a chocolate biscuit as I wrote)

noun + an = noun that is more focussed than the original noun

adjective + an = noun that has the character of the adjective

So, your example of "bebek-bebekan" = ducks + an = duck-like, similarly "keris-kerisan" = kerises + an = keris-like, but here in your examples we have doubled the noun, so we are adding "an" to a plural noun, not a singular noun, thus it acquires a slightly different meaning that can be understood as generic :- duck like things, keris-like things.

In respect of the pulungan hilt, it is a hilt that is focussed on the idea of wahyu, good fortune, high ranking official, it is the adding of "an" to a noun, which creates a focus on the product of that flash of light:- "pulung" is the flash that brings rank and good fortune, the result of that flash is the person to whom the rank and good fortune has been brought, that is, this fortunate person is the "pulungan".

So, if some of these hilts have crowns, and others do not, who is the fortunate one, the one who received the wahyu?

But in another sense he is also something that has been rolled into a pellet.

Anyone feel like rolling a king?

2nd July 2018, 04:29 AM	#17
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,699	Rasjid, true, "an" can have other applications, but my post was already too long, too complex, and I did not want to turn it into a lesson in Indonesian grammar. I probably used a bad word for an example of the use of the "an" suffix, but I wanted the use of the suffix to be clear, I did not want to give lessons in grammar. It was bad example because I used a verb as my root word, which does give good contrast for clarity of comprehension, but since "pulung" is a noun I guess it can also cause confusion, especially to someone like you, who is a native speaker of B.I. Please accept my apologies. So let me try again:- verb + an = noun that is result of action ( I probably used eat & food as my example because I was eating a chocolate biscuit as I wrote) noun + an = noun that is more focussed than the original noun adjective + an = noun that has the character of the adjective So, your example of "bebek-bebekan" = ducks + an = duck-like, similarly "keris-kerisan" = kerises + an = keris-like, but here in your examples we have doubled the noun, so we are adding "an" to a plural noun, not a singular noun, thus it acquires a slightly different meaning that can be understood as generic :- duck like things, keris-like things. In respect of the pulungan hilt, it is a hilt that is focussed on the idea of wahyu, good fortune, high ranking official, it is the adding of "an" to a noun, which creates a focus on the product of that flash of light:- "pulung" is the flash that brings rank and good fortune, the result of that flash is the person to whom the rank and good fortune has been brought, that is, this fortunate person is the "pulungan". So, if some of these hilts have crowns, and others do not, who is the fortunate one, the one who received the wahyu? But in another sense he is also something that has been rolled into a pellet. Anyone feel like rolling a king?