Keris with a tiger (?) in the blade

A. G. Maisey · 13th December 2020, 11:36 AM

David, I do not know the word "ambhara".

This word "ambhara" is not to be found in Balinese, Javanese, Malay, or Bahasa Indonesia (BI).

It can be found in Sanskrit as "ambara" (Macdonell).

Meanings given (dependent upon context) are:- garment, firmament, sky.

Derivatives are:-

ambarakara:- moving in the air, bird, fairy

ambaramarga:- bird's path, sky

ambarakarin:- planet

ambarapatha:- path in the sky

ambaraprabha:- of a princess

ambaraadhikarin;- groom of the robes

the above has been lifted from A.A. Macdonell's Sanskrit dictionary

"Ambara" can be found in Kawi (literary Javanese) :- atmosphere, uncertain , far off, to wander, to journey

It appears to be known in Indonesian usage as a personal name and a business name.

As a name for the Singo Barong I rather suspect that it is another recent invention.

In a way, this propensity to invent new words and terms for usage with keris is not really a bad thing, language continually develops, and when it stops doing so it becomes a dead language. But from a personal perspective I find this ongoing appearance of strange words just a trifle annoying.

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13th December 2020, 11:36 AM	#8
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	David, I do not know the word "ambhara". This word "ambhara" is not to be found in Balinese, Javanese, Malay, or Bahasa Indonesia (BI). It can be found in Sanskrit as "ambara" (Macdonell). Meanings given (dependent upon context) are:- garment, firmament, sky. Derivatives are:- ambarakara:- moving in the air, bird, fairy ambaramarga:- bird's path, sky ambarakarin:- planet ambarapatha:- path in the sky ambaraprabha:- of a princess ambaraadhikarin;- groom of the robes the above has been lifted from A.A. Macdonell's Sanskrit dictionary "Ambara" can be found in Kawi (literary Javanese) :- atmosphere, uncertain , far off, to wander, to journey It appears to be known in Indonesian usage as a personal name and a business name. As a name for the Singo Barong I rather suspect that it is another recent invention. In a way, this propensity to invent new words and terms for usage with keris is not really a bad thing, language continually develops, and when it stops doing so it becomes a dead language. But from a personal perspective I find this ongoing appearance of strange words just a trifle annoying.