Betel pestles and their handles

[Sajen]

Two modest new members entered the collection.
Both have wooden handles and show the most common motives, a man riding another man (I read somewhere that it's an ironic symbol for upper and lower population) and a bird, sometimes seen with a snake.

[Sajen]

BTW, these pestles are called "plococan".

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Sajen

BTW, these pestles are called "plococan".

Sorry, correct spelling is "plocokan"!

[Athanase]

My small collection of Plocokan from Bali and Lombok (I'm discovering the word, thanks Detlef).

[A. G. Maisey]

Detlef, in what language, or perhaps dialect is the name of these implements "plocokan" ?

This is not a confrontational question, it is request for clarification.

Thank you.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Detlef, in what language, or perhaps dialect is the name of these implements "plocokan" ?

This is not a confrontational question, it is request for clarification.

Thank you.

Hello Alan,

I know these betel pestels only under this name but frankly I am unsuspecting which language this is! Sorry.

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Athanase

My small collection of Plocokan from Bali and Lombok (I'm discovering the word, thanks Detlef).

What a great collection of these! Wow!

[A. G. Maisey]

Thank you for your prompt response , Detlef.

Here is the back story.

Many years ago, I was told by a Balinese friend that the name for these things was "pelecok".

A well informed Australian tribal arts dealer of Scots descent also used to refer to these little tools by the same name.

I have not been able to confirm this name in recent years with anybody whom I know in Bali.

However, in Javanese we have two words that can provide a root for "pelecok", these two words are "lecok", which as a verb becomes "nglecok" and means to crush or to grind finely to enable chewing, the second word is "locok", which as a verb becomes "nglocok", and with the same meaning, so not really two different words, but the same word with a variant pronunciation, possibly one pronunciation in Central Jawa, a variant pronunciation in East Jawa.

When we use the prefix "pe", that root of "lecok/locok" becomes a noun:- "pelecok".

It seems to me that the word you know, "plocokan", is from the same root.

The use of the suffix "an" in Malay languages creates a noun from a verb and indicates both the result and the tool used to create the result.

So " locok" becomes a noun:- "locokan", or "plocokan" , the missing "e" is common in both spelling and pronunciation in Malay languages, thus we can also write the word as "pelocokan" the sound would be the same to a foreign ear, eg:- "kris", "keris".

The use of the prefix "pe" in Malay languages creates a noun from a verb and/or an action or instrument of an action.

And that was the reason I asked my question. It would have been nice to able to identify the form you know with a definite source.

[Sajen]

It could be that I picked up the term in an art book but I can't remember where but an art dealer I know well and situated in Bali uses the same term.

Regards,
Detlef