Pahala is a fruit
Malay sounds like a language of its own, but it carries a lot of Sanskrit inside it, picked up over a thousand years ago from the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of the region, like Srivijaya. One of the oldest surviving Malay texts, the Kedukan Bukit inscription from 683 CE (found near Palembang), is written in Old Malay and already full of Sanskrit words.
What I love is how some words kept their meaning, and some wandered off somewhere completely different.
Words that kept their meaning
| Malay | Sanskrit | Original meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bahasa | bhāṣā | speech, language |
| raja | rāja | king |
| bumi | bhūmi | earth, land |
| negara / negeri | nagara | city, town |
| guru | guru | teacher (literally "heavy, weighty") |
| manusia | manuṣya | human |
| jiwa | jīva | life, the living soul |
| warna | varṇa | colour |
| rasa | rasa | taste, juice, essence |
Words that wandered
Pahala comes from phala, which means fruit. In Sanskrit thought, the result of an action is its "fruit" (karmaphala). In Malay it became the reward for good deeds. So a good deed literally bears fruit, and the word still remembers that.
Cinta comes from cintā, which means thought, or anxious worry. Somewhere along the way, worrying about someone turned into loving them. Honestly, that tracks.
Suka and duka are sukha and duḥkha, happiness and suffering, a famous pair in Buddhist philosophy. In Malay, suka drifted toward "to like," and the pair still lives on in suka duka, the ups and downs of life.
Muka comes from mukha, which means face or mouth. It barely moved at all.
Puasa comes from upavāsa, which means fasting. A Sanskrit word now used every Ramadan.
Singapura comes from Siṃhapura, "lion city." Even though, as far as anyone knows, lions never lived there.