Sanskrit affixes in Indonesian

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from Jones (1984), Verhaar (1984), Tadmor (2009), and personal communication with Uri Tadmor, David Gil, John Bowden, and a number of Indonesians working at the Jakarta Field Station of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in 2011, additionally supplemented with a number of hybrid formations and etymological details from Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/, accessed: 18.06.2024]). Jones (1984:7) states that “some half dozen affixes derived from Sanskrit are productive; most have come into vogue within the last few decades”. All of these are also mentioned by Verhaar (1984:20–21), who gives many more. Below, only affixes that are attested in hybrid formations, i.e. with non-Sanskrit stems, are given.

16 miscellaneous nominal prefixes with non-Sanskrit stems are attested (most of them native Indonesian, some from Javanese)

  • adi- ‘super’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, compatible with native Indonesian stems, e.g. adibintang (bintang ‘star’) ‘superstar’, adipenghantar (penghantar ‘conductor’) ‘superconductor’. It also combines with stems of other origins, e.g. adikuasa (kuasa ‘power’) ‘superpower’ (the stem is also borrowed from Sanskrit, but this noun was formed in Indonesian).
  • antar- ‘inter’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin which has become productive according to Jones (1984:7). It may be a free form rather than a prefix, e.g. antar suku ‘intertribal’, antar kelompok ‘inter-group’.
  • catur- ‘four’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, e.g. caturwulan (wulan ‘month’ is Javanese) ‘four monthly’.
  • dwi- ‘two’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, e.g. dwihari (hari ‘day’) ‘lasting two days, two-day’, dwirumah (rumah ‘house’) ‘dioecy’. It also combines with stems of non-native non-Sanskrit origin, showing that the prefix is productive, e.g. dwifungsi (fungsi ‘function’, from Dutch) ‘bifunctional’.
  • eka- ‘one’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, e.g. eka bahasa ‘monolingual’ – the stem is Sanskrit, but the derivation was coined in Indonesian.
  • maha- ‘very (important person)’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, e.g. mahabesar (besar ‘big’) ‘almighty’. Aside from its use as a prefix, this form apparently also exists as a free form, e.g. maha pelit (pelit ‘stingy’) ‘very stingy’ (examples provided by Uri Tadmor, personal communication, 2011).
  • nir- ‘privative, without, free from’, e.g. nirkabel (kabel ‘cable’, stem probably Dutch-derived) ‘wireless’. Has become productive according to Jones (1984:7). Another example is nirlaba (laba ‘profit’, Sanskrit-derived stem) ‘non-profit’, which was likely coined in Indonesian.
  • pasca- ‘post-, after’, e.g. pascapanen (panen ‘harvest’) ‘post-harvest’, pascamakan (makan ‘to eat’) ‘post-meal tea’. Also, there is at least one formation with a Sanskrit stem, though it was likely coined in Indonesian, e.g. pasca sarjana ‘postgraduate’.
  • pra- ‘pre’, only a few words are formed with this and other affixes, which are part of the learned vocabulary, according to Mueller (2007:1220). According to Verhaar (1984:20–21), it is an affix of Sanskrit origin and has become productive on native stems (Jones 1984:7), e.g. prabayar ‘prepaid’ (among others), and on Sanskrit-derived stems, e.g. pra sarjana ‘undergraduate’.
  • purna- ‘after’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, e.g. purna jual (jual ‘sale’) ‘after sales service’, purnajabatan (jabatan ‘position, post, function’) ‘previous position’.
  • sapta- ‘seven’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, e.g. sapta pesona (pesona ‘charm’ of uncertain origin) ‘having seven charms’.
  • serba- ‘various’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, which has become productive according to Jones (1984:7), e.g. serba ada (ada ‘to have, exist’) ‘having everything’, serba salah (salah ‘wrong’) ‘always wrong’ (examples provided by Uri Tadmor, personal communication, 2011).
  • swa- ‘self’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, which has become productive according to Jones (1984:7), e.g. swabakar (bakar ‘to burn’) ‘self-immolate’, swalayan (layan(an) ‘service’) ‘supermarket, literally self-service’.
  • tata- ‘order, arrangement’, has become productive according to Jones (1984:7), being attested with native stems e.g., tata ruang ‘interior’. It is also found with other foreign non-Sanskrit stems, e.g. tata tertib ‘law and order’, and likewise with Sanskrit-derived stems in what seem to be neologisms coined in Indonesian, e.g. tata boga ‘table manners’.
  • tri- ‘three’, e.g. triwulan (wulan ‘month’ from Javanese) ‘three monthly’, triwarna (warna ‘color’ from Sanskrit) ‘three colors’. According to Verhaar (1984:20–21) this affix is of Sanskrit origin.
  • tuna- ‘struck, hurt, cut’, according to Verhaar (1984:20–21) an affix of Sanskrit origin, e.g. tunarungu (rungu ‘to hear’, from Javanese) ‘deaf’ (example provided by Uri Tadmor, personal communication, 2011).

2 agent or profession noun derivational suffixes

  • -wan ‘masculine agent or profession noun’, reasonably common according to Mueller (2007:1220) and Jones (1984:7), it is also mentioned by Tadmor (2009:705), e.g. peragawan (peraga ‘display’) ‘male model’, rimbawan (rimba ‘jungle’) ‘forester’. It is also attested with non-native non-Sanskrit stems, e.g. kamerawan (kamera ‘camera’) ‘male cameraman’. According to Mueller (2007:1220), -man is an allomorph of -wan.
  • -wati ‘feminine agent or profession noun’, reasonably common according to Mueller (2007:1220) and Jones (1984:7), also mentioned by Tadmor (2009:705), e.g. peragawati ‘female model’, kamerawati ‘female cameraman’.