The Rich Layers of Loan Words in Bahasa Indonesia

Language is a living, breathing entity. I imagine it to be like a geological creature, formed by layers and layers of sediment dating back through time. Analyze a particular section of the language, and you can learn about the history of the people who speak it and those they encountered.

Bahasa Indonesia is a very interesting case study for examining foreign influence through time and its impact on the language and vocabulary. As a diverse archipelago of over 17 thousand islands and over 700 active languages, the region needed a lingua franca to communicate and connect its people. Bahasa emerged in the 7th century as the standard language of present-day Indonesia and Malaysia. The development of this ancient form of the language to what we speak today is a complicated and controversial topic. Both Indonesia and Malaysia claim ownership and descendance from this classical version of Bahasa. While I cannot claim to know much about this topic, I see the vocabulary I came across while studying Indonesian as very telling of the history of this region.

Loan words from Sanskrit

As early as the 2nd century AD, the islands of Indonesia were in contact with Hindu kingdoms from India, including the fascinating thalassocratic empires, which were kingdoms that ruled entirely at sea. Today, there are clear remnants of this influence in the vocabulary of Indonesian.

• Raja (King)
• Hari (Day)
• Pura (Temple)

Even without any great exposure to Sanskrit and other Indian languages, I remember learning these words and recognizing a connection with the lower Asian peninsula. They are, in fact, loan words from Sanskrit, dating back to Indonesia’s historical connection with India. Today, Bali carries the most Indian influence of the islands, with the dominant religion being Hinduism.

Loan words from Arabic

In the 13th century, Islam began to spread to the archipelago through Arabic-speaking traders. Maritime trading from the Middle East and India, as well as Muslim kingdoms that expanded into the region led to the religion and language making ground in present-day Indonesia.

Today, the dominant religion of Indonesia is Islam. I remember the otherworldly calls from loudspeakers ringing through all parts of Jakarta reciting passages from the Koran as the city grinded to a halt five times a day. It was a magical, powerful experience to be a part of this world for the short time I was in the capital.

It is no surprise that many words related to religion and other aspects of daily life originate from Arabic.

For example, all the days of the work week are of Arabic origin:

• Senin (Monday)
• Selasa (Tuesday)
• Rabu (Wednesday)
• Jumat (Thursday)

Additionally, the common greeting Selamat that you add to say hello or wish someone well is also of Middle Eastern origin. As Islam is deeply ingrained in everyday life in Indonesia and Malaysia, it stands to reason that the language reflects this as well.

Loan words from Dutch

I remember reading about The Dutch East Indies in my history textbooks but never connected the dots that this was referring to present-day Indonesia. From the early 1600s to 1945, the Dutch tenuously ruled the peninsula. With this length of control, many Dutch words were assimilated into Bahasa Indonesia. In fact, Dutch makes up the most loan words in Bahasa (see chart below). I was surprised and bemused to hear words such as:

• Tante (Aunt)
• Apotek (Pharmacy)

I recognized these as being the same in Dutch and German (and Indonesian). Other words include:

• Buku (Book)
• Kelas (Class)
• Gratis (Free)

These groupings of words hint at Dutch operation of activities such as the education system and commerce in the country.

Loan words from Portuguese

Coming across the following word is what inspired me to write about this topic in the first place: Sepatu – the Indonesian word for shoes.

This word struck me as too similar to the Spanish word for shoe Zapato to be a coincidence. How would a Spanish word have entered into the Indonesian language? 

Upon further research, I realized that this example was actually from the Portuguese word Sapatos. Portuguese traders were the first Europeans to arrive in Indonesia, back in 1512, in search of the fabled Indonesian Spice Islands. At the time, these islands were the only place in the world to find nutmeg, cloves and other exotic spices.

Additionally, the Portuguese ruled Indonesia’s neighbor East Timor for around 400 years, and in that time, other Portuguese words entered the Indonesian language.

Saturday and Sunday, the only days of the week that are not from Arabic, come from the Portuguese Sábado and Domingo. In Bahasa: Sabtu and Minggu.

Some other, more festive words from Portuguese include:

• Pesta from the Portuguese Festa (party)
• Dansa (dance)

Chinese also makes up a sizeable amount of loan words in Indonesia due to the steady influx of immigration from China throughout history. I didn’t recognize many words though, as they are mainly from the Hokkien dialect of Chinese, which is considerably different than Mandarin.

The future of loan words

While Dutch remains the number one source of loan words in Bahasa Indonesia, a new globalizing giant is rising rapidly up the rankings: English. New English words related to technology such as data, internet, and video are proliferating every year.

This begs the question: Should a country control the trajectory of its language geology?