Re: Vagaries of Swadesh Lists (was: Automatic clustering of languag

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Roger Mills" <rfmilly@...> wrote:

> Richard Wordingham wrote:

> > Talking of loans, isn't _nama_ 'name' in the Indonesian Swadesh list
> an Indic loan?

> Undoubtedly. Likewise _suami, ... resp. husband

I should have spotted that one (Thai sa:mi: < Pali sa:mi:).

> and Arabic ... possibly ber/napas 'breathe';

It's given as 'bernafas', and I think the /f/ would clinch it.

Indonesian _bapak_ 'father' looks like a derivative from Skt. _ba:pa_
'father' with an 'automatic glottal stop', cf. _datu_ v. _datuk_.
What's the view on the origin of _bapak_? I see it is listed as PMP
in the word lists, but I don't know how much to trust that simple
statement.

Richard.