Reconstructions

Note

Also Javanese rembulan ‘moon’, Gorontalo hula ‘moon, month’, Sika bulan ‘month’, Tanga funil ‘moon’, Tolai bulā ‘the moon, esp. in incantations’.

PAn *bulaN is one of the more widely reflected forms in Austronesian languages, particularly in island Southeast Asia. Its primary sense clearly was ‘moon, lunar month’, but alone, affixed, or in collocation it also referred to the menstrual cycle. Other notions which are encoded by a reflex of *bulaN and which probably involve universal tendencies in lexical semantics are: 1. the use of ‘months’ to refer in some way to the duration of a pregnancy (Tagalog, Maranao, Balinese and Palauan), and 2. the association of phases of the moon with mental or emotional instability or otherwise unpredictable behavior. Many Austronesian languages name the phases of the moon, and/or the months of the year with a reflex of *bulaN, but specific morphologically complex forms do not appear to be inferrable from the available evidence.

Finally, generalized semantic agreements such as that in e.g. Isneg sinam-búlan ‘central part of the bottom of a basket’, Arosi hura ‘circular bottom edge of a bowl’ probably are convergent, but the more specific agreement in Malay bulan baju ‘crescentic collar piece’, Arosi hura ‘the round pearl shell disk of a chief, representing the full moon’ is more likely to continue a PMP usage.