Reconstructions

Note

Also Maranao bato ‘stone, rock; chips used in gambling.’ Although the basic meaning of *batu was ‘stone’ this fundamental natural material clearly served as the basis for various extended meanings, including ‘testicle’. The reference to eggs in connection with a reflex of *batu in Pazeh and Toba Batak, and to pupil of the eye in Favorlang/Babuza and Maori is best attributed to convergence. A more intriguing agreement that is also almost certainly convergent is the use of a reflex of *batu as a numeral classifier in Tombonuwo of eastern Sabah, and Makassarese of south Sulawesi, where it evidently has taken over the functions covered by PMP *buaq, and reflexes of this form in many of the modern languages. Malay batu ‘numeral classifier for teeth’ and Karo Batak batu ‘tooth (fig.)’ raises the possibility that this innovation may have involved a transfer of functions formerly covered by *buaq to reflexes of PMP *batu ‘numeral classifier for teeth’ that was lost in the great majority of attested languages and so cannot now be securely reconstructed.

Other likely products of convergence are Ilokano bato-bato ‘grouper, fam. Serrranidae’, Malay ikan batu ‘sea bream: Proteracanthus sarissophorus’, Simalur fatu ‘a seafish’, and Toqabaqita iqa fau ‘boxfish: Ostracion sebae,’ the forms that refer to various types of amulets or talismans in Iban, Malagasy, Toba Batak and Tae', and possibly the Sundanese and Maori forms assigned to PMP *quzan batu ‘hail’. On the other hand, constructions like *batu papan (lit. ‘plank stone’) are more difficult to account for as convergent developments, and it must be assumed that such stones were valued for some purpose, or else it would be difficult to explain why they were distinctively named.

A number of languages in island Southeast Asia have borrowed Malay batu berani ‘magnet’; in many cases this is apparent from irregularities in the sound correspondences, as with Tagalog batu balániʔ, Aklanon bató balániʔ, Cebuano batu baláni, Mansaka bato barani, Tiruray batew barani, Tausug batu balani, Makassarese batu barani ‘lodestone, magnet’, but Mongondow batu bogani ‘magnet’ appears to be native. I assume that this form is also a Malay loan, but has been reshaped by the substitution of a native reflex of *baRani.

Many languages have also borrowed Malay batu in the meaning ‘milestone; mile’, for marking travel distances, as with Mapun batu ‘kilometer; marker along the road for counting kilometers (made from cement or wood)’, Lun Dayeh batuh ‘a mile’, Iban batu ‘milestone; mile’

It is likely that various types of stone (limestone, pumice, etc.) were designated by PAn *batu plus a qualifying term, but the details of such constructions cannot be reconstructed on the basis of currently available data.

There are also scattered references to the meaning ‘slave’ in association with an apparent reflex of *batu, as with Toba Batak batu ni ruma (lit. ‘stone of the house’) ‘a slave that has been in the house since the time of one’s grandfather (coarse expression)’, Sangir batu-m-balane ‘slaves’ and Bare'e watua ‘slave’. All of these probably derive from *batu₁ through some kind of metaphorical expression that is still poorly understood.