From Austronesian languages ====From
Minangkabau==== Most of Indonesian's vocabulary is natively derived from Malay, as Indonesian is after all a standardized form of Malay, but some might ultimately be loanwords from the
Minang language. Yet it is unclear, since Malay and Minang are closely related, and some might consider Minang to have been descended from a dialect of Malay due to sheer similarity. ====From
Javanese==== Compared to the
Malay language spoken as the native regional language in Sumatra and the Malay peninsula or the standardized version of Malaysian, Indonesian differs profoundly by the large number of
Javanese loanwords incorporated into their already rich vocabulary. This is mostly contributed by
Java's position as the center of Indonesian politics, education, and culture, since the capital is located in
Jakarta on Java island, albeit in the area where the Javanese are not the majority. The disproportionate number of Javanese that dominate Indonesian politics is reflected by the fact that all of eight Indonesian presidents have been ethnic Javanese or half Javanese (Habibi and Prabowo, both are half Gorontalo and Minahasa respectively). The result is that the Javanese began to shape their own vocabulary into Indonesian to describes terms and words that do not have exact counterparts in the Malay language. It is also important to note that most of Indonesian's
Sanskrit loanwords have been transmitted through
Old Javanese, a language whose Sanskrit borrowings number almost 50% of the total vocabulary. Javanese loanwords, unlike those from other native languages, have entered the basic vocabulary of Indonesian to such an extent that, for many, they are no longer perceived to be foreign. ====From
Sundanese==== Besides Javanese, Sundanese is another local language that has influenced Indonesian's vocabulary, albeit to a lesser extent. This can be attributed to the fact that the capital, Jakarta, was formerly a part of
West Java, a province which, together with
Banten, before it too was divided, constituted the
Pasundan (Sundanese world), the most significant non-Javanese region in an otherwise Javanese-dominated Java island. Some of the most populous cities in Indonesia are also located in the
Pasundan, including West Java's capital,
Bandung, and Jakarta's four satellite cities (
Bekasi,
Bogor,
Depok, and
Tangerang). ====From
Betawi==== Betawi is a Malay-based
creole that arose from influences by foreign traders who stopped at the capital, Jakarta, including those from China and Arabia. Most of its speakers are inhabitants of Jakarta, and its influence upon Indonesian is attributed to its frequent usage in Indonesian mass media, including radio and television. Its status as a "hip" language by other portions of Indonesian society is another contributing factor as well. ====From
Nias==== ====From
Batak==== ====From
Palembang==== ====From
Ambonese====
From Balinese Balinese, or simply Bali, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 3.3 million people (as of 2000) on the
Indonesian island of
Bali as well as northern
Nusa Penida, western
Lombok and eastern
Java. }A loanword from
Sanskrit, अवतार.
From Indian languages ====From
Sanskrit==== Although
Hinduism and
Buddhism are no longer the major religions of Indonesia,
Sanskrit, the language vehicle for these religions, is still held in high esteem, and its status is comparable with that of
Latin in
English and other Western Indo-European languages. The main reason is that Indian Muslims left big legacy in Southeast Asia. Sanskrit is also the main source for
neologisms; these are usually formed from Sanskrit roots. For example, the name of
Jayapura city (former Hollandia) and
Jayawijaya Mountains (former Orange Range) in the Indonesian province of Papua were coined in the 1960s; both are Sanskrit origin name to replace its Dutch colonial names. Some Indonesian contemporary medals of honor and awards, such as Bintang Mahaputra medal, Kalpataru award and Adipura award, are also Sanskrit derived names. The loanwords from Sanskrit cover many aspects of
religion,
art and everyday life. The
Sanskrit influence on Indonesia came from contacts with
India long ago before the 1st century. The words are either directly borrowed from India or through the intermediary of the
Old Javanese language. In the classical language of Java, Old Javanese, the number of Sanskrit loanwords is far greater. The Old Javanese — English dictionary by Prof.
P.J. Zoetmulder,
S.J. (1982) contains no fewer than 25,500 entries. Almost half are Sanskrit loanwords. Sanskrit loanwords, unlike those from other languages except Arabic and Persian, have entered the basic vocabulary of Indonesian to such an extent that, for many, they are no longer perceived to be foreign. ====From
Pali====
Pali (Pāli) is a
Prakrit language and belongs to the
Indo-European language family together with
Sanskrit. As Sanskrit is the language vehicle of
Hinduism, Pali is the language vehicle for
Buddhism, especially the
Theravada tradition which is mainly adhered to by Buddhists within
Indosphere Southeast Asia. Virtually every word in Pāḷi has cognates in the other Middle Indo-Aryan languages, the Prakrits. The relationship to Vedic Sanskrit is less direct and more complicated; the Prakrits were descended from Old Indo-Aryan vernaculars. ====From
Hindi==== Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी, IAST: Hindī) is a standardised and
Sanskritised register of the
Hindustani language. Hindi is an Indo-European, and specifically an Indo-Aryan language. It is descended from Sanskrit and is considered part of the Central Indo-Aryan subgroup. ====From
Tamil==== Loanwords from Tamil, while also an Indian language (though not Indo-European like Sanskrit), mainly exist in cuisine, like Chinese and unlike Sanskrit. It is a
Dravidian language and not an
Indo-Aryan language. However,
Hinduism had great impact in
Tamil, there are several
Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil and they are possibility to list them in Indo-Aryan loanwords, such as
Sanskrit. Interaction between Tamil speakers and Malay speakers has been established from ancient time. Tamil influence has been around such as
Palava usage as ancient script in Indonesia (Palava dynasty was existed on 275 CE–897 CE) and
Chola invasion of Srivijaya in 1025. It mainly entered the lexicon of Malay (and by extension, Indonesian) with the immigration of South Indian traders who settled around the
Strait of Malacca.
From Middle Eastern languages ====From
Arabic==== The loanwords from
Arabic are mainly concerned with religion, in particular with
Islam.
Allah is the word for
God even in
Christian Bible translations. Many early Bible translators, when they came across some unusual
Hebrew words or proper names, used the Arabic cognates. In the newer translations, this practice has been discontinued. They now turn to
Greek names or use the original Hebrew word. For example, the name
Jesus was initially translated as '
Isa, but is now spelt as
Yesus. Arabic loanwords, including those from Persian, have entered the basic vocabulary of Indonesian to the point that they are no longer perceived to be foreign. ====From
Persian==== Persian is an Indo-European language under the Indo-Iranian branch, wherein Sanskrit and Hindi belongs. ====From
Hebrew==== Hebrew into Indonesian usually entered via Arabic or share
Semitic origins. Most Hebrew loanwords are often used in religious contexts, particularly in
Christianity or descriptions of
Jewish history and
culture.
From East Asian languages ====From
Chinese====
Chinese loanwords into Indonesian often involve cuisine, trade, or Chinese culture. According to the 2000
census, the relative number of people of
Chinese descent in Indonesia (termed the
peranakan) is almost 1% (totaling to about 3 million people, although this may likely be an underestimate due to an anti-Chinese sentiment that exists in some circles of the population), yet the
peranakan are the most successful when it comes to business, trade, and cuisine. Words of
Chinese origin (presented here with accompanying Hokkien/ Mandarin pronunciation derivatives as well as traditional and simplified characters) include
pisau (匕首 bǐshǒu – knife),
mie (
T:麵,
S:面, Hokkien mī – noodles),
lumpia (潤餅 (Hokkien = lūn-piáⁿ) – springroll),
teko (
T:茶壺,
S:茶壶 = cháhú [Mandarin], teh-ko [Hokkien] = teapot), 苦力 kuli = 苦 khu (bitter) and 力 li (energy) and even the widely used slang terms
gua and
lu (from the Hokkien 'goa' 我 and 'lu/li' 你 – meaning 'I/ me' and 'you'). Almost all loanwords in Indonesian of Chinese origin come from
Hokkien (福建) or
Hakka (客家). ====From
Japanese==== Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 126 million people, primarily in
Japan, where it is the official language and national language. The influx of Japanese loanword can be classified into two periods,
Japanese colonial administration period (1942–1945) and globalisation of
Japanese popular culture (1980–now). As Indonesian is written using Latin script,
Japanese romanisation systems influence the spelling in Indonesian. ====From
Korean==== In contrast with
Chinese and
Japanese, Korean loanwords are mostly related to Korean culture. These loanword is attributed to increasing popularity of
South Korean culture. Since the turn of the 21st century, South Korea has emerged as a major exporter of popular culture and tourism, aspects which have become a significant part of its burgeoning economy. This phenomenon is called
Korean Wave.
From European languages The European influence on Indonesian is largely related to European intervention and colonialism. The most significant consequence is the continued use of the Latin alphabet instead of various local scripts. The Portuguese arrived first in the archipelago and influenced the original Malay language after their conquest of Malacca. Portuguese dominance over trade in the region and control of the spice islands of Moluccas significantly increased Portuguese influence, as did the introduction of Christianity in the region. However, Dutch has had the most influence on the language, as a result of the Dutch having controlled Indonesia for 300 years after eliminating Portuguese influence in the archipelago. The Dutch language itself was not introduced into the archipelago before 1799, when the Dutch government took over the colony from the already bankrupt VOC (Dutch East India company). Previously, the Malay language had adopted by the VOC due to its trade and diplomatic benefit, which led to large numbers of loanwords being introduced into the language. English has also exerted a certain influence on the archipelago's language, being the third most favored foreign language by the educated in colonial days. More recently, English has played an increasingly large role in the nation's official language as a result of globalization. ====From
Portuguese==== Alongside
Malay,
Portuguese was the
lingua franca for trade throughout the archipelago from the sixteenth century through to the early nineteenth century. The Portuguese were among the first westerners to sail east to the "
Spice Islands". Loanwords from
Portuguese were mainly connected with articles the early European traders and explorers brought to Southeast Asia. ====From
Dutch==== The former colonial power, the
Netherlands, left an extensive imprint on Indonesian vocabulary. These
Dutch loanwords, as well as other non Italo-Iberian European language loanwords which were introduced via Dutch, cover all aspects of life. Some Dutch loanwords possessing clusters of multiple consonants pose difficulties for speakers of Indonesian. This problem is usually solved by the insertion of the
schwa. For example, Dutch
schroef →
sekrup . The months from January (Januari) to December (December) used in Indonesian are also derived from Dutch. Although Dutch loanwords are normally no longer newly developed, there is some sort of derivation using Dutch-loaned suffixes, like
-si "-tion" ← Dutch
-tie,
-ase "-age" ←
-age, and
-is "-ic, -ish" ←
-isch. It is estimated that 10,000 words in the Indonesian language can be traced back to the Dutch language. ====From
English==== Many English words are adopted in Indonesian through globalization, due to this however many Indonesians mistake words that were originally adopted from Dutch with English due to the Germanic traces that exist in the two languages (both are Indo-European Germanic languages from the same branch, the West Germanic). However, many English words in Indonesian too are borrowed via Malay (such as:
sains (science),
enjin (engine),
botol (bottle),
gaun (gown), etc.). ====From
Greek==== ====From
Latin==== It is notable that some of the loanwords that exist in both Indonesian and Malaysian languages are different in spelling and pronunciation mainly due to how they derived their origins: Malaysian utilizes words that reflect the English usage (as used by its former colonial power, the British), while Indonesian uses a Latinate form reflected in the Dutch usage (e.g. aktiviti (Malaysian) vs. aktivitas (Indonesian), universiti (Malaysian) vs. universitas (Indonesian)). ====From
French==== ====From
North Germanic==== The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is sometimes referred to as the "Nordic languages", a direct translation of the most common term used among Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Norwegian scholars and laypeople. ==See also==