The origin of the word Alamak
09/03/09 09:53 Filed in: Education
About 20
years ago, I vaguely remembered asking my mother as
well as my Malay language teacher how this word came
about. I couldn’t really get an answer to it. And I
left it at that. But now after living here in Japan,
I can’t help but asking myself the same question
again!
I find this an interesting topic. I’m not a “historical linguist”. If you are and you can back me up with more facts about this, it would be a great help.
The expression “Oh my goodness!” is being said by many people in the world using different words in different languages.
In Japanese, it’s あらまあ！(pronounced: a-ra-ma-a)It doesn’t really have any literal meaning to it. Its just a word expressing an exclamation.
Interestingly, in Malay its “Alamak!”This is a word that can be broken up to mean “alah” which is a lazy tongue pronunciation of “Allah” and “Mak” which means mother. Some malay people believe “Alamak” can also mean “oh dear mother…!”
That Japanese word or expression might have been assimilated into the linguistic repertoire of the malay language or it’s the other way around! Many theories abound. And for the purpose of this post, these are just my own.
First theory:
Alamak originally comes from the Japanese.
I say “originally” because I asked one of the Japanese teachers to find out from him whether he knew that word is old or relatively new. He said that word may have been used for ages. Maybe since the Edo period (1603-1867).
Now, there has been no recorded history, of someone from the Malay Archipelago back in 1800’s or prior to that, who have ventured into Japan. Nor has there been any official representative from Japan to the Malayan Archipelago during that period. (Well the archipelago I’m mentioning here will exclude the philippines for the purpose of putting forth my theory.)
Diplomatic missions to China, yes there were. The great Sultans from Melaka (Malacca) have sent emissaries to China and also established cordial relationship with that country in order to seek protection from the bullying forces of the Siamese Kingdom.
**On a side note, what I write here is what I have learned in the history books so far. This was back in the days when Singapore students like myself were studying relevant historical knowledge of their country and the neighboring states. By “historical” I mean prior to the 1700’s. Now, I believe students are studying recent histories from 1819 onwards. Students now don’t even know anybody else in the history books apart from Sang Nila Utama and Sir Stamford Raffles. All other historical events are just being glossed over . Now students are only conscious of their history from like 50 years ago. Why is that? Why are they shortchanged? Is this part of a greater political motive?**
Back in 1942 to 1945 when the Japanese wrested control of Malaya from the British and occupied the territories of Malaya, they set up Japanese language schools. Japanese teachers teaching the Japanese language in Malaya back in those war-time might have cried “あらまあ！” in exasperation with their students. I guess that word could have been one of the (many?) Japanese words that are left as a legacy in this part of the Asian world.
Thus that supposedly Malay word “alamak” may not be that old after all!
But how can that be? I remember a long time ago hearing my grandfather saying “alamak!” when he forgot the keys to his scooter. Could he have heard it from the Japanese back then? Was it made popular by the people back then to ridicule those Japanese occupiers as they trudge back to their ships to sail back to Japan. Or could that word “Alamak” been used ever since Islam was first embraced by the Sultan in Melaka (Malacca)?
That brings me to the second theory:
あらまあ！ comes from the Malays
Now this is also very interesting. Two “sub-theories” from this.
First:The Japanese occupying force in Malaya back in 1942 to 1945 quite like that word “Alamak” (maybe its catchy) so they brought that word back home to Japan after the war and used it liberally among their fellow Japanese.
Second:There were indeed sea-farers like the Orang Laut from the Malayan Archipelago who have travelled all the way to Japan during the Edo period. I presume this was possible after diplomatic missions to China were made and cordial relations were established. The Orang Laut or people from the Melaka Sultanate may have ventured towards Japan.
But could this possibly happen? As far as I know, the Japanese Shogunate had a closed door policy. During the Edo period, any foreign powers who landed on Japanese shores will be attacked, killed and completely destroyed. Maybe the Shogun made it an exception, seeing that these seafarers were unlikely to be from Europe. Also, the likelihood of the Japanese to venture out of Japan during the Edo period is close to nil because of the closed door policy. No Japanese who went abroad can come back and none from within can go out.
So that leads me to another question. What do you think?
I find this an interesting topic. I’m not a “historical linguist”. If you are and you can back me up with more facts about this, it would be a great help.
The expression “Oh my goodness!” is being said by many people in the world using different words in different languages.
In Japanese, it’s あらまあ！(pronounced: a-ra-ma-a)It doesn’t really have any literal meaning to it. Its just a word expressing an exclamation.
Interestingly, in Malay its “Alamak!”This is a word that can be broken up to mean “alah” which is a lazy tongue pronunciation of “Allah” and “Mak” which means mother. Some malay people believe “Alamak” can also mean “oh dear mother…!”
That Japanese word or expression might have been assimilated into the linguistic repertoire of the malay language or it’s the other way around! Many theories abound. And for the purpose of this post, these are just my own.
First theory:
Alamak originally comes from the Japanese.
I say “originally” because I asked one of the Japanese teachers to find out from him whether he knew that word is old or relatively new. He said that word may have been used for ages. Maybe since the Edo period (1603-1867).
Now, there has been no recorded history, of someone from the Malay Archipelago back in 1800’s or prior to that, who have ventured into Japan. Nor has there been any official representative from Japan to the Malayan Archipelago during that period. (Well the archipelago I’m mentioning here will exclude the philippines for the purpose of putting forth my theory.)
Diplomatic missions to China, yes there were. The great Sultans from Melaka (Malacca) have sent emissaries to China and also established cordial relationship with that country in order to seek protection from the bullying forces of the Siamese Kingdom.
**On a side note, what I write here is what I have learned in the history books so far. This was back in the days when Singapore students like myself were studying relevant historical knowledge of their country and the neighboring states. By “historical” I mean prior to the 1700’s. Now, I believe students are studying recent histories from 1819 onwards. Students now don’t even know anybody else in the history books apart from Sang Nila Utama and Sir Stamford Raffles. All other historical events are just being glossed over . Now students are only conscious of their history from like 50 years ago. Why is that? Why are they shortchanged? Is this part of a greater political motive?**
Back in 1942 to 1945 when the Japanese wrested control of Malaya from the British and occupied the territories of Malaya, they set up Japanese language schools. Japanese teachers teaching the Japanese language in Malaya back in those war-time might have cried “あらまあ！” in exasperation with their students. I guess that word could have been one of the (many?) Japanese words that are left as a legacy in this part of the Asian world.
Thus that supposedly Malay word “alamak” may not be that old after all!
But how can that be? I remember a long time ago hearing my grandfather saying “alamak!” when he forgot the keys to his scooter. Could he have heard it from the Japanese back then? Was it made popular by the people back then to ridicule those Japanese occupiers as they trudge back to their ships to sail back to Japan. Or could that word “Alamak” been used ever since Islam was first embraced by the Sultan in Melaka (Malacca)?
That brings me to the second theory:
あらまあ！ comes from the Malays
Now this is also very interesting. Two “sub-theories” from this.
First:The Japanese occupying force in Malaya back in 1942 to 1945 quite like that word “Alamak” (maybe its catchy) so they brought that word back home to Japan after the war and used it liberally among their fellow Japanese.
Second:There were indeed sea-farers like the Orang Laut from the Malayan Archipelago who have travelled all the way to Japan during the Edo period. I presume this was possible after diplomatic missions to China were made and cordial relations were established. The Orang Laut or people from the Melaka Sultanate may have ventured towards Japan.
But could this possibly happen? As far as I know, the Japanese Shogunate had a closed door policy. During the Edo period, any foreign powers who landed on Japanese shores will be attacked, killed and completely destroyed. Maybe the Shogun made it an exception, seeing that these seafarers were unlikely to be from Europe. Also, the likelihood of the Japanese to venture out of Japan during the Edo period is close to nil because of the closed door policy. No Japanese who went abroad can come back and none from within can go out.
So that leads me to another question. What do you think?
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