Ties That Bind: Iran's & Malay Archipelago Connections

Ties That Bind: Iran's & Malay Archipelago Connections

Mohammad Khoush Heikal Azad, Jakarta

Iranians have a very long acquaintance with the Malay people, based on evidence from historical documents, myths and gravestones.

Before accepting Islam, Iranians were doing vast amounts of trade with China. They also had trade and cultural relations with the Malay archipelago as a bridge between the West (Roman Empire) and the East (China) along two routes: the overland "Silk Road" and the oceanic "Spice Road". These relations date back to the Ashkanian Dynasty in 200 BC.

After the arrival of Islam and also the migration of Iranian groups from South China, Iranian businessmen and clergymen continued their presence in order to trade and to propagate Islam.

A study of the similarities between the Malay and Persian languages yields very interesting results.

There are more than 350 Persian words which have become part of the Malay language. A partial list includes: agar-agar, ustad, baju, bahari, bandar, bau, bius, babu, piala, peci, tambur, tembakau, taman, dewan, domba, saudagar, syal, firman, kiai, anggur, Syahbandar, istana, bazaar, bocah, jam, tong, bumi, pahlawan, bumi, bandar, bedebah, pelita, tahta, tamasya, tekan, kurma, daftar, babu, penjarah, johan, cara, arah, rawan, serban, sudah, seruni, firdaus, kenari, kawin, karya, kecil, kismis, gusti, kata, kuno, gandum, goni, langgar, lengan, marmer, medan, mas, mitra, nama, nenek.

I found that the majority of these words are nouns, especially single nouns, followed in frequency by adjectives. Later I classified the words into 29 groups, including human attitudes, moral and family relations (40 words); parts of the body and clothes (28 words); foods, fruits and beverages (25 words); religion (23 words); home and related concepts (21 words); king and related concepts (20 words); flowers and plants (20 words); commerce and accounting (18 words); and military and related concepts (17 words).

Many of these words did not undergo changes in their meanings or pronunciations, while some underwent changes to their spellings and phonetics without altering their meanings. Others experienced drastic spelling changes and can be hardly recognized, or got completely new meanings.

I found that more than 283 Persian words exist in the Malay language without any basic change in meaning. This suggests a very close relationship between the Iranian and Malay people in earlier days.

In addition, more than 50 Malay names have been identified as Persian names. Many Iranian names for people and places are traceable back to ancient Iran. Some of these names are alive today in the Malay Archipelago even though they are no longer used in Iran. Examples include Zal, Buzurjamir, Shahrezad, Johansyah and Firmansyah.

The Persian language's influence on Malay and some of its grammatical aspects shows the surprising, indirect influence of Persian on Malay's adopted Arabic, Turkish, and Sanskrit words. Because of their long use in the Persian language, some Arabic words in Malay can be considered Persian words, such as arak, atar, bahlul, bait, serbat, dalal, dayus, dukan, gogah, hamam, inai, khanjar, kisa, komkoma, mamlakat, masnawi, maus, menara, nagara (nakora), panus, ratna (rakna), jahanam, topan (taufan), uktab, ujrat, and waswas. The existence of 280 Arabic words which have become Persian words indicates these words were transferred by Iran to the archipelago.

There's a well-known proverb that says, tak kenal maka tak sayang (if we don't know each other, we won't love each other). If we get to know each other, and have a dialog about culture and civilization emphasizing the mutual relations among these countries, it can become the preface to a closer friendship.

The writer is Deputy Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Indonesia. His book Persian Vocabularies into Malay Language was published by the Ministry of Culture of Iran.

-Jakarta Post-