4 ms·

I'd be very surprised if they were connected. Garam sira is apparently well attested as the origin and derivations from both words are common across the austron

I'd be very surprised if they were connected. Garam sira is apparently well attested as the origin and derivations from both words are common across the austronesian family. Similar sounds have been reconstructed in the proto- language as well. Not an expert here, but these sorts of false cognates are common enough and the distances far enough that it makes me suspicious. Do you have a more substantial source?

teleforce 5y ago
Based on the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database, the word sira is the common word for all Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, Proto-Chamic and Proto-Malayic for salt not garam [1]. Indonesian Aceh language, however, diverged from Chams around 1st century AD has word garam for salt. This indicates that garam most probably a loan word. Apparently, the most common words for salt in Austronesian language family (largest family of languages in the world) are sira, garam and masin/asin. These three words exist in modern Malay-Indonesian languages namely garam for salt, masin for salty and sira for salt-lick. [1]https://abvd.shh.mpg.de/austronesian/ https://abvd.shh.mpg.de/austronesian/
- AlotOfReading 5y ago
  There's an origin note on the word in Malay, which indicates the root of garam is "garam sira", grains of salt. Do you have something discussing how garam could instead be a loanword, because nothing I've seen indicates this.
  - teleforce 5y ago
    Have you checked the database? It contains basic 210 words for many major Austronesian based languages, and conveniently it includes salt as one of basic words inside the database. You can even search and cross check the basic word e.g. salt across more than one thousand Austronesian languages. Another fun fact, the oldest known source of written Cham language is the Dong Yeng Chau inscription tablet written in 4th century AD recently discovered in Central Vietnam. This Old Cham inscription written in an Old Southern Brahmi script and even older than Old Malay language. Amazingly it's still very much understandable if you know the modern Malay-Indonesian language (top ten most used languages)[1]. As a comparison the most studied language in the Americas, Mayan Languages that was spoken around the time of Old Cham, its modern version is not widely being used now. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_Y%C3%AAn_Ch%C3%A2u_inscription https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_Y%C3%AAn_Ch%C...

teleforce 5y ago

Based on the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database, the word sira is the common word for all Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, Proto-Chamic and Proto-Malayic for salt not garam [1]. Indonesian Aceh language, however, diverged from Chams around 1st century AD has word garam for salt. This indicates that garam most probably a loan word. Apparently, the most common words for salt in Austronesian language family (largest family of languages in the world) are sira, garam and masin/asin. These three words exist in modern Malay-Indonesian languages namely garam for salt, masin for salty and sira for salt-lick. [1]https://abvd.shh.mpg.de/austronesian/ https://abvd.shh.mpg.de/austronesian/

AlotOfReading 5y ago
There's an origin note on the word in Malay, which indicates the root of garam is "garam sira", grains of salt. Do you have something discussing how garam could instead be a loanword, because nothing I've seen indicates this.
- teleforce 5y ago
  Have you checked the database? It contains basic 210 words for many major Austronesian based languages, and conveniently it includes salt as one of basic words inside the database. You can even search and cross check the basic word e.g. salt across more than one thousand Austronesian languages. Another fun fact, the oldest known source of written Cham language is the Dong Yeng Chau inscription tablet written in 4th century AD recently discovered in Central Vietnam. This Old Cham inscription written in an Old Southern Brahmi script and even older than Old Malay language. Amazingly it's still very much understandable if you know the modern Malay-Indonesian language (top ten most used languages)[1]. As a comparison the most studied language in the Americas, Mayan Languages that was spoken around the time of Old Cham, its modern version is not widely being used now. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_Y%C3%AAn_Ch%C3%A2u_inscription https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_Y%C3%AAn_Ch%C...