Ganja, i was not implying that you are not still "living" with keris. I was merely making a comparision of different types of knowledge and stating which one i prefer to place my bets on. Books are wonderful resources and i own and read as many books on keris as i can find. I am certainly not dismissing them as tools for study. But as we all know by now, books can be inaccurate at times and when one bases his research only on other books that might have the same inaccuracy we are like to continue repeating the mistake again and again.
Empu Suparman was a true ahli keris and very much respected for his keris making skills and knowledge. He passed some of his knowledge directly to Alan and for me that is "living" knowledge. The source of the information in the books you have quoted is not so clear.
As has been stated and i believe acknowledged by you as well, keris terms are almost invariable Javanese, not Indonesian, so i find the meaning of the word "mayat" in Indonesian to be inconsequential to the understanding of the meaning of the pamor name. We are not saying "buntel mayat" to just any Indonesian on this forum, we are saying it to keris collectors and enthusiasts who understand that these words are derived from the Javanese language. Therefore the meaning should in fact be less horrible.
