Malela luk 5 for comment..

[A. G. Maisey]

Parong Sari, I assume you have addressed your comment on the spelling of "parung" to me, so I shall respond.

You are of course correct in that it is pronunciation that is important, however, this romanisation of the original Javanese script is given in Jawa as "parung". In Malaysia it seems that it is usually given as "parong". These two words have a totally different sound, and in the Malay language, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the word "parong" is unknown and has no meaning. In Jawa the word in its original and correct transliteration has a very definite meaning.

This confusion would seem to indicate that when the romanisation of the original Javanese script was found necessary in Malay, the result was influenced by the accent of a speaker.

Parong Sari, I have no doubt that in Malaysia this spelling is understood, but since we are talking about a dhapur that is originally Javanese, it is clear that the Malay transliteration is incorrect, resulting in a word which has no meaning.

In an earlier post I remarked that I was looking forward to learning much from you, because of your unique perspective of the world of the keris.

I find that already you are making a lasting impression on my evaluation of your knowledge.

Thank for this clarification of your erudition.

If you care to expand your knowledge of the Javanese keris as weapon, perhaps a reading of "War, Culture and Economy in Java, 1677-1726"--M.C. Ricklefs might be of value to you.