The Keris in Early Javanese Literature

[fearn]

Hi All,

I'm delurking for a second, and while I'm nothing but a newbie, I'd like to make sure I'm following the thread here, and at least refine my ignorance, if nothing else.

I'm assuming that we use the low-level term "keris" because it's the common term that all of us can use as equals, without having to know the rank of those who read our posts?

Treading on thin ice, am I correct that the kalis/keris "thing" is due to our (mistaken) assumption that an l to r transition (kalis to keris) makes linguistic sense as a Sanskrit to Javanese borrowing. According to Mr. Maisey, this is NOT the case, because keris is based on the Javanese root "-iris," and is an indigenous Javanese term. I'd thought that kalis is a Sanskrit term for sword, and I'm certainly not a Sanskrit scholar, or even a linguist.

Finally, I'd point out that while English doesn't have too much in the way of rank-based formalisms (at least current English), we do have segregation based on usage, which is even stranger in its own way. After all, all civilizations have to deal with social hierarchies, but we tend to ignore that. English peculiarites? Consider legalese, which is a very peculiar dialect, as are the various academic lexicons. We use different terms when we're discussing contracts (pursuant, anyone?) or research (wherein data are plural, whereas data is singular in popular usage) means that English is quite odd. I pity the scholars who try to decipher our current documents, once English becomes a dead language.

F