Bali Keris for Comment

A. G. Maisey · 21st April 2026, 11:16 AM

wrongko = scabbard

uwer = hilt ring

the word that there is really no substitution for is gonjo. Some people will translate this as "guard", but it is not. If one uses spiritual belief it is translated as Ganges, ie, River Ganges & given a water association. I seem to recall that it also has an association with one of the administration ranks, perhaps a bupati, I really forget, I'd need to go digging through dictionaries & word lists, & there are 3 common levels of Javanese or depending on how one counts, 4 levels, & in karaton society perhaps 11 levels of language, one of which is comprised of impromptu verse which needs to be sung.

But you're right Rob, when it gets right down to basics, there are some words that cannot be translated, & that is mostly because there are ideas within the Javanese world view that are very alien to the world view of many other people.In my opinion it is not really possible to understand the keris as people of a keris bearing society understand it, unless one can think in the same way, or at least understand the way in which these people think, & perhaps it is not possible to do that unless the society & its languages are understood.

I put the images up so that for those who like to expose confusion & error they can fill in at least one empty afternoon by doing comparisons of names & forms, yeah, not everybody is fluent in BI, but one of the online translators is only a couple of key strokes away.

21st April 2026, 11:16 AM	#17
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,228	wrongko = scabbard uwer = hilt ring the word that there is really no substitution for is gonjo. Some people will translate this as "guard", but it is not. If one uses spiritual belief it is translated as Ganges, ie, River Ganges & given a water association. I seem to recall that it also has an association with one of the administration ranks, perhaps a bupati, I really forget, I'd need to go digging through dictionaries & word lists, & there are 3 common levels of Javanese or depending on how one counts, 4 levels, & in karaton society perhaps 11 levels of language, one of which is comprised of impromptu verse which needs to be sung. But you're right Rob, when it gets right down to basics, there are some words that cannot be translated, & that is mostly because there are ideas within the Javanese world view that are very alien to the world view of many other people.In my opinion it is not really possible to understand the keris as people of a keris bearing society understand it, unless one can think in the same way, or at least understand the way in which these people think, & perhaps it is not possible to do that unless the society & its languages are understood. I put the images up so that for those who like to expose confusion & error they can fill in at least one empty afternoon by doing comparisons of names & forms, yeah, not everybody is fluent in BI, but one of the online translators is only a couple of key strokes away.