This succession of names, it will be noticed,
is consistent with the custom, common to the Kenyahs and Kayans,
of naming the father after his eldest child.
[102] -- There are four words used by the Kayans to express the notion
of the forbidden act, MALAN, LALI, PARIT, and TULAH. All these are
used as adjectives qualifying actions rather than things; but they
are not strictly synonymous terms. MALAN and PARIT seem to be true
Kayan words; LALI and TULAH to have been taken from the Malay, and to
be used generally by Kayans in speaking with Kenyahs or men of other
tribes to whom these words are more familiar than the Kayan terms.
MALAN applies rather to acts involving risks to the whole community,
PARIT to those involving risk to the individual committing the
forbidden act: thus, during harvest it is MALAN for any stranger to
enter the house, and the whole house or village is said to be MALAN;
but it is PARIT for a child to touch one of the images. Again, it is
not MALAN for the proper persons to touch the dried heads on certain
occasions, but it is always in some degree PARIT for the individual,
and for this reason the task is generally assigned to an elderly
man. LALI and TULAH seem to be the LINGUA FRANCA equivalents of MALAN
and of PARIT respectively.
Pages:
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853