Exploring Medical Terminology in Miyatake’s Malay-Japanese Dictionary (1943)

• In Event: Medicine Talks: Perceiving Society and Individuals in Japanese Occupied Singapore and Indonesia

Abstract

On January 31, 1942, a combined Japanese force launched a two-pronged attack on the island of Ambon. Within four days, the Japanese controlled the island, city and airfield. Nellie Jansen (2004), the Dutch resident’s daughter, provided us an eye-witness account of the early days of the occupation. As a volunteer and trained nurse’s assistant, her observations center on medical resources and organization, including the presence of Japanese doctors and pharmacists from the first week. She also observed use of Malay dictionaries by Japanese authorities; for example, she wrote of her chat with a wounded officer: “Dat feit scheen hem erg te vermaken, want hij greep schuddend van het lachen zijn maleise woordenboekje en zei, na er in te hebben gebladerd: “Doeloe besar, sekarang ketjil”....”
This paper will explore what bilingual Japanese dictionaries were available to Japanese military and civilians who occupied Indonesia. To what extent and how accurately did those dictionaries provide Malay (Indonesian) vocabulary, especially medical terminology? The focus will be Masamichi Miyatake’s Kamoes Bahasa Nippon-Indonésia (also known as Kamoes Merajoe-Nippon jang lengkap), first published in 1938. Medical terminology was sometimes of importance, as can be discerned through letters to Miyatake from Japanese soldiers in Indonesia. For example, one correspondent was uncertain how to address an Indonesian nurse in the hospital, but decided not to use baboe, although some dictionaries defined it as ‘nurse’ (Kuroiwa 2012:43). A good decision!
This paper is part of a project to examine and evaluate lexicographic resources developed by early twentieth century Japanese scholars.

Author

• James T. Collins, The National University of Malaysia, Institute of Ethnic Studies