An English-Malay Dictionary - Preface - Subsidiary English Meanings, Pronunciations, Dialects

Sep 2, 2026

An English-Malay dictionary designed to provide a comprehensive and accessible mapping between English words and Malay equivalents, expanding beyond an earlier limited vocabulary goal. The preface explains the organizing principle: multiple English subsidiary meanings placed in structured headings to clarify subtle distinctions. It also details a systematic approach to English word pronunciations for Asian learners, guided by reference dictionaries, and outlines major Malay dialect divisions plus dialect-specific word usage support for students.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages614

Reading Time15 h 46 min

AccessFree to download

PREFACE

SUBSIDIARY ENGLISH MEANINGS

PRONUNCIATIONS OF ENGLISH WORDS

DIALECTIC DIFFERENCES IN MALAY

HELP RECEIVED WITH THE DIALECTS

L 7 ANENGLISH-MALAY DICTIONARY By Rev.W.G.SHELLABEAR,D.D., Author of"A Practical Malay Grammar,""Malay English Vocabulary"etc. All Rights Reserved 1916. P■5135 548 # PREFACE The accomplishment of the author’s original intention,which was toproduce an English-Malay Vocabulary containing some three or fourthousand words,has been so long deferred through pressure of other literarywork,that it has been thought better to abandon it altogether,especiallyin view of the fact that other vocabularies have appeared meanwhile whichsupply the need for a limited word list.The scope of the original workhas therefore been greatly extended,with the object of producing not amere Vocabulary but a Dictionary which would be as complete as possible. An intimate acquaintance with Favre's French-Malay and with Klin-kert's Dutch-Malay dictionaries,and the constant use of these valuableworks during a period of many years,has enabled the author to profit bythe experience gained by these writers,and it is hoped that all the essentialinformation contained in these more voluminous works will be found inthis volume in a more convenient and accessible form. # SUBSIDIARY ENGLISH MEANINGS. The great defect of many dictionaries of Oriental languages is thatin looking up an English word one finds a long list of unfamiliar equi-valents,without any indication as to the precise shade of meaning whichis to be given to each.The English student is therefore quite at a lossas to which word he should select;and similarly the Oriental student whois seeking the precise meaning of an English word finds so many almostsynonymous equivalents in his own language that he is very little thewiser for his search.In order to obviate this difficulty as far as possible,we have followed the plan of the best English-French and English-Germandictionaries,giving a number of English meanings wherever necessary foreach English word,and arranging the Malay equivalents under thesevarious headings.These English meanings have been taken in the mainfrom Webster’s International Unabridged Dictionary,and in the same orderas they are found there,so whenever the student finds any ambiguity inthese meanings he should refer to Webster's dictionary.The typographicarrangement of Roman and Italic letters,and the placing of the subsidiaryEnglish meanings in parentheses,has been designed so that the particularmeaning of the word of which the student is in search will readily meetthe eve,and thus the necessity for reading through a whole column ofmeanings(such as will be found,for instance,in Klinkert's dictionary)will be avoided,thereby saving much time. # PRONUNCIATIONS oF ENGLISH WoRDS. Another feature which we believe is rather unusual in dictionariesof Oriental languages is that for the sake of Asiatic students we havegiven the pronunciation of every English word.: These pronunciations208 are based for the most part on Webster,but we have been careful to followthe English usage rather than the American,and for this purpose haveconsulted three or four other English dictionaries.This feature has addedenormously to the labour of the final preparation of the work,and isresponsible for some delay,but we believe that it will be greatly appre-ciated by Malay students and Malay-speaking Chinese. # DIALECTIC DIFFERENCES IN MALAY. The Malay language is so widespread,and is spoken by such a varietyof different races(Malays proper,Javanese,Sundanese,Achinese,Siamese,and Chinese)that the differences of dialect are very considerable.The Malay spoken on the three great islands of Borneo,Java and Sumatrais not by any means the same.There are variations in different parts ofthese islands,and along the coast of the Peninsula,the East Coast especial-ly differing from the West.But for the purpose of the English studentof Malay or of the Malay student of English it is not at all necessary toconsider all the differences of dialect.For practical purposes there arefour main divisions of t

FAQs

Why was the original limited English-Malay vocabulary expanded into a full dictionary?

The author’s original plan for a few thousand words was delayed and it became better to produce a more complete dictionary, incorporating essential information in a more convenient form.

How does the dictionary handle ambiguity in English word meanings?

It gives several English subsidiary meanings for each English word and arranges the Malay equivalents under those headings, using the order found in Webster’s dictionary to guide which meaning to select.

What approach does the dictionary take to English pronunciations for learners?

It provides pronunciation of every English word for Asiatic students, largely based on Webster, while following English usage rather than American usage by consulting multiple dictionaries.

How are Malay dialect differences treated in the dictionary?

The author identifies four practical divisions of Malay for learners, covering pure Malay, northern Peninsula Malay, Straits-born Chinese dialect, and Netherlands Indies Malay, and supplies commonly used words across Netherlands India for Englishmen, Americans, and Chinese learners.

Sep 2, 2026

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