[Mihalic] Maski etymology!

[Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies]

Mihalic attributes TP maski to German "es macht nichts" 'it doesn't
matter'. However, just by accident I came across the following in their
discussion of Chinese Pidgin English (CPE).

Amongst a number of CPE words of "undetermined origin", Baker and
Mühlhäusler (1990:100) note: "maskee (1769) 'never mind' which Hunter
(1882:61) and Dalgado (1936) regard as Portuguese but for which a possible
Malay origin has also been identified (Clark 1979:59, note 15; Ferreira
1978)". [I don't have any of the sources mentioned, but include them below
if someone has access to better library resources than I do and can perhaps
enlighten us on what they say]

Further, Ross (1992:371-72) provides an alternative possibility: "Although
the vague phonological similarity may have helped to reinforce the term,
thsi seems a phonologially unlikely source in itself. Ramoaaina [=Duke of
York] maadeki 'forget it! leave it!' (verb maadek + third person singular
object suffix -i) seems more likely." Note 22 on p. 372: "There is also a
Bengali term with similar form and meaning, but it is unclear how this
might have found its way into Tok Pisin." However, since maski existed in
CPE, Ross's interpretation would have less weight, I assume. Does maski
exist in other Pacific pidgins too?

Don

Don Niles
Head & Senior Ethnomusicologist
Music Department
Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies
P.O. Box 1432
Boroko 111
PAPUA NEW GUINEA

tel.:	[675] 325-4644
fax:	[675] 325-0531
email:	ipngs at global.net.pg


SOURCES
Baker, Philip, & Peter Mühlhäusler
	1990	"From Business to Pidgin." Journal of Asian Pacific
Communication 1/1: 87-115.

Clark, R.
	1979	"In Search of Beach-la-Mar." Te Reo 22: 3-64.

Dalgado, S. R.
	1936	Portuguese Vocables in Asiatic Languages. Baroda: Oriental
Institute.

Ferreira, J. D. S.
	1978	Papiá Cristám di Macau. Macao: Tipografia da Missão.

Hunter, W. C. J.
	1882	The "Fan Kwae' at Canton before Treaty Days. London:
Keagan, Paul, Trench and Co.

Ross, Malcolm
	1992	"The Sources of Austronesian Lexical Items in Tok Pisin."
In The Language Game: Papers in Memory of Donald C. Laycock, ed. Tom
Dutton, Malcolm Ross, & Darrell Tryon, pp. 361-84. Pacific Linguistics, C
110. Canberra: Australian National University.