From: Lye Tuck-Po, ed. 2001. Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia: A Comprehensive and Annotated Bibliography, CSEAS Research Report Series No. 88. Kyoto: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.
I. Glossary of names for ethnic and language groups
· Aboriginal Malay: ethnolinguistic group for the Malayic, Austronesian-speaking Orang Asli: Jakun, Temuan, Orang Laut, Orang Kuala, Orang Kanaq. Used here interchangeably with “Melayu Asli”. Both of these terms have replaced Deutero-Malay although Proto-Malay remains in use by government agencies. The label was first proposed by P. D. R. Williams-Hunt (#986) as “by far the best of a bunch of bad terms” (he also considered “Jakun” and “Proto-Malay”).
· Aslian: name for the Mon-Khmer languages that are found in the Peninsula and southern Thailand. “Aslian” was invented by Gérard Diffloth and then used more widely by Geoffrey Benjamin. In 1973, in response to their proposal, the need for this special name was agreed by the First International Conference on Austroasiatic Languages (1973) and it has continued to be used widely by linguists ever since. Contrary to popular perception, Aslian are not debased forms of Malay but distinctive languages. Aslian languages are further subdivided thus: Northern Aslian, Southern Aslian, and Central Aslian. Northern Aslian languages are: Maniq, Kensiu, Kintaq, Jahai, Mendriq, Batek, Batek Tanum, Batek Nong, and Chewong. Central Aslian are: Lanoh, Semnam, Sabum, Temiar, and Semai. Southern Aslian are: Semaq Beri, Semelai, Temoq, and Besisi (Mah Meri). The remaining language, Jah Hut, is either Central Aslian or in a fourth division of its own.
· Austroasiatic: language family, encompassing the Mon-Khmer division of languages, in which are grouped the Aslian sub-division. The other division of Austroasiatic is constituted by the Munda languages of eastern India.
· Austronesian: language family with two branches, Malayo-Polynesian and Formosan. Malayo-Polynesian, which includes Malay and Aboriginal Malay, is that part of Austronesian that lies outside of Taiwan. The Austronesian languages in Taiwan constitute the Formosan branch.
· Bateg Hapen: the Batek Nong studied by I. H. N. Evans.
· Batek ‘Iga’: subgroup of Batek mainly centered around the Tahan and Tembeling area of Pahang, but now indistinguishable from their Batek De’ relatives. Kirk Endicott suggested that the ‘Iga’ and De’ sub-groups originated from a single population that diverged into two dialect groups; this seems supported by some oral history collected by Lye Tuck-Po. Lye’s genealogies show native ‘Iga’ speakers to number less than ten at the end of the 20th century (although there are many more part-‘Iga’ relatives who recognize and can use the dialect). See Kerbat.

· Batek De’: subgroup of Batek living in southern Kelantan and Pahang.
· Batek Deq: another way to spell Batek De’
· Batek Indong: Azizan Mohd. Yusoff’s rendition of Batek Nong
· Batek N’dong: Saidah Hj. Ridzuan’s rendition of Batek Nong
· Batek Nong: Semang; Northern Aslian. Alternatively rendered as Batek Indong, Batek N’dong, Bateg, and Batek Hapen. See comment for Batek.
· Batek Tanum: Semang; Northern Aslian. A small hunting-gathering society, now semi-sedentary, that traditionally recognized the Tanum River in Pahang as their place of origin, although they have been reported to travel as far as Lebir in Kelantan. Also called Mintil, which they seem to reject. Formerly also known as “Batek Blokka” by local Malays (as rendered by Wim van der Schot), “Blokka” being the people’s mimicry of the Malay word belukar ‘secondary forest’.
· Batek Tè’: one of the Batek sub-groups first identified by Kirk Endicott as dialect groups; found mainly in Terengganu. Not enough research has been done on the people and their language to determine their cultural history, and today they live in JHEOA settlements with the Semaq Beri of Terengganu (in the areas studied by Yukio Kuchikura and Ramle Abdullah, who focused on the latter). Hugh Clifford’s Kerbat vocabulary was possibly collected from Batek Tè’ speakers.
· Batek: Semang; Northern Aslian. Kirk Endicott has identified various sub-groups he called dialect groups (Batek De’, Batek ‘Iga’, Batek Tè’, etc.) and recognized that sub-groupings are flexible phenomena. Lye Tuck-Po, based mainly on 1990s fieldwork among the so-called Batek De’ and Batek ‘Iga’ of Pahang’s Kechau and Tembeling river valleys, has not found these dialect labels to be much used by the Batek themselves and, following their practice, prefers to just identify groups by the state (Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu) they live in. The Batek do, however, recognize that they are different from the other Pahang “Batek” groups usually lumped (especially by JHEOA) with them—the Batek Tanum and the Batek Nong. Among Batek Tanum and Batek—and probably the Batek Nong as well—“batek” means “people of our group” and when they are asked who they are, “Batek” is what they will answer. However, these three peoples are linguistically and sociologically different groups and recognize themselves as such. Therefore, Batek Tanum and Batek Nong should be separately distinguished. The “Bateg” studied by I. H. N. Evans and the “Batek” of Paul Schebesta are Batek Nong.
· Bateq: misspelling for Batek since the final consonant is a true velar /k/, not a glottal stop (as implied by the <q>). Found mainly in the official releases and maps of the JHEOA and reproduced unquestioningly by secondary observers.

· Bedoanda: alternative rendition of Biduanda; therefore, Temuan.
· Belandas: Temuan, as rendered by such as Vaughan-Stevens.
· Benar: unidentified group on the Galas River of Kelantan discussed by Paul Schebesta. This may be a sub-group of Batek, as Galas is in their territory. Batek sometimes dub themselves Batek benér (“true Batek”), benér being their rendition of the Malay benar for “true”.
· Benar-Benar: Benua in Vaughan-Stevens’ account, who lived on the coast of Selangor (but not inland); possibly Besisi?
· Benua: according to W. W. Skeat, this name for Jakun peoples appeared as far back as 1613. In the 19th century, it came into common use among writers like J. R. Logan. Logan identified Benua or Binua as the people of the upper reaches of certain large rivers in Johor (most famously, the Endau). Note, however, that in the 1960s the Endau informants of Narifumi Maeda (Tachimoto) called themselves Orang Hulu (as they continue to do so). Paul Favre a few decades before Logan used Binua to mean all Orang Asli peoples. Benua is from the Malay word meaning “land” (thus, Orang Benua means “people of the land”).
· Bersisek: another variation on the name of the Mah Meri, as rendered in Iskandar Juberi’s study.
· Besese: Satkuna Mathur’s spelling of Besisi
· Besisi: Senoi; Malayic; Southern Aslian. The oldest name recorded for people known administratively today as Mah Meri. “Besisi” has appeared in the literature for several centuries: in the Sejarah Melayu it was the name given to the indigenous people of Melaka and it is almost certainly a word-play on the old Malay word for “edge” (because they live at the edge of the land). In the modern period, Besisi may have come into formal usage with the fieldwork of W. W. Skeat. See Btsisi’, Ma’ Betisék, and Mah Meri.
· Bianok: according to I. H. N. Evans, this was the name that Kintaq Bong called the people known variously as Menik Gul and Semang Paya
· Biduanda Kallang: one of the Orang Laut groups in Singapore, Kallang being the name of the river where they lived.
· Biduanda: older name for some groups of Temuan or Jakun (in Melaka and Negri Sembilan, among other places). The name is from the Malay word for “royal messenger” or “palace servant” and thus is often considered to reflect Orang Asli’s important role in pre-colonial Malay society.
· Binua: a different way to spell Benua, probably reflecting Malay dialectical variations
· Blandas: a different way to spell Belandas
· Blandass: a different way to spell Belandas
· Btsisi’: proposed by Barbara Nowak, and then Robert K. Dentan, as the proper way to spell Besisi, based on the way they feel the name is actually pronounced by the people. Used most notably by Carey Island Orang Asli to identify themselves. Alternative rendition: Hma’ Btsisi’ (“Hma’” or “Mah” are from the local word for “people”). See Besisi; Mah Meri; Ma’ Betisék.
· Bumiputera Asli: according to Colin Nicholas, a substitute name for Orang Asli, meaning “original sons of the soil”; proposed by the Sultan of Johor in 1984 prior to his installation as the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia. The Sultan argued that the only reason Orang Asli are not Malays is that they are not Muslim.
· Central Aslian: see prefatory remarks and Aslian.
· Central Sakai: a term proposed by R. J. Wilkinson for people now known as Semai. See Sakai
· Che Wong: C. S. Ogilvie’s spelling of Chewong (i.e., as two separate words)
· Chewong: Senoi; Central Aslian. The name has no indigenous or ethnographic logic at all. As Chewong explained to their primary ethnographer Signe Howell, the name arose from a miscommunication between C. S. Ogilvie (at the time the Game Warden) and a Malay employee of the Game Department. Ogilvie was the first to record information about the Chewong as a distinct social group. Because the name has become entrenched both administratively and ethnographically, it has continued to be used by the Chewong as a convenient way of identifying themselves to outsiders. Signe Howell suggests there is no need to render Chewong as two separate words: it is a corruption of a Malay ranger’s name, Siwang
· Cho-Ben: see Jelbeng.
· Chow Pal: name for Semang of Trang, south Thailand, in W. L. Abbot’s collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Probably from the politically neutral Thai words chao paa meaning “forest folk”.
· Desin Dolaq: “people of the sea” in the (Austronesian) language of the Duano (or Orang Kuala) of the west coast of Johor and some of the Indonesian islands across the Straits of Malacca.
· Deutero-Malay: primarily proposed by R. O. Winstedt; means “second(-wave) Malays”, i.e., Malays “proper” in the now-defunct race-based theories once current in the ethnological literature. Still widely repeated in the more popular accounts.
· Djakun: spelling of Jakun in the older German literature
· Duano: Aboriginal Malay. Orang Kuala of Johor and Sumatra.
· Hma’ Batisi: Mah Meri; perhaps a misprint for (Hma’) Btsisi’ or (Ma’) Betisék in one of Wazir-Jahan Karim’s papers.
· Jacoon: on first sight, this is merely how untrained colonial observers spelt “Jakun”. It has also been a misnomer. E.g., Frank Swettenham’s “Jacoons” were Semai. Casual visitors like William T. Hornaday used it to name any one of a range of southern groups, including the Temuan
· Jah Het: Senoi; Central Aslian, or possibly a distinct Aslian division of its own. In earlier writings, like I. H. N. Evans’, they were known as Krau Sakai (the Krau river being a territorial marker) or put in the category of Sakai-Jakun. Here used interchangeably with Jah Hut; both are equally established spellings of the name (perhaps reflecting local dialectical variations). Sometimes the two words jah, meaning “people” and het, meaning “no”, are hyphenated.
· Jah Hut: common way of spelling Jah Het. Both spellings are used interchangeably in this bibliography
· Jah Klet: according to Signe Howell, this was what the Jah Het call the Chewong (“jah” being the Jah Het word for “people” and Klet or Kled being a place-name). See Kleb
· Jahai: Semang; Northern Aslian. There is a remarkable line of historical continuity in the naming of this group. Variations have to do with the spelling of the name (“Jehai”, “Jehehr”, etc.) rather than with the choice of the name. Their range extends across to Thailand.

· Jahut: erroneous rendition for Jah Het/Jah Hut, since jah and het (or hut) are two separate words in their language.
· Jakun: Aboriginal Malay; Austronesian. Identifying “Jakun” in the literature is an onerous task, primarily because Jakun have been famous collectors of forest products and are mentioned in many different kinds of writings – and under a variety of names! It is not always clear to whom the name “Jakun” (or its colonial variant, “Jacoon”) is applied. In the colonial period, Jakun might sometimes refer to all Aboriginal Malay peoples from the southern part of the Peninsula (Pahang, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, and Johor), and further sub-classified (by such as C. O. Blagden) as “Land-Jakun” and “Sea-Jakun”. In Paul Favre’s writing, e.g., “Jakun” included Temuan. At the same time, research was turning up local names such as Benua/Binua. Today, Jakun is a proper name for a specific ethnic group living in Johor and Pahang. Those researchers who work in Johor often use “Orang Hulu” (or “Orang Ulu”) rather than Jakun.
· Jehai: Jahai
· Jehaic: linguistic division proposed by Gérard Diffloth, equivalent to Northern Aslian
· Jehehr: Paul Schebesta’s occasional rendition of Jahai
· Jelbeng: name recorded by I. H. N. Evans for the people later identified as Chewong, subsequently explained to C. S. Ogilvie and Signe Howell as a group of unrelated “refugees” from Malay advances. Also Jo-Ben, So-Ben, or Cho-Ben.
· Jeni: unidentified group in S. Ballinger’s study
· Jo-Ben: see Jelbeng.
· Kansiw: a different way to spell Kensiw
· Kenaboi: a speech variety from Negri Sembilan, most likely to be an avoidance language, which has become absorbed into Temuan
· Kensiu: Semang; Northern Aslian. Their language is very close to that of the Kintaq (though Kensiu are in Kedah and Kintaq are in Perak), with whom they share settlements and have close socio-economic relations. As such, studies of one group inevitably make reference to the other (or the studies treat both together). They are closely related to the Kensiw of Thailand, and cross-border movement is frequent. These groups—Kensiu and Kintaq—are the best known ones remaining from those identified in the older literature as western Semang.
· Kensiw: Northern Aslian people of Thailand, closely related to the Kedah Kensiu. Linguists would spell the name as “Kensiw” (or “Kansiw”), but “Kensiu” is not unknown in the literature (see, e.g., D. Hughes’ study). For convenience’s sake, in this bibliography Kensiw refers to the Thai peoples, and Kensiu to the Malaysian Orang Asli.
· Kenta or Kenta Bog’n: Kintaq; this spelling was used mainly or exclusively by Paul Schebesta.
· Kentakbong: Asmah Hj. Omar’s spelling of Kintaq Bong
· Kerbat: name of a river in Terengganu where, in 1895, Hugh Clifford recorded a wordlist (but not much else) from a group that was almost certainly Batek. The “Kerbat” vocabulary was then included in C. O. Blagden’s comparative vocabulary in Skagden. Kirk Endicott, reviewing Blagden’s list, suggested Kerbat were Batek ‘Iga’ though Batek Tè’ is also possible. Today the Kerbat area, where Yukio Kuchikura conducted fieldwork, is shared by Batek Tè’ and Semoq Beri.
· Kintak Bogn: alternative spelling used by Shuichi Nagata, among others, for Kintaq Bong
· Kintaq Bong: sub-group of the Kintaq
· Kintaq Nakil: sub-group of the Kintaq. Apparently nakil means “true, real” in their language
· Kintaq: Semang; Northern Aslian. See comment for Kensiu. Spelling variants of their name aside (e.g., Kintak, Kenta), sub-groups have been identified. These include the Kintaq Bong and Kintaq Nakil.
· Kleb: name recorded by Paul Schebesta for a group living close to Raub (Pahang), and subsequently identified by Signe Howell as a sub-group of the Chewong (who render the name as Kled or Bi Kled, “Kled” being a place-name or a kind of palm tree, and “bi” being the local word for “people”).
· Lanoh: Semang; Central Aslian. Although a recognizable ethnonym, Lanoh refers to a number of different but closely interacting peoples, the Semnam, Sabüm, and Lanoh Yir.
· Ma’ Betisék: Besisi. Spelling or printing variants Ma’ Betise’; Ma’ Betisek. For further explanations, see Besisi; Mah Meri.
· Mah Meri: the popularly used name for the peoples known otherwise as Besisi, Btsisi’, or Ma’ Betisék, which might have been coined by an early JHEOA official. In the 1980s, Wazir Jahan Karim, Barbara Nowak, and Robert Dentan (all based on fieldwork on Carey Island) argued that Mah Meri is not a suitable name, because Mah (pronounced hma’, meaning “people”) and meri (pronounced merih, meaning “forest”) just refers to generic “forest people” (and by extension all indigenes) in the local language. According to Colin Nicholas, the Tg. Sepat group (off the island) today do recognize themselves as Mah Meri. Wazir Jahan Karim’s rendition of what Carey Islanders call themselves is Ma’ Betisék (“people with scales”) while Nowak, with Dentan following suit, decided on the spelling of Btsisi’ (for the old name Besisi). Mah Meri is also spelt as “Hmak Merih” (more closely following the local pronunciation) and erroneously written as one word “Mahmeri”.
· Mahmeri: erroneous way of writing Mah Meri since the name is from two separate words meaning “people” and “forest”.
· Mai Darat: a form of self-designation by Semai, from their words for “people” and “land”, i.e., lowlanders.
· Mai Sengoi: a name that Semai use to refer to all Semai as a group

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