Re: Ad Yurii Gloriam (and Adios Yuri)

Peter van Rossum (pmv100@psu.edu)
Sat, 18 Jan 1997 19:22:00 GMT

In article <5blp9l$qg0@news1.io.org> yuku@io.org (Yuri Kuchinsky) writes:
>And here, I would like to quote for you from a relatively new publication.
>ISLANDS, PLANTS, AND POLYNESIANS: AN INTRODUCTION TO POLYNESIAN
>ETHNOBOTANY, Paul Cox and Sandra Banack, eds, Portland, 1991. In the
>article POLYNESIAN PLANT NAMES, Karl H. Rensch writes:
>
>"I do not intend to go back to the question of whether the word _kumara_
>[signifying sweet potato, _Ipomoea_], which has reflexes in most
>Polynesian langauges, is of South American Indian origin. The case for it
>has been proven beyond doubt (Yen 1974)" (p. 98)
>
>Yuri.

I'm not sure on what basis Rensch is claiming that Yen
(1974) conclusively demonstrates that the Polynesian
name kumara for the sweet potato is of South American
origin. Both Sauer (1993) and Heiser (1990, p. 142
footnote) claim that this identification is in dispute.

They claim that others believe that the wide occurance
of kumara in Polynesia but its restricted occurance in
South America might actually indicate that the term
originated in Polynesia and was spread to South America
by the post-contact Spaniards. Unfortunately neither
Sauer nor Heiser seem to give a reference for who
disputes this (very irritating).

But I read Yen early last semester and didn't remember him
claiming that there was clear evidence that kumara was of
South American derivation (as Rensch claims above), so I
went back to check.

While I always find linguistic arguments hard to follow
it seemed clear to me that Yen (1974) is not at all
comfortable concluding with any degree of certainty
that the term kumara is of South American origin:

"The earliest reference to a word similar to kumara is
an entry in an anonymous dictionary of Peruvian words
and phrases (Anonymous 1586). As cumal it is annotated
as a word from Chinchasuyo, which in modern
classification is regarded as a group of some six
regional dialects of the northern highland group of
Quechua languages. Brand (1971 - in Man Across the
Sea) has traced the subsequent dictionary entries of
cumal or cumar, connected its derivation with coman
recorded in the Cuenca area of the southern Ecuadorian
highlands in 1582, and found the distribution of
related forms only to the north of Cuzco. Further
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT THE WORD WAS USED FOR SWEET
POTATO ANYWHERE ON THE PERUVIAN AND ECUADORIAN COASTS,
so Brand states that the name could not have been
transferred by Polynesians after a trans-Pacific
landfall." (p. 14)

"...it may merit some discussion as prompted by the
case that appears to have been made by Swadesh (1964,
p. 539) for transfer of the word - but from Polynesia
to America. 'The word for sweet potato in Aymara and
Maori ... are not typical of Quechua and Aymara'" (p.
19) [but he goes on to note that another Quechua
scholar is unsure if Swadesh's use of present day
languages for the past is valid]

"No dissection of the Polynesian word has been
published...In the absence of further analysis, THE
VARIETY OF DIRECTIONAL GAMES THAT MIGHT BE PLAYED WITH
THE NOT-QUITE PARALLELS IN DIVERSITY OF THE GLOSSES FOR
SWEET POTATO BETWEEN AMERICA AND OCEANIA IS FAR FROM
EXHAUSTED. B. Biggs (pers. comm.) has shared his
tentative thoughts on the etymology of the Polynesian
word. From its shape, with a long vowel following the
initial consonant in its trisyllabic form, the word is
atypical of Polynesian. THIS MAY INDICATE A BORROWED
WORD, BUT THAT IT MAY BE A COMPOUND WORD OF POLYNESIAN
DERIVATION CANNOT BE DISCOUNTED...Such speculative
construction must remain uncertain, but signifies THE
INTRIGUING PROSPECT THAT...THE KUMARA WORD AND ITS
COGNATES MAY NOT BE AN AMERICAN DERIVATION." (p. 19-20)

"As indications of direction and the identity of
transferrers, the vernacular names have been the most
often quoted, and are indeed applied in the present
reconstruction. Structurally, however, THE POLYNESIAN
WORD KUMARA EXHIBITS SOME DOUBT OF PERUVIAN
DERIVATION...for the depth of cultural support from
historical linguistics, which traces the Malayo-
Polynesian derivation of the majority of Pacific
languages, confers direction and identity to the
transfer of plants THAT ONE LEXICAL ITEM IN COMMON
CANNOT DO." (p. 265).

Unless I missed something in Yen (always a possibility)
it appears to me pretty clear that Yen was quite hesitant
to conclude that the Polynesian term kumara is originally
of South American origin.

I do not understand, therefore, how Rensch can claim
that Yen's analysis was conclusive when even Yen doesn't
seem to think it was. If Rensch has additional evidence
to support the theory he should offer it, but simply citing
Yen as authoritative support seems completely unjustified
to me.

So what do you think of that Yuri?

Peter van Rossum
PMV100@PSU.EDU

Yen, D.E.
1974 "The Sweet Potato and Oceania." Bernice P.
Bishop Museum - Bulletin No. 236.