Re: english words absorbed into Asian languages during WW2

Peter T. Daniels wrote:
[snip]
>
> It would be unlikely to be borrowed in exactly the same form
> and meaning
> on two separate occasions. The sense 'mountain/large hill' isn't
> particularly close to the American sense of 'out in the middle of
> nowhere'.
>
[snip]

"Bundok" in the strictest sense of the noun in Tagalog means "mountain"
in english. But there are really no mountains in Philippines, just
some fairly large ranges of foothills covered with thick jungle canopy.
If you were to picture the Rice Terraces of Banaue minus the
terraforming then that's pretty much as "mountainous" the Philippines
gets.

In colloquial usage "bundok" can admittedly be used as a noun
representing a geologic feature:
"Ang laki ng bundok"
(What a huge mountain.)


But more often it is used as a noun representing a location, with the
intended meaning of referring to some faraway place that is very
inaccessible and detached from the rest of normal society.

"Tingnan mo ang kutis at makinig ka sa usap niya, baka galing siya sa
bundok."
(Look at his complexion and listen to his speech, maybe he is from the
mountains.)

"Walang hiya ang mga NPA, dapat huwag na sila mag riklamo, bumaba na
lang sila sa tinatagoan nilang bundok at tulungan na lang nila ang mga
tao."
(The NPA has no shame, they should just stop complaining, come down
from the mountains they are hiding in and help the people.)

Finally, if you wanted to call a Filipino a "redneck" then you would
say that he was "taga bundok" meaning he's "from the mountains."

"Bundok" in Tagalog can and is used in the same way as one would use
"boondocks" in English.

.

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