Thesaurus Bahasa Indonesia

When I was studying Languages at University I was astounded at the complexity and how just one meaning could have a heap words for it. It always helps to have a thesaurus at hand as well as being useful for crosswords!.

For serious students of Bahasa Indonesia and for those who have a general interest in the Indonesian language, you will be pleased to know that a thesaurus for Bahasa Indonesia has been released. I look forward to adding this to my collection. Here’s the review:

A dictionary we’ve long been waiting for
Ignatius Haryanto, Contributor, Jakarta

Tesaurus Bahasa Indonesia. Eko Endarmoko, Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2006, 713 pp.

Tired of using the same old Indonesian word all the time? Need a bunch of other words with the same meaning?

If so, you should read (and keep a copy of) this book. It is a dictionary of Indonesian synonyms, a rare work that will be very useful to people in the business of writing, teachers, lecturers, students and many others.

The thesaurus should be regarded as a serious work of Indonesian intellectuals, who belong to Kommunitas Utan Kayu (Utan Kayu Cultural Community), and proves the writer’s serious intention to provide such rich and careful entries in the book.

We are reminded, in the book, that Indonesian words borrow from many regional, social and temporary dialects and languages, and probably most are seldom used by Indonesians, either.

In his introductory words, Eko Endarmoko writes that he felt unsatisfied with the synonym dictionary that was already available, referring to two other linguists that had produced a similar work.

His interest in collecting words that have the same meaning harks back to the time when he was still a student in the Indonesian literature department, University of Indonesia, in the 1980s.

His semantics lecturer, Prof. Anton Moeliono, asked him to help make notes on Indonesian words and their synonyms.

Initially these were unorganized until Eko realized that they were very important to support him in his work as an editor of several publications.

People in the business of writing and publishing definitely need these kind of notes, which led Eko to take another look, this time more carefully. He started to organize all the entries he already had, and began to sort them all alphabetically.

In 1993, Eko had the ambition to compile a dictionary, but it took more than a decade to fulfill his ambition.

Meanwhile, Eko worked for several organizations, including Utan Kayu Cultural Community, where he had a big room to allow his creativity to flourish and assist meaningful discussion with other artists in the community.

He admits he often discussed things with novelist Ayu Utami, poet Sitok Srengenge and writer Goenawan Mohammad, as patrons of the community, who also supported his idea to publish the thesaurus.

The discussions, though, did not always lead to their agreement on the meaning of particular words.

With substantial support from various institutions, like KITLV (a Dutch center for research on Indonesia) in Leiden, and the Freedom Institute, Eko continued to work on the book, and finally, toward the end of 2006, a historic moment arrived and the book was published.

In more than 700 pages Eko collected many words and added information on correct usage.

Every item has information about the grammatical status of a word (adjective, noun, verb, etc.), with etymology (Arabic, Balinese, Dutch, Chinese, Sanskrit, Javanese, Minangkabau, etc. origin), and notes, where relevant, on its relation to a particular branch of science (biology, anthropology, medicine, physics, geography, psychology, etc.).

In his introduction, Eko says he was reminded by a colleague in Leiden, during the preparation stage, that compiling a dictionary was an endless job.

Publishing the book is only a start; it will need to be revised in years to come.

Since publication, many new words were discovered and need to be incorporated into the next edition. In this sense the statement, “a dictionary is an endless job,” is very much a reality.

That will be another challenge, but at least Eko has already made a start in an important chapter on the history of the Indonesian language, and for this he deserves praise.

I am not an expert on linguistics, neither in literature, but I am a writer who uses words, sentences and observes linguistic norms in my work.

In short, I am a language user, and for me such a dictionary is invaluable — one I have long awaited.

I think I am not the only person who will make use of such a dictionary; I believe many who use Bahasa Indonesia in daily conversation, or people who are studying it, will become its most frequent users.