Bali: No Word For A Branch

  • Thread starter Hornbein
  • Start date
3 replies · 2K views · last reply
Hornbein
Gold Member
Messages
4,345
Reaction score
3,463
In Balinese there is no word for the branches of a tree. If branch falls off you call it "fallen wood."
 
Is there a word for Palm Frond? It seems like they are distinctive enough to warrant their own word, and there are lots of palm trees in Bali...

Coastal view of turquoise sea with limestone sea stacks topped with green vegetation, and palm trees in the foreground.


https://www.google.com/search?clien...JRlZxeURURE9RVk0YADABGAcgiZTA-gtKCBABGAEgASgB
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: sbrothy and BillTre
Hornbein said:
In Balinese there is no word for the branches of a tree. If branch falls off you call it "fallen wood."
Google translate seems to think cabang is Balinese for branch.

Google Translate screenshot translating English "branch" (pronounced bran(t)SH) to Balinese "cabang".


Google Translate screenshot showing source word cabang, translated from Indonesian, with English output branch, language set to Balinese to English.


ChatGPT thinks ranting is Balinese for branches, and Google translate concurs:
Google Translate screenshot with Balinese selected as the source language and English as the target: input 'ranting' translates to 'branches'.


It also offers dahan for a larger branch or bough:
Google Translate screenshot showing the word dahan with source language set to Filipino, translated to English as branch.


I don't necessarily trust them over a person, so I offer them to you.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: sbrothy and BillTre
Hornbein said:
In Balinese there is no word for the branches of a tree. If branch falls off you call it "fallen wood."
This turned out not to be true. She just didn't understand my question.

I did have an experience with the word "kaja." The Lonely Planet guidebook said it meant "toward Mount Agung." I doubted this so I asked a dozen local Bali people what it meant. They all said "north." But I was never able to convince any westerners of this. That's when I learned how seriously westerners take books.