Central Borneo Languages

Abstract

In 1912 Van Genderen Stort published an extensive vocabulary of Kenyah, the language spoken in Apo Kayan, the highlands where the Kayan River takes its source; it had been noted down among the Uma Bern in the village Leka Kidau (203). Many words are also contained in the medical doctor’s thesis (204) and in the work on the Kenyah which appeared a few years later, both by Van Elshout who had worked in Apo Kayan as a military surgeon. A manuscript dictionary by the same author was copied in 1929–1930 on behalf of the Batavia Society of Arts and Sciences at Jakarta (see TBG 70, 1930, pp. 91–92). The Society’s library possesses also a wordlist (29). Words concerning dress, ornaments and weapons are to be found in an article by Van Walchren (206).