June 19, 2013

 
 
aloon-aloon (also aloen-aloen, alun-alun) = main square or park in a city center (often with shade trees and a pavilion)

anglo = portable grill, similar to a hibachi

appèlplaats = roll call (tengko) area

arang = charcoal

arek = native or “real” (i.e., “arek suroboyo” = native of Soerabaja)

asrama = hostel, barracks

atap = woven palm-frond thatch used for roofing

ballenjongens = pro-Japanese workers, usually Indos, who wore arm-bands bearing the Japanese flag (red ball)

belakang = back, rear (for example, of a building)

bengkel = machine shop, garage, workshop

benteng = fort

Bersiap (“get ready”) = Name given to the violent and chaotic period of Indonesia’s earliest revolutionary phase, following Japanese capitulation and lasting until about December 1946, when the British military withdrew from the Indonesian archipelago.

bilik = woven bamboo wall, panel or screen

Binnenlands Bestuur = Office for Local and Provincial Government

bioscoop = cinema

boei / bui = jail

Broeder (Br.) = Brother (religious)

corvée = forced labor chores or work detail

djagoeng / jagung = corn

djahat / jahat = subversives (i.e., Dutch who resisted Japanese, also leaders of the Dutch regime)

djarak = castor oil plants

doekoe = duku fruit

emper = veranda, gallery, breezeway, covered walkway or deck

Frater (Fr.) = Friar

gang = alley, passageway

gedek = woven flattened-bamboo panels; housing, fences and camp enclosures made of same

gerobak / grobak = ox-cart

gevangenis = prison (when capitalized, generally refers to one of many camps by that name located in prison compounds)

gezelschapsruimte = social center

goedang / gudang = warehouse, shed, storage room

han = unit or section

hancho / honcho = originally, a military squad leader; person who exercises control over others; barrack head (in the camps); also, the appointed head of a “han” (assisted by a “komicho”), usually a Dutch person

heiho = conscripted indigenous (Indonesian) auxiliary soldier under the command of the Japanese army

huis = house

Indo = Indo-European / Dutch-Indonesian / Dutch-Eurasian

jalan = road

kali = river

kampong = native (Indonesian) village, settlement, community, neighborhood or district

kangkoeng / kangkung = kale

kantoor = office

kastie = Dutch ball game similar to honkball

kakus = latrines

kawat = wire

Kempeitai = military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army, responsible for running prisoner of war and other camps during World War II, among other duties

ketela = yam

keuken = kitchen

keukenwagen = mobile field kitchen

komicho = assistant (to hancho or unit leader)

korfball = korfball; a Dutch team sport, with similarities to netball and basketball

Kraton (also Keraton) = royal palace

laan = lane

LOG = Lands Opvoedings Gesticht (government-run childcare institution / reformatory school)

loka = shop

lombok = chili peppers

mandi or mandiplaatsen = bathroom, bathing area

manga = mango

mantri = native (Indonesian) medical personnel, especially orderlies and nurses

moeder overste = Mother Superior

MULO (Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs) = middle or junior high school

nieuwe = new

Nippon = Japan

Nippon workers = Dutch who continued performing their normal work duties under Japanese orders

NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) = Dutch pro-Nazi Nationalist-Socialist Movement

oebi / ubi = tuber similar to sweet potato

Oosthoek = Dutch term for the eastern end of East-Java, generally from Pasuruan eastward

oranje = orange (national color of the Netherlands; from the Dutch Royal Family, the House of Oranje-Nassau)

pandhuis = pawnshop

pasanggrahan = guest-house (often for government employees)

pasar = market, bazaar

pati = starch

patjol = hoe

patjolveld = cultivated field or garden (for growing crops and vegetables)

pemoeda / pemuda = Indonesian nationalist youth organization / young Indonesian nationalists

pendopo = Javanese pavilion

perlindoengan / perlindungan = protection

plastonnen = urine collection containers (for making yeast to treat beriberi)

plein = square, usually a city park

polikliniek = outpatient clinic

Principality = Kingdom, generally ruled by a sultan or prince. Prior to Dutch consolidation, the Indonesian archipelago was a collection of principalities.

raden = Javanese title of nobility

raya = great

Regency = political subdivision of an Indonesian province, ruled by a bupati (or regent). Regencies are divided into Sub-Districts and grouped together into Residencies.

Residency = an administrative territorial unit consisting of a group of Indonesian Regencies, and headed by an exclusively European (usually Dutch) Resident, during the Dutch colonial period.

Resident (full title = Resident Minister) = Dutch government official residing in the NEI and in charge of a Residency. Residents were often posted alongside native regents (bupati) and ruled indirectly through diplomatic means.

romusha = indigenous (Indonesian and Malay) laborers/work soldiers conscripted by the Japanese military

rumah = house, home, dwelling made of gedek

rumah edan = “crazy house”; insane asylum

rusthuis = nursing / convalescent home

sawah = rice paddy

sajoer / sayur = vegetable

saleh = pious

selokan / slokan = drainage ditch, sewer

straat = street

taiso = compulsory morning gymnastics

tangsi = barracks

technische dienst = “technical services”, repair shop

tengko / tenko = roll call

toko = small neighborhood canteen; simple open-stall shop or distribution center

totok = full-blooded Dutch person born in the Netherlands

Vorstenlanden = name given to the Djokjakarta and Soerakarta Principalities during Dutch occupation.

warung / waroeng = small, casual restaurant & shop, usually outdoors

weg = way (road)

wijk = district, area

zaal = hall, room

Zuster (Zr.) = Sister (nun)