When Indonesia had just gained independence, people had not yet\nadopted a perfect Indonesian. In fact, the word Anda as the\nsecond-person singular pronoun did not yet exist. Who was the figure who\ncoined the word Anda?<\/p>\n
Quoted from the collection of Rare Newspaper Library documents at the\nNational Library of the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesia\u2019s National\nLibrary), in the 1930s there was a primary-school-aged child who was\nastonished to see many people around him still speaking Dutch rather\nthan Malay.<\/p>\n
Some indigenous people spoke Dutch fluently and correctly. But others\nspoke in fragments, mixed with Malay.<\/p>\n
Words that were frequently spoken in Malay mixed speech were such as\n\u201cikke\u201d replacing the word \u201cI\u201d and the word \u201cij\u201d whose sound \u201ci\u201d often\nreplaced the words \u201cKamu\u201d, \u201cEngkau\u201d, or \u201ckau\u201d. However, many people who\nhad never studied Dutch nonetheless echoed words from the Dutch\nlanguage.<\/p>\n
The primary school child who observed these language behaviours was\nnamed Sabirin. He was born in Bukittinggi on 5 August 1917. From the\nthird grade of elementary school he often read the weekly Pandji\nPoestaka, published by Balai Pustaka. This habit grew because his father\nsubscribed to that weekly. The books in the school library were\npredominantly published by Balai Pustaka.<\/p>\n
In that era, schools\u2014especially in West Sumatra\u2014taught Indonesian\nusing Arabic script. Sabirin\u2019s school did too. Sabirin was quite strong\nin the subject of Malay written in Arabic script. Therefore, he was\nmeticulous and fond of language lessons.<\/p>\n
In 1939 in Padang the Jeughd Organisatie Minangkabau (Minangkabau\nYouth Organisation) was formed\u2014the first. Sabirin joined this\norganisation.<\/p>\n
On that occasion he was unsettled by the phenomenon of many\nIndonesians using words from Dutch in daily life. He wondered why\nIndonesian could not be used instead.<\/p>\n
Time passed, and Sabirin sought a solution to his unease. He\nattempted to express his thoughts through a piece in the readers\u2019 column\nof the Harian Penerangan on Wednesday 20 July 1949.<\/p>\n
Origin of the Word Anda<\/p>\n
In 1953, a lecture on the Indonesian language was held in Padang. At\nthat time Sabirin was a member of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) with\nthe rank of Letnan (Lieutenant).<\/p>\n
Letnan Sabirin sought a native Indonesian second-person pronoun. Not\nderived from foreign words such as \u201cyou\u201d or \u201cU\u201d.<\/p>\n
On 14 December 1955, he purchased the modern Indonesian dictionary\ncompiled by Sutan Muhammad Zaid. He read this dictionary several\ntimes.<\/p>\n
On page 36, Sabirin found something considered interesting. He found\nthe word \u201canakanda\u201d along with its explanation: that anakanda or anakda\nor ananda means a noble child. The suffix Anda, nda, or d originated\nfrom this. Initially from Kawi language meaning \u2018the noble one\u2019.<\/p>\n
Initially, anakanda was used only for royal children. Then it came\ninto everyday use, when people showed respect to someone worthy of being\ncalled child.<\/p>\n
For days Sabirin observed the word Anda. He tried to write about the\nconcept that related to Anda. Concept after concept was refined and\nperfected.<\/p>\n
In short, on 21 February 1957, he sent a manuscript to the editorial\noffice of the Pedoman newspaper, located on Jalan Budi Kemuliaan in\nJakarta. The manuscript was forwarded to the Chair of the Language and\nCultural Institute of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at UI, the\nChair of the EPP and the DPR at that time, Moh Yamin, Prof Sultan Takdir\nAlijahbana, and Air Force Major Suryono.<\/p>\n
On 28 February 1957, in the Pedoman daily (no. 300), Sabirin\u2019s\narticle appeared with the title: Introducing the new word \u201cANDA\u201d. In\nthat article it was stated that Anda has a meaning similar to \u2018you\u2019 in\nEnglish. The word Anda could serve as a substitute for the words \u2018kamu\u2019\nand \u2018kau\u2019 which were considered too informal.<\/p>\n
Since that time, Indonesians gradually began to get used to using the\nword Anda. Behind the word Anda lies the contribution of an air force\nsoldier named Sabirin.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sabirin-the-man-behind-the-word-anda-1779533742", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }