Understanding the meaning of 'bajingan' from a linguistic perspective

The word ‘bajingan’, recently used by President Prabowo Subianto, originally had a neutral meaning in Javanese. It referred to the driver of a pedati or oxcart, a vital role in the transportation of agricultural produce and logistics. The term’s etymology, explored through the Javanese linguistic tradition of kerata basa, suggests a positive origin: ‘bagusing jiwo angen-angening pangeran’, meaning a good person loved by God. However, the word has undergone pejoration, a semantic shift where its meaning has degraded over time. The Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) still lists the original definition of a cart driver, but the term is now more commonly understood as a vulgar insult.