A Malay-English dictionary,

__ _ __

LABU

[ 587 ]

LATAH

--- -- -- --- IATA

y labu. A generic name given to gourds and
pumpkins; a calabash used as a drinking
vessel. Labu berisi ayer: a calabash full of
water; Ht. Mar. Mah. Labu di-kerebok tikus:
a gourd pierced by a rat; a girl who has been
seduced; Prov.
L. ayer: a pumpkin, cucurbita pepo.
L. ayer bUrleher: the bottle gourd when bottle
shaped; v. infra.
L. ayer hutan: a small wild pumpkin with
bright red fruits; trichosanthes cordata.
L. ayer puteh: a variety of the bottle gourd;
v. infra.
L. batu: a pipkin of earthenware.
L.jantong: the bottle gourd when roughly
heart-shaped; lagenaria vulgaris.
L. labu: a calabash for holding water.
L. manis: the gourd, cucurbita pepo.
L. merah: the gourd, cucurbita maxima.
L. peringgi: = 1. manis.
L. tanah: = 1. batu.
Siput I.: a shell, murex haustellum.
Tampok 1.: the small stalk on a gourd; (by
metaphor) the clitoris, especially when unnaturally enlarged. Main t. labu: amnor lesbicus.
LabE is also used as a cry by Malay medicine
men (pawang) when they want a crocodile to
rise to the surface. Melabu: to blow one's
body out; to swell about the body; J. S. A. S.,
II., 159.
41J labah. Labah-labah: a spider; v. laba.
4, laboh. Letting down or lowering by means
of a string, rope, or cable; lowering a fishingline; anchoring; letting down chicks or curtains. Pukat ku laboh, ikan ta'-dapat: I let
down the seine net and caught nothing; I
was taken in; Prov.
Labohan: an anchorage; Ht. Abd., I3, IIo,
459. Pelabohan: id.; Ht. Abd., I90, 324.
Labohkan: to lower, to let down. L. pukat:
to lower seine-nets into the sea; Sh. Ik. Trub.,
20. L. keranda besi kadalan laut: to lower
an iron bier into the sea; Ht. Ind. Jaya. L.
tirai: to let down curtains; Sh. Bid., 46; Ht.
Jay. Lengg.
Berlaboh: to moor, to anchor; Ht. Abd., 122,
I28, 190, 324.
Terlaboh: lowered (of curtains); Ht. Gul.
Bak., 104; Sh. Abd. Mk., 129.
J labi. Labi-labi: small soft-shelled turtles;
trionyx cartilagineus and pelochelys cantoris;
Pel. Abd., 49.

Siput labi-labi: a large shell-fish, with a
peculiar yellow-spotted body., li&t. Arab. The name of a God of the old
Arabians.

Ca* lata. Creeping; the crawling of insects.
Melata: to creep. Saperti semut tmelata: like
creeping ants; Sh. Sg. Kanch., 9. Sakaliyan
mnergesetuwa yang nelata: all creeping things
that live; Ht. Gul. Bak., II7. Lata melata:
to keep creeping; (by metaphor) to chatter
continuously. Ayer melata: torrential flow of
water; a rapid; Ht. Koris.
Labu mnelata m ari,
Kundor melata pergi:
the pumpkin is creeping towards us and the
gourd is creeping away from us (to meet it);
the parties are meeting each other half-way;
Prov., cf. J. S. A. S., II., 150.
Ta'-tumboh, ta'-melata: if there is no growth,
there will be no creeping;-a proverbial
equivalent for the corresponding rhyme "ta'sunggoh orang ta'-kata" 1: if it is not true,
people would not be saying so; "there is no
smoke without fire;" J. S. A. S., I., 95.,-^ latok. Parang latok: (Riau, Johor) a long
chopper, the end of the blade of which is
turned downwards.
latam. The process of stamping down loose
earth so as to give it a hard surface; treading
or pressing down (e.g., under a heavy roller).,4f latah. A peculiar nervous paroxysmal disease.
Its principal characteristics are: (I) the
paroxysms are always provoked by a shock or
by startling its victim; (2) the paroxysms
often take the form of mimicry and appear to
be suggested to the victim; (3) the disease
appears to be in some way sexual and its fits
are often accompanied by obscene conduct
or language. Mlaka peranisuri pun latah-lah
saperti orang gila tiyada khabarkan diri-nya:
the queen fell into a fit of latah and became
as one mad, not knowing what she was doing;
Ht. Koris. Karena bonda Morah di-dalam latahnya baraitg kata orang semuwa di-turut-nya:
Mother Morah is suffering from one of her fits
of latahl;;ill that people say she mimics; Ht.
Koris. I'tra-lttra latah: pretending to be a
latah sutbjctt Sh. Bur. Nuri, 23.
Bukan-nuya patah, ruwat;
Bukan-nya latah, di-buwat buwat:
it is not broken but bent; it is not hysteria, it
is only pretence;- a proverbial expression,
the first line of which is often given to suggest
the second.
L. mulut: a light form of latah in which a
shock causes the victim to fly into a paroxysm
of coarse language but nothing more; Ht.
Raj. Don., 4.
Variants of this proverbial expression are common,
e.g.:

Jika ta'-tumbok periya melata,
Anak ikan di-dalam padi;
Jika ta'sstggoh bagai di-kata,
Buhkat-lah beta Putsra Jaya Pati.
Ht. P. J. P.

--