In an earlier blog (31 January), I mentioned the difficulty of finding words in a Malay dictionary. In confirmation of the fact that it is not just me being stupid, I note that there is also occasionally confusion in my dictionary (see right), even though this dictionary is mostly excellent.For example, the word perangkaan ('statistics') is listed both under rangka ('skeleton') and also under angka ('numeral'). Now, I don't know which of these is correct, but they can't both be! And, one way or another, the word should probably not be listed twice.
One further example: pendekar ('warrior') is listed both under dekar (with no independent meaning given for dekar) and also under 'p' as a root in itself. Once more, it probably shouldn't be listed twice.
In some ways it is quite reassuring to see that the dictionary compilers occasionally get confused, just like I do.
