sumpah

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay sumpah, from Classical Malay sumpah, from Old Malay sumpaḥ, probably from Old Javanese sumpah (“oath, imprecation”), śumāpa (“to curse”), śāpa (“curse, malediction, abuse, oath, imprecation”) +‎ -um- (“active, indicative verb”), from Sanskrit शाप (śāpa, “curse, oath”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsʊmpah]
• Hyphenation: sum‧pah

Noun

sumpah

1. swear

Derived terms

• bersumpah
• bersumpah-sumpahan
• mempersumpahkan
• menyumpah
• menyumpahi
• penyumpah
• penyumpahan
• persumpahan
• tersumpah

 

• sumpah jabatan
• sumpah palsu
• sumpah pocong
• sumpah setia

 

Noun

sumpah

1. curse

   Synonyms: kutuk, tulah

Derived terms

• menyumpah
• menyumpah-nyumpah
• menyumpahi
• penyumpah

 

• sumpah serapah

 

Further reading

• “sumpah” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Malay

Etymology

There are two main theories as to its etymology:

• From Western Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sumpaq. Cognate with Tagalog sumpa and Javanese sumpah.
• From Old Javanese sumpah (“oath, imprecation”), śumāpa (“to curse”), śāpa (“curse, malediction, abuse, oath, imprecation”) +‎ -um- (“active, indicative verb”), from Sanskrit शाप (śāpa, “curse, oath”).

First attested in the Telaga Batu inscription, 683 AD, as Old Malay [script needed] (sumpaḥ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sumpah/
• Rhymes: -pah, -ah

Noun

sumpah (Jawi spelling سومڤه, plural sumpah-sumpah, informal 1st possessive sumpahku, 2nd possessive sumpahmu, 3rd possessive sumpahnya)

1. An oath:
   1. A solemn pledge or promise that invokes a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise.
   2. A statement or promise which is strengthened (affirmed) by such a pledge.

      Synonyms: ikrar, akuan

2. A promise.

   Synonym: janji

3. A curse word, a cussing word.

   Synonyms: kutuk, maki, tulah

Verb

sumpah (Jawi spelling سومڤه)

1. To swear, to promise.

   Aku sumpah, aku tak tidur dengan suami kau!

   I swear I didn't sleep with your husband!

2. To curse, to cuss, to swear.

   Sambil dihukum mati, Mahsuri menyumpah Langkawi supaya tidak aman selama tujuh keturunan.

   As she was executed, Mahsuri cursed Langkawi to seven generations of unrest.

Adverb

sumpah

1. (colloquial, Malaysia) seriously, no joke, I swear, on God - emphasizing the seriousness or truthfulness of a statement.

   Mi tarik pedas ni kasi kenyang gila, sumpah!

   These spicy lamian are so mad filling, on God!

Derived terms

Affixations

• bersumpah
• bersumpah-sumpahan
• dipersumpahkan
• disumpah
• disumpahi
• mempersumpahkan
• menyumpah
• menyumpah-nyumpah
• menyumpahi
• persumpahan
• persumpahkan
• sumpah-sumpah
• sumpahan
• sumpahi

 

Compounds

• ambil sumpah
• balik sumpah
• makan sumpah
• sumpah besi kawi
• sumpah celur
• sumpah jilat besi
• sumpah keramat
• sumpah menyelam
• sumpah minum air keris
• sumpah palsu
• sumpah potong ayam
• sumpah Quran
• sumpah serapah
• sumpah serenah
• sumpah setia
• sumpah uji api

 

Descendants

• Indonesian: sumpah

References

• Pijnappel, Jan (1875) “سمڤه soempah”, in Maleisch-Hollandsch woordenboek, John Enschede en Zonen, Frederik Muller, page 32
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “سمڤه sumpah”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, page 408
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “sumpah”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume II, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, pages 500-1

Further reading

• “sumpah” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*sumpaq”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI