Where did the name Dayak come from?
Here are some of the more amusing theories of where the word Dyak came from.
Origin of the name Dayak P.J Veth in Borneo Research Bulletin, September 1983
Crawfurd, in his Descriptive dictionary of the Indian Islands, the term Dayak is used by the Malays for all the wild races of Sumatra, the Celebes and Borneo. It is probably named for a tribe in Northwest Borneo named Dayak from a list of tribes furnished to him by Malay merchants.
To me (Veth) the term Dayak is termed the non-Moslem population of Borneo. The term is used with the name of the tribe, such as Peai Dayak, Ribun Dayak, Kantouw Dayak.
Mr Perelaer(1881) has proposed another explanation:
It is only known in those districts in which the Europeans have come in contact. Dayak, he says, is the shortening of the word dadayak, which in the local language means to walk with a totter. The inhabitants of the lowlands, with very few exceptions, all have crooked contorted bones, and as a consequence, a tottering gait. The cause of this defect lies in sitting cross-legged in their canoes.
J.F Becker, a missionary, states there is a word which daijak which refers to the walking of small or lame people. He accuses Perelaer (above) applied the “semantic interpretation” to his ethnographic novel.(???) Perelaer, instating thousands of Oloh Ngadju he had seemed only a few had crooked bones. In their small canoe, he states they usually sleep outstretched.
Helbig states that Veth did not have any fieldwork but was a scholar who writes from Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Leiden.
Grabowsky 1883 People don’t know where it came from.
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Belaga District
The Belaga District of Sarawak by Jerome Rousseau Borneo Research Bulletin, January 1972
The Belaga district is the largest in Sarawak. Most of the altitude is over 1,000 feet. The population lives in valleys below this height. The rivers are cut by many rapids.
There are numerous ethnic groups who live in the area who cultivate hill padi and live in longhouses. In the highlands live the nomadic Penan.
In the Belaga district, the name Baluy is given to the Rejang River. A series of rapids, the best known is called Bakun, divides the river into two parts. The river is divided again, the middle Baluy and the higher Baluy. The settled population is formed of three main groups: The Kayan, the Kenyah and Kajang.
The Kayan are the largest group, sharing the same language and culture, with small differences from one longhouse to the next. They form nine longhouses in the middle Baluy and five in the lower Baluy. They came into the Baluy and Baram river valleys, 150–200 years ago (in 1972). Furthermore, they are still numerous in Kalimatan.
The Kenyah have different languages and are culturally divided but recognize themselves as Kenyah. They are also more scattered and migrated into Sarawak at various periods, some came along with the Kayan while others came much later.
There are two longhouses on the Belaga River that speak the same language, Sambup. They have close relations with the Baram.
In the Middle Baluy is Uma Kelap, the only group represented in both the middle and lower Baluy. Uma Baka and Uma Kulit are two large villages that speak different dialects. The Uma Kulit migrated to Sarawak in 1941 while the Uma Baka came in 1945. There are still longhouses in Kalimatan belonging to this group. Both villages are formed by several longhouses with one chief for the whole village, a situation which is very, very rare.
Two larger villages, one in the Linau River, and the other in the upper reaches of the Baluy belong to the Badang group. The Badang of the Linau has been in the area for a very long time. Very few are left in Kalimatan.
The Kajang are earlier immigrants and were pushed downriver by the immigrating Kayan. Their name comes from the Kajang River, a tributary of the Linau. They are divided into four cultural groups. The Kejaman, Sekapan and Lahanan speak different dialects of the same language. Sekapan and Kejaman are closely related language groups. The Punan Ba (not related to the Punan) speak an entirely different language. Except for the Punan Ba, they were in the past sago cultivators but grow rice and some small amounts of sago.
The Sihan and the Ukit are two small groups each represented by one village who were formerly nomadic.(pre-1972). The Sirhan settled very long ago and the Ukit after the beginning of the 19th century. The Sirhan live on a small non-navigable river, the Lower Baluy. They formed four villages in 1882, but most were killed in headhunting forays.
The Ukit belong to the same group as the Baketan, on the Rajang at Nanga Merit. They used to live in the Baleh but ran away from the Iban headhunters. They are considered inferior by Kayan and Kenyah.
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Iban Land distribution
Private Property,Common Property and Collective Choice: The Evolution of Iban Land Tenure Institutiosn R.A. Cramb Borneo Research Bulletin 1998
Iban Land Distribution
The Iban household has 5-6 members. At least 5-10 families reside in a longhouse which makes up a village. The longhouses together make up an area of 10 or 15 square kilometres. Each longhouse recognizes a headman whose status is earned rather than hereditary. However, his authority is limited by the rules of adat, the norms of society as a whole.
Iban life is ruled by the longhouse meeting called an aum. The aum governs the timing of gawai and other life events, the taking care of community property such as waterways, the location of farms and the resolution of local disputes. The decision-making process is by consensus where everybody must agree or the situation goes back to what it was before.
Though the Iban are highly individualistic and competitive people, they have been forced to work together and cooperate with each other in order to survive.
Pioneers and war leaders have made a name for themselves, while at the same time opening up new areas.
Iban farming is a means of individual achievement, yet the practice of shifting cultivation has had to contend with intertribal warfare as well as climate.
Iban Land
Iban customs occurred when shifting cultivation would claim a tract of land from the forest. The rights to the property belonged to the households while some property was held for everyone. To claim a piece of land, the household had to clear a section of primary forest for the farming season.
During the planting season, hill rice and other food crops were planted. The household had the right to claim individual trees as well as any other trees it had planted. Children could inherit the land. Sometimes, the land was broken up into sections if the family was large. They were to share the fruits from the trees. This system was carried back many generations. The inherited plots could be rented out for a small sum. Some of the common lands could be created for those in need.
Changes in the Land
The beginning of rubber trees and later pepper plants change the cycle. Each household had the choice of allocating land for rubber based on the total amount of land it controlled. For example, if farmer A controlled 10 plots of land through his family, he could allocate two plots for rubber.
The land initially planted with rubber was resting land. The owners of the fallow land could contract with others to plant and purchase the rubber once the white latex began to flow.
A widespread system emerged that restricted the area in any one household could plant. Therefore, each group of farmers were assured equal rights in planting rubber. If farmer A owned 100 hectares and farmer B owned 50 both farmers would be allowed to plant only 25 hectares.
The Iban rules of land management appears to have been very successful despite changes in the shift to rubber and pepper plants or other cash crops. The decision to employ these crops was regulated by the aum.
Private Property,Common Property and Collective Choice: The Evolution of Iban Land Tenure Institutiosn R.A. Cramb Borneo Research Bulletin 1998 condensed with permission from the publisher by Tom McLaughlin
