Swearing Words Popular In The Colonial Age

Cycling Activities at Weltevreden Batavia (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Swear words generally come out when someone has an argument or something doesn't go according to expectations. Common words that come out are the name of a ghost, racial sentiments, names of animals, to sexual intercourse and genitals.

The expression of swearing, in Jakarta, has been around since ancient times. Even when Jakarta was still called Batavia and long before that.

Quoted from L. Ayu Saraswati in her book White: Skin Color, Race, and Beauty in Transnational Indonesia (2013), skin color differentiates social categories. It is this difference that makes the swear word appear.

"Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, European testimony records stereotyped the dark-skinned Indies as lazy, stupid and prostitute," wrote Ayu Saraswati.

Furthermore, according to Nicolaus de Graaff in his book entitled Reisen van Nicolaus de Graaff, na de vier gedeeltens des werelds (1701), at that time, most Europeans in Indonesia were too lazy to care for and raise their children. Hence, they used slaves to possess children.

As adults, these European children began to learn and get used to Malay and Portuguese. This is the language they use when they insult slaves who do not obey orders.

"Then they will be berated with the title of common prostitutes, child prostitutes, puppies, sometimes even worse than that," said De Graaf.

Not only slaves, dark skinned women were often the target of abuse at that time. Even though the woman was married to a Dutch soldier, sometimes they got curse from people around her. In fact, from her own husband. They are called negrose hoers which can mean foul smelling black people.

During its development, swear words, which are not appropriate to be disclosed in public, have become important evidence in court. For, from this swear word, fights arise.

This phenomenon was written by Achmad Sunjayadi in his book (Not) Taboo di Nusantara (2018). He revealed that in court documents in the Netherlands in the 17th century, it was noted that the word swear was often complementary to evidence of conflict.

He mentioned the case of Johan Bitter, a member of the court court in Batavia who married Cornelia van Nijenroode, daughter of Cornelis van Nijenroode and a mistress from Japan. Johan, who was in conflict with Cornelia, often cursed the woman with harsh words.

"Every day he abused her as a hoerendop (harlot). Animals, demon faces, and all the ugly things, "the document said in court.

Apart from that, as an example of another insult in Dutch, we could tell with an illustration from a Dutch soldier, Jan Pieterz. In this story, he reveals the hatred of someone named Van Batavia for his father's wife, Pieter Perera, who works as a barber.

He said, "Mijn Vader is doot en voor den duyvel, gij spelled nu mooi weer met sijn geldt." (my father died because of the demon, now that woman is spending her money).

Not only that, he also cursed his stepmother with swearing words: "Hoer, onbeschaemd vercke, teef, kochelaresse!" (hookers, shameless pigs, female dogs, Fraudsters!).