Simalungun love poem

Little love poem translated into Batak Simalungun (Simalungun, Simelungan, Timur, Batta, Autonym : Sahap Simalungun), a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 1.5 million people.

"au marusoh bamu"", that's what she says and repeats! You men, she said, why don't you ever say these three words! She had told herself that one day she would engrave them in gold letters, so that the one she loves would never forget ... but ... at the other end of the village, searching the old house of her great-grandmother, she stumbled upon an untold secret.

On a large piece of palm tree shone a few letters that the earth had not covered. Others followed, and when she had cleaned everything, she could read these three words written by her grandmother 60 years before!

The Batak Simalungun language is the language of the Simalunguns who live in the Simalungun regency which count 30 districts, in the North Sumatra province of Indonesia.

It is the colsest Austronesian language with Sanskrit. It is considered to lie between the northern and southern Batak languages.

This proximity to Sanskrit confirms that the ancestors of the Simalunguns are of southern Indian origin.

Some divide the Simalungun language into four dialects, silimakuta, rayan, jahe-jahe, and pasir topi, which themselves include sub-dialects.

The linguistic area of this language being just between the areas where Batak Karo and Batak Toba are spoken, means that through trade, marriages, etc., Simalungun will be influenced by these two languages, in different ways according to the places.

Among themselves, the Simalunguns speak their Batak language which can be written in Latin letters or with the Batak script. They also speak, the national language, Indonesian in all situations which are more formal.

It is a pity that this translation is not with the Batak script ... search the internet and you will see what it looks like. Maybe she will send it to me one day!

Since 2009 in Indonesia a law has been passed to protect regional languages in different ways, to preserve the richness of Indonesian culture.

What we know of the history of the Simalungun people, is that originally the Simalunguns are Damanik, to which three immigrant clans joined, the Purba, the Saragih and the Sinaga, who came together under the name of Simalungun.

The Simalunguns have a patrilineal organization. If their conception of the world has eroded with modernity, their community and cultural life remains important through art in its various forms. Music (gonrang), dance (tortor), painting etc., play an important role in the link that unites them.

Each village is led by a person, who besides his mission to lead the village, has spiritual power.