Malagasy is the westernmost Austronesian language, brought to Madagascar with the settlement ofAustronesian speakers from theSunda Islands (about 7,300 kilometres or 4,500 miles away) around the 5th century AD or perhaps between the 7th and 13th centuries.[4][5] The Malagasy language is one of theBarito languages and is most closely related to theMaʼanyan language, still spoken onBorneo. Malagasy also includes numerousMalay loanwords,[6] from the time of the early Austronesian settlement and trading between Madagascar and the Sunda Islands.[7] Afterc. 1000 AD, Malagasy incorporated numerousBantu andArabic loanwords brought over by traders and new settlers.
Malagasy is spoken by around 25 million people in Madagascar and theComoros. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language, as do some people ofMalagasy descent elsewhere. Malagasy is divided in dozen dialects between 3 main dialect groups: Northern Malagasic, Central-Eastern Malagasic and Southern Malagasic. The central plateau of the island, where the capitalAntananarivo and the old heartland of theMerina Kingdom is located, speaks the Merina dialect. TheMerina dialect is the basis of Standard Malagasy, which is used by the government and media inMadagascar. Standard Malagasy is one of two official languages of Madagascar alongside French, in the 2010 constitution of the Fourth Republic ofMadagascar.
Malagasy is written in theLatin script introduced by Western missionaries in the early 19th century. Previously, theSorabe script was used, a local development of theArabic script.
The comparison between numbers in Malay and Malagasy by De Vitré during his voyage to the East Indies in 1603
Similarities between Malagasy and Malay had been established since the 17th century[9] and Malagasy's relation with other Austronesian languages had already been noted by early scholars, such as the Dutch scholarAdriaan Reland in 1708.[10][11]
Among all Austronesian languages, Dahl (1951) demonstrated that Malagasy andMa'anyan – anEast Barito language spoken inCentral Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island ofBorneo – were particularly closely related.[12] The language also has apparent influence from earlyOld Malay. Furthermore, there appears to be aBantu influence or substratum in Malagasyphonotactics (Dahl 1988). There are someSanskrit loanwords in Malagasy, which are said to have been borrowed viaMalay andJavanese.[5]
Adelaar (1995) suggested that the vocabulary of Malagasy also contains many words that are ofSouth Sulawesi origin.[13] Further evidence for this suggestion was presented byBlench (2018).[14]
Madagascar wasfirst settled byAustronesian peoples fromMaritime Southeast Asia from theSunda Islands (Malay archipelago).[15] As for their route, one possibility is that the Indonesian Austronesian came directly across the Indian Ocean from Java to Madagascar. It is likely that they went through theMaldives, where evidence of old Indonesian boat design and fishing technology persists until the present.[16] The migrations continued along the first millennium, as confirmed by linguistic researchers who showed the close relationship between the Malagasy language and Old Malay and Old Javanese languages of this period.[17][18] The Malagasy language originates from the SoutheastBarito languages, and theMa'anyan language is its closest relative, with numerous Malay and Javanese loanwords.[7][19] It is known thatMa'anyan people were brought as labourers and slaves byMalay andJavanese people in their trading fleets, which reached Madagascar byc. 50–500 AD.[20][21] Later,c. 1000, the original Austronesian settlers mixed withBantus andArabs, amongst others.[22] There is evidence that the predecessors of the Malagasy dialects first arrived in the southern stretch of the east coast of Madagascar.[23] Adelaar (2017) proposes that a distinct Malagasy speech community had already been established in South Borneo before the early Malagasy speakers migrated to East Africa.[24]
Malagasy has a tradition oforatory arts and poetic histories and legends. The most well-known is the national epic,Ibonia, about a Malagasy folk hero of the same name.[25]
Malagasy is the principal language spoken on the island of Madagascar. It is also spoken by Malagasy communities on neighboringIndian Ocean islands such asRéunion,Mayotte andMauritius. Expatriate Malagasy communities speaking the language also exist in Europe and North America.
TheMerina dialect of Malagasy is considered the national language of Madagascar. It is one of two official languages alongside French in the 2010 constitution put in place the Fourth Republic. Previously, under the 2007 constitution, Malagasy was one of three official languages alongside French and English. Malagasy is the language of instruction in all public schools through grade five for all subjects, and remains the language of instruction through high school for the subjects of history and Malagasy language.
In his 1658 workHistoire de la grande isle Madagascar, Étienne de Flacourt provided one of the earliest known attempts to classify the Malagasy language into dialectal regions. He divided Malagasy into two main dialect groups: northern and southern. He noted significant lexical differences between them — for instance, the wordampela was used in the south to mean "woman" or "girl", whilevaiavy was used in the north. Similarly,baba was a northern term for "father", whereasray was used in the south.[26]
Flacourt also observed phonological variations. He noted similarities between theTanosy andAntemoro dialects, especially their shared use of thets sound in words likefotsy ("white"). In contrast, in theMasikoro andMahafaly dialects, thets sound is often replaced byt, producingfoty for the same meaning.
Malagasy dialects can be divided betweenNorthern dialects,[27]Central-Eastern malagasy, andSouthern dialects . Northern malagasy dialects (Kibushi,Northern sakalava,Antakarana,Tsimihety,Northern betsimisaraka)[28] are heavily influenced bySwahili andFrench language.[29] Northern speakers useo likeo in the word"other" which is uncommon to Plateaux and southern dialects[30] which useo asu in "Juan" in Spanish. Southern dialects[31] especiallyTandroy,Mahafaly andKarimbola are the most archaic of all malagasy dialects.[32] They can be mistaken to polynesian languages phonetically. Central Eastern subgroup which containsAntesaka,Sahafatra,Southern Betsimisaraka and Plateau dialects which belongs the official malagasy stand in between the two groups.[33] Although considered a single ethnic group, the Sakalava speak at least two distinct dialects. The Southern Sakalava dialect is more closely related to Masikoro, while the Northern Sakalava dialect shares linguistic features with the Tsimihety dialect. The Betsimisaraka also demonstrate internal dialectal variation: the Northern Betsimisaraka dialect is closer to Tsimihety, whereas the Southern variant is more similar to Antambahoaka.[34]
Inspired by Gabriel Ferrand's book "Essai de phonétique comparée du malais et des dialectes malgaches", published in 1909, Glottolog divides Malagasy into two principal dialect zones: Eastern (includingMerina) and Western (includingSakalava), with an isogloss running roughly down the central spine of the island. In this model, the southern region is classified as western, while the central plateau and much of the north (excluding the far northern tip) are considered eastern.[36]
This binary classification is now widely viewed as outdated. It overlooks crucial grammatical, phonological, and lexical distinctions among Malagasy dialects. For example, Northern Betsimisaraka shares features with Northern Sakalava, placing it closer to western varieties, while Southern Betsimisaraka remains a typically eastern dialect. Similarly, dialects such asTanosy, although traditionally grouped in the east, show structural and etymological affinities with western dialects likeBara and Southern Sakalava.
Ethnologue identifies 12 major varieties of Malagasy and treats them as separate languages. It distinguishes between dialects such as Northern and Southern Betsimisaraka, and between Northern and Southern Sakalava, which is a step toward acknowledging internal diversity. However, it still fails to represent the full diversity of the dialect continuum in Madagascar. In reality, more than more than 20 dialects are spoken, many of which are entirely absent from Glottolog and Ethnologue. Dialects such asSakalava Anjoaty,Karimbola, andSahavoay are completely neglected.
The following is the classification of Malagasy dialects according to Ethnologue:
Sorabe Malagasy Arabic scriptMalagasy version of theBook of Mormon, in Latin script with the letterô
The language has a written literature going back presumably to the 15th century. When the French establishedFort-Dauphin in the 17th century, they found an Arabico-Malagasy script in use, known asSorabe ("large writings"). This Arabic-derived Sorabe alphabet was mainly used for astrological and magical texts. The oldest known manuscript in that script is a short Malagasy-Dutch vocabulary from the early 17th century, which was first published in 1908 by Gabriel Ferrand[39] though the script must have been introduced into the southeast area of Madagascar in the 15th century.[22]
The first bilingual renderings of religious texts are those byÉtienne de Flacourt,[40] who also published the first dictionary of the language.[41]Radama I, the first literate representative of theMerina monarchy, though extensively versed in the Arabico-Malagasy tradition,[42] opted in 1823 for a Latin system derived byDavid Jones and invited the ProtestantLondon Missionary Society to establish schools and churches. The first book to be printed in Malagasy usingLatin characters was theBible, which was translated into Malagasy in 1835 by British Protestantmissionaries working in the highlands area of Madagascar.[43]
The current Malagasy alphabet consists of 21 letters:a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, v, y, z. Theorthography maps rather straightforwardly to the phonemic inventory. The lettersi andy both represent the/i/ sound (y is used word-finally, andi elsewhere), whileo is pronounced/u/ (except in the northern dialects, where it corresponds to/o/). The affricates/ʈʂ/ and/ɖʐ/ are writtentr anddr, respectively, while/ts/ and/dz/ are writtents andj. The letterh is often silent. All other letters have essentially their IPA values. The lettersc, q, u, w andx are not part of the Malagasy alphabet, but are used in some foreign loanwords.[44]
Mp and occasionallynt may begin a word, but they are pronounced/p,t/.
@ is used informally as a short form foramin'ny, which is a preposition followed by the definite form, meaning for instancewith the.
Diacritics are not obligatory in standard Malagasy, except in the case where its absence leads to an ambiguity:tanàna ("city") must have the diacritic to discriminate itself fromtanana ("hand"). They may however be used in the following ways:
◌̀ (grave accent) shows the stressed syllable in a word. It is frequently used for disambiguation. For instance intanàna (town) andtanana (hand), where the word that is an exception to the usual pronunciation rules (tanàna) gets an accent. Using the accent on the word that follows the pronunciation rules (tànana) is less common, mainly in dictionaries.[clarification needed] (This is very similar to the usage of the grave accent inItalian.)
ô shows that the letter is pronounced/o/ and not/u/, in Malagasified foreign words (hôpitaly) and dialects (Tôlan̈aro). In standard Malagasy,ao oroa (as inmivoaka) is used instead.
sometimes the single-letter wordsa ande are writtenâ andê but it does not change the pronunciation
◌̈ (diaeresis) is used withn̈ in dialects for a velar nasal/ŋ/. Examples are place names such asTôlan̈aro,Antsiran̈ana,Iharan̈a,Anantson̈o. This can be seen in maps from FTM, the national institute of geodesy and cartography.
◌̃ (tilde) is used inñ sometimes, perhaps when the writer cannot produce ann̈ (althoughng is also used in such cases). In Ellis' Bara dialect dictionary, it is used forvelar nasal/ŋ/ as well aspalatal nasal/ɲ/.
After a stressed syllable, as at the end of most words and in the final two syllables of some,/a,u,i/ are reduced to[ə,ʷ,ʲ]. (/i/ is spelled⟨y⟩ in such cases, though in monosyllabic words likeny andvy,⟨y⟩ is pronounced as a full[i].) Final/a/, and sometimes final syllables, are devoicedat the end of an utterance./e/ and/o/ are never reduced or devoiced. The large number of reduced vowels, and their effect on neighbouring consonants, give Malagasy a phonological quality not unlike that ofPortuguese.
/o/ is marginal in Merina dialect, found in interjections and loan words, though it is also found in place names from other dialectical areas./ai,au/ are diphthongs[ai̯,au̯] in careful speech,[e,o] or[ɛ,ɔ] in more casual speech./ai/, whichever way it is pronounced, affects following/k,ɡ/ as/i/ does.
The alveolars/stszdzl/ are slightlypalatalized./ts,dz,s,z/ vary between[ts,dz,s,z] and[tʃ,dʒ,ʃ,ʒ], and are especially likely to be the latter when followed by unstressed/i/: Thus Frenchmalgache[malɡaʃ] 'Malagasy'. The velars/kɡᵑkᵑɡh/ are palatalized after/i/ (e.g.alika[alikʲa] 'dog')./h/ is frequently elided in casual speech.
The reported postalveolartrilled affricates/ʈʳᶯʈʳɖʳᶯɖʳ/ are sometimes simple stops,[ʈᶯʈɖᶯɖ], but they often have arhotic release,[ʈɽ̊˔ᶯʈɽ̊˔ɖɽ˔ᶯɖɽ˔]. It is not clear if they are actually trilled, or are simply non-sibilant affricates[ʈɻ̊˔ᶯʈɻ̊˔ɖɻ˔ᶯɖɻ˔]. However, in another Austronesian language with a claimed trilled affricate,Fijian, trilling occurs but is rare, and the primary distinguishing feature is that it is postalveolar.[46] The Malagasy sounds are frequently transcribed [ʈʂᶯʈʂɖʐᶯɖʐ], and that is the convention used in this article.
In reduplication, compounding, possessive and verbal constructions, as well as after nasals, fricatives and liquids, 'spirants' become stops, as follows:
Here, stressed syllables are indicated by grave diacritics⟨à⟩, although these diacritics are normally not used.
Words are generally accented on the penultimate syllable, unless the word ends inka,tra and oftenna, in which case they are stressed on the antepenultimate syllable.Secondary stresses exist in even-numbered syllables from the last stressed syllable, when the word has more than four syllables (fàmantàranàndro[ˌfamˌtarˈnandʐʷ] "watch, clock"). Neither prefixation nor suffixation affect the placement of stress.
In many dialects, unstressed vowels (except/e/) are devoiced, and in some cases almost completelyelided; thusfanòrona is pronounced[fə̥ˈnurnə̥].
According to Penelope Howe in 2019, Central Malagasy is undergoingtonogenesis, with syllables containing voiced consonants are "fully devoiced" and acquire a low tone (/ba/ →[b̥à]), while those containing unvoiced consonants acquire a high tone (/pa/ →[pá]). However, this development appears to not occur in posttonic syllables, and she called it "pitch accent" instead.[47]
Within phrases, Malagasy order is typical ofhead-initial languages: Malagasy has prepositions rather than postpositions (ho an'ny zaza "for the child"). Determiners precede the noun, while quantifiers, modifying adjective phrases, and relative clauses follow the noun (ny boky "the book(s)",ny boky mena "the red book(s)",ny boky rehetra "all the books",ny boky novakin'ny mpianatra "the book(s) read by the student(s)").
Somewhat unusually, demonstrative determiners are repeated both before and after the nounity boky ity "this book" (lit. "this book this").
Verbs have syntactically three productive "voice" forms according to the thematic role they play in the sentence: the basic "agent focus" forms of the majority of Malagasy verbs, the derived "patient focus" forms used in "passive" constructions, and the derived "goal focus" forms used in constructions with focus on instrumentality. Thus
(1)Manasa ny tanako amin'ny savony aho. ("I am washing my hands with soap.")
(2)Sasako amin'ny savony ny tanako. ("My hands are washed with soap by me.")
(3)Anasako ny tanako ny savony. ("It is with soap that my hands are washed by me.")
all mean "I wash my hands with soap" though focus is determined in each case by the sentence initial verb form and the sentence final (noun) argument:manasa "wash" andaho "I" in (1),sasako "wash" andny tanako "my hands" in (2),anasako "wash" andny savony "soap" in (3). There is no equivalent to the English prepositionwith in (3).
Verbs inflect for past, present, and future tense, where tense is marked by prefixes (e.g.mividy "buy",nividy "bought",hividy "will buy").
Malagasy has no grammatical gender, and nouns do not inflect for number. However, pronouns and demonstratives have distinct singular and plural forms (cf.io boky io "that book",ireto boky ireto "these books").
There is a complex series of demonstrative pronouns, depending on the speaker's familiarity with the referent.[48]
The following set of pronouns are the pronouns found in Standard Malagasy. Note: the nominative first person singular pronoun is divided between a long and short form; the long form occurs before a verb (focalized or topicalized subjects) and the short form after a verb. The genitive first and second person pronouns are also divided between long and short forms; the long form occurs if the root ends with anything but [na], [ka*] or [tra]; if the stem ends with [na], the long form also occurs but [na] is deleted; and if the stem ends with [ka*] or [tra], the final vowel of the root is deleted and the short form occurs.[49]
Malagasy has a complex system ofdeixis (these, those, here, there, etc.), with seven degrees of distance as well asevidentiality across all seven. The evidential dimension is prototypically visible vs. non-visible referents; however, the non-visible forms may be used for visible referents which are only vaguely identified or have unclear boundaries, whereas the visible forms are used for non-visible referents when these are topical to the conversation.[50]
Malagasy shares much of its basic vocabulary with theMa'anyan language, a language from the region of theBarito River in southernBorneo. The Malagasy language also includes some borrowings fromArabic andBantu languages (especially theSabaki branch, from which most notablySwahili derives), and more recently from French and English.
In 1603, Frederick de Houtman published in Amsterdam theSpraeck ende Woord-boeck inde Maleysche ende Madagaskarsche Talen, which contains a Dutch–Malagasy vocabulary and dialogues.[51] De Houtman had learned Malagasy (OldNorthern Betsimisaraka dialect) during his stay at Sainte-Marie and in Antongil Bay.[52][53] The Malagasy vocabulary probably came from a Malagasy interpreter from these regions, who had spent four years with the Dutch and knew Dutch well.[54] At the same time, in 1603, François Martin de Vitré noted a list of numbers in Southwestern Malagasy (OldVezo or OldMasikoro) during his passage at Saint-Augustin Bay.[55] Thus, Malay and Malagasy appear side by side in their works suggesting similarities.
Numbers in Old Malagasy (Southern and Northern in 1603)
#
Gloss
Martin de Vitré (Saint-Augustin Bay, 1603)
Frederick de Houtman (Saint-Marie & Antongil Bay, 1603)
Standard Malagasy
1
one
Issa
Issa / Areick
Isa/Iray
2
two
Roue
Roo
roa
3
three
Tello
Tello
telo
4
four
Effad
Efferts
efatra
5
five
Lime
Dimi
dimy
6
six
Enning
Ennin
enina
7
seven
Fruto
Fitoe
fito
8
eight
Vvoulo
Wallou
valo
9
nine
Siday
Sivy
sivy
10
ten
Faule
Foelou
folo
20
twenty
Roo poelo
roapolo
21
twenty-one
Roo poelo areick
iraika ambin’ny roapolo
22
twenty-two
Roo poelo roo
roa ambin’ny roapolo
23
twenty-three
Roo poelo tello
telo ambin’ny roapolo
24
twenty-four
Roo poelo efferts
efatra ambin’ny roapolo
25
twenty-five
Roo poelo dimi
dimy ambin’ny roapolo
26
twenty-six
Roo poelo ennin
enina ambin’ny roapolo
27
twenty-seven
Roo poelo fitoe
fito ambin’ny roapolo
28
twenty-eight
Roo poelo wallou
valo ambin’ny roapolo
29
twenty-nine
Roo poelo sivy
sivy ambin’ny roapolo
30
thirty
Tello poelo
telopolo
40
forty
Effert poelo
efapolo
50
fifty
Dimy poelo
dimampolo
60
sixty
Ennin poelo
enimpolo
70
seventy
Fitou poelo
fitopolo
80
eighty
Wallou poelo
valopolo
90
ninety
Sivy poelo
sivifolo
100
hundred
Siatou
zato
1000
thousand
Heetsi
arivo
Richard Boothby, in his 1646 workA Brief Discovery or Description of the Most Famous Island of Madagascar, or St. Laurence, recorded several words from the inhabitants ofSaint Augustine’s Bay (in present-dayToliara). The language spoken in that region is now classified as part of theVezo dialect, which belongs to theSouthern Malagasic dialect cluster—likely representing an early form ofProto-Vezo.[56]
Comparative Vocabulary of St Augustine Bay Language (Boothby, 1646) and Standard Malagasy
#
Gloss
St Augustine Bay (Boothby, 17th c.)
Standard Malagasy
1
good
Chara
tsara
2
rope
Talle
tady
3
cloth
Lomba
lamba
4
lance
Leffo
lefona
5
tomorrow
Humeray
ampitso
6
salt
Syra
sira
7
palm of hand
Fala tanga
felatanana
8
tongue
Leela
lela
9
ear
Saffe
sofina
10
eye
Maca
maso
11
hair
Voyla
volo
12
shoulder
Sowkee
soroka
13
back (body)
Lemboshe
lamosina
14
butt
Voylee
vody
15
breast
Noeno
nono
16
hand
Tanga
tanana
17
teeth
Niffa
nify
18
chin
Soca
saoka
19
cow
Angomba
omby
François Cauche travelled mostly inSouthern Madagascar in the regions inhabited by theAntanosy,Mahafaly, andAntandroy (Ampatres), but also briefly along the eastern coast among theAntaimoro (Matatane) and aroundAntongil Bay (NorthernBetsimisaraka). He collected mostly vocabulary from the south, where he carried out the majority of his commercial exchanges. He is the first to record conversations inMalagasy, probably fromSouthern andEastern Malagasy varieties, necessary for communication and trade.[57] His observations and vocabulary were later published inRelations véritables et curieuses de l'isle de Madagascar par François Cauche, et du Brésil in 1651.
Numbers in Old Southern Malagasy (Cauche, 1651)
#
Gloss
Old Southern Malagasy (Cauche, 17th c.)
Standard Malagasy
1
one
Is
iray
2
two
ro
roa
3
three
tel
telo
4
four
ef
efatra
5
five
lime
dimy
6
six
enne
enina
7
seven
fuite
fito
8
eight
vale
valo
9
nine
cive
sivy
10
ten
foule
folo
11
eleven
Iray manifoule
iraika ambin’ny folo
12
twelve
ro manifoule
roa ambin’ny folo
13
thirteen
tel manifoule
telo ambin’ny folo
14
fourteen
ef manifoule
efatra ambin’ny folo
15
fifteen
lime manifoule
dimy ambin’ny folo
16
sixteen
enne manifoule
enina ambin’ny folo
17
seventeen
fuite manifoule
fito ambin’ny folo
18
eighteen
vale manifoule
valo ambin’ny folo
19
nineteen
cive manifoule
sivy ambin’ny folo
20
twenty
ropoule
roapolo
21
twenty-one
ropoule irai cambiombe
Iraika ambin'ny roapolo
22
twenty-two
ropoule ro cambiombe
roa ambin'ny roapolo
23
twenty-three
ropoule tel cambiombe
telo ambin'ny roapolo
30
thirty
Tel poule
telopolo
40
forty
ef poule
efapolo
50
fifty
lia poule or lime poule
dimampolo
60
sixty
enne poule
enimpolo
70
seventy
fuite poule
fitopolo
80
eighty
vale poule
valopolo
90
ninety
cive poule
sivifolo
100
one hundred
zat
zato
200
two hundred
rozat
roanjato
300
three hundred
telzat
telonjato
400
four hundred
efsat
efajato
500
five hundred
lime zat
dimanjato
600
six hundred
ennezat
eninjato
700
seven hundred
fuite zat
fitonjato
800
eight hundred
vale zat
valonjato
900
nine hundred
cive zat
sivinjato
1000
one thousand
Arrive or Irecarive
arivo
2000
two thousand
roarive
roa arivo
Collected Lexical Items by Cauche (Old Southern Malagasy)
#
Gloss
Old Southern Malagasy (Cauche, 17th c.)
Standard Malagasy
1
Canoe
Lacque
Lakana
2
Oil
Menach
Menaka
3
Red
Mene
Mena
4
Chicken
Acoo/acoho
Akoho
5
Fish
Fuie
Trondro
6
Rope
Tali
Tady
7
We
Zahai
Izahay
8
You (sing.)
Anno
Ianao
9
Cat
Pise
Saka
10
Dog
Ambo
Alika
11
Crazy
Maulle
Adala
12
Butter
Menacronon
Dibera
13
Anymore
Sasse
Intsony
14
Thin
Mahie
Mahia
15
Fat
Manesse
Matavy
16
Smelly
Mahibou
Maimbo
17
Afraid
Mattao
Matahotra
18
Person
Oule
Olona
19
Sun
Massuandre
Masoandro
20
Evening
Massuandre matte
Hariva
21
Hungry
Rez
Noana
22
Hot
Maye
Mafana
23
Cold
Manarre
Mangatsiaka
24
Little
Massessaie
Kely
25
Big
Croute baye
Lehibe
26
Good / Beautiful
So
Tsara
27
To cry
Toumangre
Mitomany
28
To sleep
Mandre
Matory
29
To drink
Minon
Misotro
30
To eat
Hyne
Mihinana
31
Steel
Vie
Vy
32
Bread
Moufe
Mofo
33
Silver
Voulafouche
Volafotsy
34
Gold
Voulameno
Volamena
35
Stone
Vate
Vato
36
Wind
Harre
Rivotra
37
Up / Above
Ambonne
Ambony
38
Tree
Aze
Hazo
39
Rum
Cique af
Toaka
40
Wine
Ciq
Divay
41
Sky
Arro
Lanitra
42
Earth
Tanne
Tany
43
Water
Ranne
Rano
44
Cold water
Ranne mangasi
Rano mangatsiaka
45
Fire
Affe
Afo
46
Spirit
Zin
Fanahy
47
Heart
Foo
Fo
48
Foot
Tambou
Tongotra
49
Tits
Nonne
Nono
50
Liver
Atte
Aty
51
Belly
Trou
Kibo
52
Hands
Tangue
Tanana
53
Butt/Ass
Fourin
Vodiny
54
Neck
Vouze
Tenda
55
Tooth
Nife
Nify
56
Tongue
Lelle
Lala
57
Mouth
Vave
Vava
58
Nose
Orre
Orona
59
Eye
Masse
Maso
60
Ear
Soufe
Sofina
61
Hair
Voule
Volo
62
Head
Loha
Loha
63
I / Me
Zaa
Izaho
64
He/She/It
Ize
Izy
65
Him/She/It
Ize
Izy
66
Meat
Hen
Hena
67
Too / Also
Coo
Koa
68
Dead
Matte
Maty
69
Tomorrow
Amaray
Ampitso
70
Morning
Empice
Maraina
71
Egg
Attoule
Atody
Asmall Malagasy–French vocabulary compiled by Étienne de Flacourt, former Governor of the French settlement atFort-Dauphin (Tolagnaro), was published in Paris in 1658. It is the first printed work to include prayers in Malagasy. Flacourt likely contributed to the dictionary and a catechism prepared by the Lazarist Fathers, whom he later presented to the future Saint Vincent de Paul.[58]
Comparative Vocabulary of 17th Century Southern Malagasy (Flacourt) and Standard Malagasy
Robert Drury, an English sailor who spent 15 years in southern Madagascar (including Androy,Fierenana, now known as Tulear, and Menabe), collected a vocabulary of southern Malagasy words as spoken in the early 1700s, which he published in his memoirs,Madagascar, or Robert Drury's Journal, in 1729 with the assistance of Daniel Defoe.[60]
Comparative Vocabulary of Southern Malagasy (Robert Drury, early 1700s) and Standard Malagasy
Claude Bernard Challan compiled a vocabulary in the 18th century with the help of two Malagasy slaves, primarily collecting words from central and eastern Madagascar, especially Betsimisaraka and Merina. According to Linah Ravonjiarisoa, this edition is richer and more modern, and it includes, for the first time in translation, a sample of Merina words.
In 1773, the Royal Printing House of Mauritius published his work asChallan, Claude Bernard (Abbot), Vocabulaire malgache distribué en deux parties : La première : françois et malgache – la seconde : malgache et françois, which constitutes the very first Malagasy–French and French–Malagasy dictionary.[62]
Numbers in Old Malagasy Isle de France (Challand),18th Century
The first dictionary of the language isÉtienne de Flacourt'sDictionnaire de la langue de Madagascar published in 1658 though earlier glossaries written in Arabico-Malagasy script exist. A laterVocabulaire Anglais-Malagasy was published in 1729. An 892-page Malagasy–English dictionary was published by James Richardson of theLondon Missionary Society in 1885, available as a reprint; however, this dictionary includes archaic terminology and definitions. Whereas later works have been of lesser size, several have been updated to reflect the evolution and progress of the language, including a more modern, bilingual frequency dictionary based on a corpus of over 5 million Malagasy words.[63]
Winterton, M. et al.: Malagasy–English, English–Malagasy Dictionary / Diksionera Malagasy–Anglisy, Anglisy–Malagasy. Raleigh, North Carolina. USA: Lulu Press 2011, 548 p.
Richardson: A New Malagasy–English Dictionary. Farnborough, England: Gregg Press 1967, 892 p. ISBN0-576-11607-6 (Original edition, Antananarivo: The London Missionary Society, 1885).
Diksionera Malagasy–Englisy. Antananarivo: Trano Printy Loterana 1973, 103 p.
An Elementary English–Malagasy Dictionary. Antananarivo: Trano Printy Loterana 1969, 118 p.
English–Malagasy Phrase Book. Antananarivo: Editions Madprint 1973, 199 p. (Les Guides de Poche de Madagasikara.)
^abAdelaar, K. Alexander (2006). "Borneo as a Cross-Roads for Comparative Austronesian Linguistics". In Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell T. (eds.).The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Canberra: ANU E Press. pp. 81–102.doi:10.22459/A.09.2006.04.ISBN1-920942-85-8.JSTORj.ctt2jbjx1.7.OCLC225298720.
^Relandus, Hadrianus (1708).Dissertationum Miscellanearum, Pars Tertia et Ultima (in Latin). Trajecti ad Rhenum: Gulielmi Broedelet. pp. 137–138.Haec omnia satis evincunt (quod in initio hujus dissertationis monuimus) longe lateque diffundi usum linguae Malaïcae, quae non tantum in Chersoneso Malaeorum & insulis Sumatra, Java, Bomeo, Moluccis sed & aliis magis ad orientem sitis usurpatur. Quibus cum si conferamus illud quod linguae Insulae Madagascar plurima vocabula Malaïca sint permixta, magis adhuc stupebimus linguam unam, qualis Malaïca est, vestigia sua reliquisse in tam dissitis terrarum spatiis qualia sunt insula Madagascar ad litus Africae & insula Cocos in mari inter Asiam & Americam interjecto. Lubet hic laterculum addere vocum Madagascaricarum, ut dicta nostra confirmemus.
^Dahl, Otto Christian (1951),Malgache et Maanyan: Une comparaison linguistique, Avhandlinger utgitt av Instituttet 3 (in French), Oslo: Egede Instituttet
^P. Y. Manguin.Pre-modern Southeast Asian Shipping in the Indian Ocean: The Maldive Connection. ‘New Directions in Maritime History Conference’ Fremantle. December 1993.
^There are also some Sulawesi loanwords, which Adelaar attributes to contact prior to the migration to Madagascar: See K. Alexander Adelaar, “The Indonesian Migrations to Madagascar: Making Sense of the Multidisciplinary Evidence”, in Truman Simanjuntak, Ingrid Harriet Eileen Pojoh and Muhammad Hisyam (eds.),Austronesian Diaspora and the Ethnogeneses of People in Indonesian Archipelago, (Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Sciences, 2006), pp. 8–9.
^Adelaar, K. Alexander (2017). "Who Were the First Malagasy, and What Did They Speak?". In Acri, Andrea; Blench, Roger; Landmann, Alexandra (eds.).Spirits and Ships: Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia. Book collections on Project MUSE 28. Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. pp. 441–469.doi:10.1355/9789814762779-012.ISBN978-981-4762-75-5.OCLC1012757769.
^Flacourt, Étienne de (1658).Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar (in French). Jean Henault. p. 194.
^Jéhan, Louis François (1858).Troisième et dernière Encyclopédie théologique, ou Troisième et dernière Série de dictionnaires sur toutes les parties de la science religieuse. Dictionnaire de linguistique et de philologie comparée, histoire de toutes les langues mortes et vivantes, ou traité complet d'idiomographie. Encyclopédie théologique, publiée par M. l'abbé Migne (in French). Vol. 34. Chez l'Éditeur, aux ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge. p. 861.
^Engel, Claude (2008).Les derniers zafintany et les nouveaux moasy : Changements socioculturels à Madagascar (in French). Éditions L’Harmattan. p. 28.
^Alexander Adelaar; Antoinette Schapper, eds. (2024).The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 681.ISBN9780198807353.
^"The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine".The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine.5 (17–20): 60. 1893.
^Simon, Pierre (2006).La langue des ancêtres – Ny Fitenin-dRazana : Une périodisation du malgache de l'origine au XVe siècle (in French). Éditions L’Harmattan. p. 54.
^Sambo, Clément; Gueunier, Noël Jacques (2001).Langages non conventionnels à Madagascar : argot des jeunes et proverbes gaillards (in French). Karthala. p. 304.
^Lefèvre, Gabriel (2013).Médecine traditionnelle à Madagascar : les mots-plantes (in French). Éditions L’Harmattan. pp. 27–29.
^Gueunier, Noël Jacques (2011).Contes comoriens en dialecte malgache de l'île de Mayotte : la quête de la sagesse (in French). L’Harmattan. p. 2.
^Ferrand, Gabriel (1909).Essai de phonétique comparée du malais et des dialectes malgaches : thèse pour le doctorat d'université, présentée à la Faculté des lettres de l'Université de Paris (in French). Paris: Paul Geuthner. pp. XXXVII–XLII.
^Ferrand, Gabriel (1908). "Un vocabulaire malgache-hollandais."Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 61.673-677. The manuscript is now in the Arabico-Malagasy collection of theBibliothèque nationale de France.
^Flacourt, Étienne de (1657).Le Petit Catéchisme madécasse-français.Paris;(1661).Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar.Paris, pp.197–202.
^Flacourt, Étienne de (1658).Dictionnaire de la langue de Madagascar. Paris.
^Berthier, H.J. (1934).De l'usage de l'arabico=malgache en Imérina au début du XIXe siècle: Le cahier d'écriture de Radama Ier. Tananarive.
^Janie Rasoloson and Carl Rubino, 2005, "Malagasy", in Adelaar & Himmelmann, eds,The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar
^Vine, Angus (2025).Early Modern Merchants and Their Books. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 432.ISBN9780198881636.
^Chaudenson, Robert (2001).Creolization of Language and Culture. London / New York: Routledge. p. 187.
^Galibert, Nivoelisoa, ed. (2007).À l’angle de la Grande Maison. Les lazaristes de Madagascar : correspondance avec Vincent de Paul (1648-1661). Imago Mundi, série Textes, no 2. Presses Universitaires de Paris-Sorbonne. p. 117.
^Ferrand, Gabriel (1908). "Un vocabulaire malgache-hollandais".Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Ned.-Indië: 677.
^Martin de Vitré, François (1604).Description du premier voyage faict aux Indes Orientales par les François en l’an 1603 (in French). Laurens Sonnius, Paris. p. 69.
^Boothby, Richard (1646).A Briefe Discovery or Description of the Most Famous Island of Madagascar or St. Laurence in Asia neare unto East‑India. Printed by E. Griffin for Iohn Hardesty, London. pp. 19–20.
^Cauche, François (compiled by Claude‑Barthélemy Morisot) (1651).Relations véritables et curieuses de l'isle de Madagascar et du Brésil : avec l'histoire de la dernière guerre faite au Brésil entre les Portugais et les Hollandais, trois relations d'Égypte et une du royaume de Perse (in French). A. Courbé, Paris. pp. 175–193.
^abFerrand, Gabriel (1905).Dictionnaire de la langue de Madagascar d'après l'édition de 1658 et l’Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar de 1661 (in French). Paris: Ernest Leroux. pp. 15–292.
^Stewart, Charles; Shaw, Rosalind, eds. (2011).Creolization as Cultural Creativity. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 195.
^Drury, Robert (1890). Samuel Pasfield Oliver (ed.).Madagascar; or, Robert Drury's Journal, during Fifteen Years' Captivity on that Island. With a Further Description of Madagascar. London: George Routledge & Sons. pp. Appendix,319–335.
Ricaut et al. (2009) "A new deep branch of eurasian mtDNA macrohaplogroup M reveals additional complexity regarding the settlement of Madagascar",BMC Genomics.
