Sidi, Siamang, Adunada
This short note by R. O. Winstedt examines three terms found in Malay charm-books and proposes Sanskrit etymologies for each: sidi, siamang, and adunada.
Summary
Winstedt argues that sidi in Malay charms is not a personal name or the Arabic saidi (‘lord’) but the Sanskrit siddhi—meaning supernatural power or magical accomplishment. He supports this by showing that sidi balances sakti in parallel lines, and that it is used interchangeably with synonyms sah, mustajab, and kabul in the formulaic closings of charms invoking the shahada (p. 7–8). He further links the phrase bëkat sidi tërjali sëndiri to the Sanskrit vastusiddhih and cites Monier-Williams on the role of siddhi in Tantric literature (p. 8).
For siamang (the lar gibbon), Winstedt revisits his earlier derivation from Sanskrit sia-manga (‘black-bodied’) and notes that sia also means ‘shadow, night’ in Sanskrit, suggesting the pawang’s metaphorical use of siamang bulan may be a survival of this older semantic field (p. 8). Finally, he proposes that Adunada, the name of a spectre huntsman’s companion in a charm, is a corruption of Sanskrit anunada (‘echo’), an apt epithet for a spectral follower (p. 9).