Concurrence of plants and its representation in Indonesian proverbs

This brief article deals with the concurrence of plants or its parts and its representations in Indonesian proverbs. The data used are mostly extracted from Indonesian proverb books, and ones found in proverbs of other languages. First, the data are classified based on plants or parts of plant possibly concurred. Later, the investigation is directed toward the various possibility the combination might represent. Through careful analysis, it is finally found that the plants or parts of the plants to be combined can be between different plants, parts of the same plants, one plant and its parts, parts and different plants, and parts of different plants. Plants or parts of plants to be combined are perceived as: to have the same quality for representing something hard or impossible to change, something must be committed by both parties, the same destiny to be experienced, or how should someone to


A. Introduction
Plants are one among many precious thing's human beings familiar with during their lifetime in this world.Accordingly, it is not surprising, in line with animals, many kinds of plants and their parts, often appear to be exploited in proverbs found in any language.In proverbs plants and their parts are used as vehicles to represent various matters based on similarities that hold between them and anything the language speakers want to compare.For more clearly, the followings (1) to ( 4) are examples of proverbs taken from several languages that exploit plants or their parts to make comparison.
(1) Kacang ora ninggal lanjarane Bean not leave ramp its Bean stalk does not leave its ramp (2) Kaden nyuhe maluan ulung teken bungsile Think coconut first fall than the young fruit Never think that the old coconut fruit fall first before the young one (3) Buah tidak jatuh jauh dari pohonnya Fruit not fall far from tree its Fruit does not fall far from its fruit (4) The grass is always greener on the other side Example (1) is a Javanese proverb in which the comprehensive Javanese people's knowledge about bean stalk and its ramp enable them to compare the plant characteristics with the similar physical and behavioral characteristics of children and their parents.In this matter, the children characteristics is represented by kacang 'bean (stalk)' and the parent characteristics is represented by 'the ramp'.Example (2) is a Balinese proverb for taking about human death.Logically the older people will die preceding the younger ones.However, this is not always the case with regard to human fate and destiny.The fact can often turn the other way around for many cases the younger ones die before the older.By using the knowledge about coconut fruits that often fall when they are still young, and still hang on the trees when the fruits approaching ripe or old, the Balinese people creating this proverb.The proverb teaches or reminds the human beings never think that the older people will die first preceding the older ones.Indonesian proverb (3) corresponds to the Javanese proverb (1) in which the fruit tree is corresponded to the children behavior and physical characteristics and the tree represent of their parents.Finally, example (4) constitutes an English proverb commonly used to remind the speech community members for never always thinking and feeling jealousy that what the other ones have, or feel are always better and more comfortable than their own.The expressions used to represent are grass growing on their own yard and one growing on their neighbors while the better or more comfortable condition and feeling are represented by the word greener.Proverb (1) to (4) consecutively exploit the vehicles a certain plant, kacang 'bean' and other thing lanjaran 'ramp', parts of plant fruit nyuh 'old coconut fruit' and bungsil 'young coconut fruit', part of the plants buah 'fruit' and its tree pohon 'tree', and the same plant 'grass'.As suggested by the title this paper will specifically discuss the concurrence of plants and their parts and their representation in Indonesian proverbs that so far have not got serious attention from the experts.
The general study about proverb has been carried out by Hoshan (2021).In this article he tries to shed light on definition of proverb, their relation to idioms, their characteristics , structures, functions, and comprehension/interpretation.According to Bellis (2022) the studies on proverb have been undergoing intense scrutiny since 2011-2020.The studies are focused on the moral genre and its definition, structures and rhetorical features, divine retribution, theology, moral self-development pedagogy, corporal punishment, and economical justice.The central role played by proverb in any language makes this traditional formula becoming interesting topic to study.Chee's book (1977) in many parts discusses about relation of proverbs and other literary formulas in relation with thought and culture of Malay and its impact on the development and its planning.Kimseziz (2022) has conducted comparative study on the performance of Turkish learners of English in translating English proverbs in term of their interlingual equivalents in Turkish.Syzdikov (2014) tries to describe the differences and similarities of Indonesian and English idioms and proverbs, British and Kazakh proverbs of having the same thematic contents.Meanwhile, the comparative study done by Grabsky (2020) on Spanish and Armenia proves that proverbs are very efficient tools for teaching foreign languages, and that proverbs are very versatile to convey sufficient cultural information to increase the overall intercultural awareness of the students.
In Indonesia, so far, there are at least 4 doctorate dissertations focusing their attention on proverb.Arimi's study (2016) concerns about categorization, cognitive structure, and vitality dynamics of Indonesian proverbs.The structure, meaning, and function of Javanese proverbs has been done by Hendrokunoro (2016).Haiyan et al. (2016) in her dissertation has carried out a contrastive study on Indonesian and Mandarin idiomatic expressions exploiting animals.The other works are journal articles discussing certain aspects of proverbs.An article written by Kinanti (2021) discusses the representation of gajah 'elephant' in Indonesian Proverbs.Discussions of the same kind are also found in Wijana (2022Wijana ( , 2023bWijana ( , 2023a) respectively about air 'water', ayam 'chicken', Co-occurrence of animals.Syarfuni (2014) tries to describe the differences and similarities of Indonesian and English idioms.Several scholars try to exploit the role of English proverbs to ease the teaching and learning of this language.Al-Mutalabi (2019) describes various of communicative functions of English Proverbs.Sudiran (2018) has explored the role of English proverbs in enhancing writing skills which can give a lot of benefits either to the students and teacher/lectures.Meanwhile, Indrawati's study concerns about the student's ability to understand proverbs, and their perception on learning this formula (Indrawati, 2019).Finally, this paper constitutes the continuity of one of my recent papers (Wijana, 2023b) in which I write about the concurrence of animals in Indonesia.In this paper I shift my attention on the concurrence of plant and its parts in Indonesian proverbs which so far has not got serious attention from the experts.
Language is the primary human verbal means of communication.Through this instrument, human beings express their ideas, experiences, physical as well as emotions.Because the limitations of a language compared to human beings' ability to conceive everything they can see and imagine, the language speakers are often to be forced using various kinds of comparison.Consequently, any word language are full of linguistic expressions which are specifically used to express comparisons, such as simile, proverbs, metaphors, idioms, personification, etc.As far as proverbs are concerned, the comparisons are carried out by using vehicle(s) or source domain(s) which is or are more commonly recognized by the language speakers to be compared with something or states of condition that are less or not familiar with them (1997).According to Shen (2008) cultural facts constitute filter which allows certain entities possibly appear in metaphorical expressions of any language.By doing so, the advises of the proverbs want to deliver are more easily understood by the addressee to whom the advises are intended to.Because every language is bound up by cultural system of the speech community, the language spoken by any community will show their own individuality along with the customary differences (Duranti, 1977).For example, the Javanese proverb (1) is expressed as (5) in Indonesian in which the word lanjarane 'the ramp' is corresponded to kulitnya 'the skin'.
(5) Bagai kacang lupa akan kulitnya Like peanut forget of skin its Like peanut forget of its skin Meanwhile, the following English proverbs ( 6) is expressed as (7) in Indonesian because different kinds of animal and their prey living in those two different societies: Based on this theoretical framework, it can be hypothesized that Indonesian, as reflection of its individual cultural and customary system, will exploit the concurrence of plants, parts of plant, and their representation in specific way.As such, this study will help anyone who wants to get more understanding about the close relation between language and culture in which the language is directly or indirectly reflecting human beings' mental activity.These matters are clearly seen in the following quotation: "The background linguistic system (that is, the grammar) of each language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the individual's mental activity, for his analysis of impressions, for the synthesis of his mental stock in trade.Formulation of ideas is not an independent process, strictly rational in the old sense but is part of a particular grammar and differs from slightly and greatly between different grammars.We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages.…Wecut up nature, organize it into concepts and ascribe significance as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement that hold thought out our speech community and is codified in the pattern of our language" (Whorf, 1956).

B. Method
This research begins with data collection carried out by gathering all proverbs containing concurrence use of plants or its parts.Those proverbs are placed on a proverb book entitled 7700 Peribahasa Indonesia [7700 Indonesian Proverbs] (Chaniago, 1998).They are further classified based on the concurred elements exploited as comparison or metaphorical proverbial source domains whether they are between different plants, the same plants and its parts, parts of the same plants, and parts of different plants.Finally, the research is directed toward the representation could possibly be manifested by those concurred elements.The data are presented in three stages.The first is the proverb, followed by its word-to-word translation, and its intended meaning.

C. Results and Discussion
After having carefully classified the collecting data, it is found that there are at least five possibilities of combination of plants and its parts to be concurred in Indonesian proverbs.Those possibilities are concurrence between different plants, concurrence between parts of the same plants, concurrence between one plant and its parts, concurrence between parts and different plant, and concurrence between parts of different plants.The following section will analyze consecutively those five possibilities, and their representations.

Concurrence between Different Plants
Plants exploited to create proverbs can be combined between ones that do not belong to the same species or ones the belong to the same ones, such as between kecubung 'jimsonweed' and ganja 'hemp', kundur 'big pumpkin' and labu 'small pumpkin', jagung 'corn' and pinang 'areca nut', kunyit 'turmeric' and serai 'lemon grass', aur 'thin bamboo' and betung 'big bamboo'.Consider (1) to (5) below.
(2) Kundur tiada melata pergi, labu tiada melata mari 'The big pumpkin will not go, So do the small one' > The agreement should be obeyed by both parties, and no one will break the promise.(3) Kundur tiada menjalar ke hulu, labu tiada menjalar ke hilir 'The big pumpkin will not go upstream, the small one will not go downstream' > If someone does not respect another, do not expect they would be respected by the other.(4) Tidak resan kunyit, resan serai 'It is not worried about turmeric, and lemon grass' > No relation at all.(5) Aur ditanam betung tumbuh 'The thin bamboo is planted, a large bamboo grows' > To expect something, the bigger one comes.

Concurrence between Parts of the Same Plants
Indonesian proverb creators can also be possible to combine parts belonging to the same plants.For instance, between leave growing lower pucuk 'peak' and higher ulam 'top leaf', akar 'root' and dahan 'branch' of the plants, akar 'root' and buah 'fruit', getah daun 'leaf sap' and getah batang 'branch sap', pelepah 'stem' and jantung pisang 'banana bud', batang 'branch' and bunga 'flower', etc. See the the following examples (6) to (11).
(6) Pucuk dicita ulam tiba 'The top leafs are expected, the younger ones are got' > To expect something, the better one is got' (7) Akar terjumbai tempat siamang berpegang, dahan mengunjur tempat tupai menegun 'Hanging root is a place for a monkey holding, the extended branch for a squirrel to rest' > From what they have talked, the mistake can be recognized.

Concurrence between One Plant and Its Part
The other possibility is combination of plants and its seeds (12); plant and its fruits ( 13), ( 14), and (15); plants and its leaves (16); and plant and its flower or bud (17).

Concurrence between Parts and Different Plants
Parts of certain plants can also be combined with different plants.In proverb (18) getah 'sap' of certain plant is combined with other plant semak 'bushes.'In ( 19) rimbun-rimbun 'lushes' is part of certain plants is combined with other plant semak-semak 'bushes.'In ( 20) and ( 21) kersik 'dried banana leaf' which constitutes part of banana tree is combined with buluh 'bamboo'.

Concurrence between Parts of Different Plants
The last possibility is a combination between parts of different plants, such as between kayu 'wood' and jagung tua 'old corn fruit' in ( 22) and pisang 'banana ' and duri 'thorn' in (23).( 22) Habis air habislah kayu, jagung tua tak hendak masak 'The water is used up, the wood is finished, the old corn is not yet ripe' > useless work.( 23) Mulut disuapkan pisang, pantat dikaitkan duri 'The mouth is fed with banana, buttock is hooked by thorn' > Using nice and soft words for deceiving another'

Various Types of Representation of the Plants Concurrence
After examining carefully the collected data, there are various types of representation can be expressed by the proverb plant combinations.It is obviously impossible to analyze and describe all possible representations can be expressed by the plants or parts of the plant combinations.However, from the careful data analysis those representations can be simply divided into several types, i.e. representation which perceives the concurred elements as entities of having the same quality, different quality, different quantity, younger than the others, and phonologically related to their intentions.

The Same Quality of Plants or Parts of Plant
The plants or part of the plants being concurred can be ones imagined having the same quality or characteristics.Therefore, the different plants can bring the same result, and it is useless to discern.For example, the plants name kecubung 'jimson' and ganja 'hemp' both are dangerous in case of their potential to cause the users lost consciousness.The combination is used to represent the same desperate that will bring for the intended person (24) like the synonymous pair semak and belukar which both mean 'bushes' (25).The other example is the use of kundur 'big pumpkin' and labu 'small pumpkin' in (26) that are both have the same characteristics regarding their way of creeping.This characteristic is used to represent the same respect or obedience that must be given by two parties on their agreement, and nothing will change.
(24) Kecubung berulam ganja 'Jimson has hemp plant peak' > Both are dangerous.( 25) Dari semak ke belukar 'From bush to bush' > Just the same thing.( 26) Kundur tiada melata pergi, labu tiada melata mari 'The big pumpkin will not go, so do the small one' > The agreement should be obeyed by both parties, and no one will break the promise.
( 27) Kundur tiada menjalar ke hulu, labu tiada menjalar ke hilir 'The big pumpkin will not go upstream, the small one will not go downstream' > If someone do not respect another, do not expect they would be respected by the other.
The concurred plants can also relate to its short age and little amount of its sap for representing the inexperienced of the individual intended to.See the combination use of jagung 'corn' and pinang 'areca nut' in (28) below.
(28) Umur baru setahun jagung, darah baru setampuk pinang 'The age is just a year of corn, the blood is just a file of areca nut' > it is very young and does not have any experience.
Both plants to be combined can also be regarded as something having no relation to users, and bring no impact to the decision will be made.In proverb (29) both kunyit 'turmeric' and serai 'lemon grass' are considered unrelated to each other.So, there is not anything to worry about if something unexpected happen.
(29) Tidak resan kunyit, resan serai 'It is not worried about turmeric, and lemon grass' > No relation at all' The quality can also be seen from the identical characteristics and destiny of the combined plants.Consider ( 30) and (31) below.
(30) Serumpun bagai serai, selubang bagai tebu 'One grove like lemon grass, one hole like a sugar cane' > United in all activities sharing happiness and sadness.(31) Bagai rumput di tengah jalan, bagai sambau di pintu kandang 'Like grass on the road, like fodder grass in front of barn door' > It is like a serious sick person.
Proverb ( 30) is exploited to advice that human beings should live in unity to mimic serai 'lemon grass' and tebu 'sugar cane'.Meanwhile ( 31) is used to describe the same fate that will be experienced by certain person intended in the proverb.The lower valued of plants represent the things expected, and the higher ones do the good matters that happen or come as seen in ( 32) or vice versa (33).
If the good things are not possessed the worse quality things can be used.Consider (34) and its equivalent (35) which respectively combined rotan 'rattan' and akar 'root', and beras 'rice' and antah 'broken rice'.
(34) Tak ada rotan akar pun jadi 'No rattan, root is useful' > If there is no the expected thing, the other thing worse can be used.
This proverb is equivalent to (35) below: (35) Tak beras antah dikisik 'No rice, broken rice is winnowed' > If there is no the expected thing, something worse might be useful.
The other possibilities are all benefits represented by the less or more quality of plants is gained.In (36) both padi 'rice' the better and jagung 'corn' the less quality of plants is described to give benefit to someone intended in the proverb.
Both worse and better quality of things represented by the plants can be used up.However, the less quality must be exploited first before using the better ones.See (37) below: (37) Baik berjagung-jagung sementara padi belum masak 'It is better to consume corn, while the rice is not ripe yet' > We had better doing less important job as long as it is fruitful than do nothing.
In daily human life the bad or worse things must be able to distinguish from the good or the better ones like described by (38) or possibly both parts are difficult to do so (39).
(38) Bersisih antah dengan beras 'Broken rice can be distinguished with rice' > The good and the bad can be differentiated.(39) Tak tersisih antah dengan beras 'Broken rice cannot be distinguished with rice' > The good cannot be distinguished from the bad.
The better parts or plants that represent the better behavior should be taken, meanwhile the worse one must be thrown away or should not be mixed.See ( 40) and (41) below: (40) Baik membawa resmi padi, jangan membawa resmi ilalang 'It is better to bring rice character than coarse grass character' > Like rice, people must be wiser or low profile when they are getting older, but not vise versa, such as coarse grass which will be getting more arrogant.(41) Menyisip padi dengan ilalang 'inserting rice among coarse grasses' > Mixing goodness amid the badness.
Plants or parts of plants are possibly regarded stronger than the others.If they are found to be combined in proverbs, they are used to represent imbalance of power physically or economically of the people intended to compare, such as described by ( 42) and (43) below in which mentimun 'cucumber' and durian 'durian' is used as the comparison source domains: (42) Seperti mentimun dan durian 'Like a cucumber and durian' > imbalanced fight between strong and weak person, or between rich and poor person.(43) Seperti mentimun dan durian, menggolek rusak, kena golek binasa 'Like a cucumber and durian, rolling is broken, to be rolled is dead' > imbalanced fight between strong and weak person, or between rich and poor person.
In reality of life, the physically bigger things are commonly possessing better quality than the physically smaller ones.In small cases, however, the other way around happens, such as described by the following (44) in which lada api 'the small chilly' which tastes hotter' and limau abung 'abung citrus' which does not taste hot'.This combination is intended to compare the better quality of the small things than the bigger ones.
(44) Kecil-kecil lada api, besar-besar limau abung 'Even though little, but a small chilly, than big yet abung citrus > Better little but brave than big but coward.
All people should accept the positive and the negative aspects of one thing, they do not allow just enjoy the positive matters and refuse the bad ones.The fruit flesh is used to represent the good matter, while the sap is done for the bad side.Consider ( 45), ( 46), and (47) below: (45) Seorang makan nangka, semua kena getahnya 'One person eats jack fruit.All gets the sap' > Because of someone mistake, all people gets its bad impact.( 46) Siapa makan nangka, maka kena getahnya 'Whoever eats jack fruit will gets it's the sap' > All people must be responsible for their deed.(47) Orang makan nangka, awak kena getahnya 'Someone eats jack fruit, we gets the sap' > Someone does, we gets its impact.
In the following (48) bunga 'flower' is used to represent the daughter, while perdu 'clump' is done to her father.So someone could not just accept the daughter, and reject her father.
(48) Bunga disunting, perdu disepak dibuang 'The flower is pick, the clump is thrown' > The girl is married, the father is neglected.

Different Quantity of Plants or Parts of Plant
Plants or parts of the plants combined may also be between ones perceived of having greater quantity and the others having lesser quantity.In (49) biji sawi 'the small mustard green seed' is compared with a greater quantity of things rumput 'grass'.The seed will be surely meaningless and hardly be found if it falls on the grass.Meanwhile, in (50) the proverb creator wants to allude someone who saved another person, and sacrificed their family whose number is much bigger.The saved is represented by pinang sebatang 'one areca nut tree' and the sacrificed is done by aur serumpun 'a grove of bamboo.' (49) Bagai biji sesawi dalam rumput 'Like mustard green seed in the grass' > Something very little or trivial, so disregarded by anyone.(50) Kasihkan pinang sebatang, lain daripada aur serumpun 'giving more attention to one areca nut than a grove of bamboo' > Loving another person more than their own family members.
10.One Plant or Parts of the Plant are Older or Younger than the Others Plants might be possible to have different names when they are seedlings and when they are growing older.In Indonesian bamboo shoot is called rebung, and it is called buluh 'bamboo' when it grows older.These plants can be used to represent younger and older person respectively.To educate person when they are younger much easier than when they are older.The behavior of other older people is hard to change.This matter can be described by (51) below: (51) Sedang rebung baik dipatah, jadi buluh lepuh jari 'Break it when it is a shoot, after it turns a bamboo, will harm the fingers' > To educate someone, better when they are young, when they are old they are difficult to change.
The earlier coming elements could be used to represent the causer, while the later is used to do with the effect.See (52) below: (52) Ada batang cendawan tumbuh 'When there is a trunk, the mushroom will grow' > There will be a luck anywhere we live.
If the other way around happens, such as to allude a people who are angry without knowing the reason or something odd to happen, the proverb (53) is used.
(53) Seperti batang mengkudu, dahulu buah daripada bunga 'Like a morinda branch, fruit is coming first, and flower later' > Like a person who is angry first without knowing the reasons.
The older or earlier coming parts or plants should not be beaten or driven out by the later or younger ones.The proverb ( 54) is used to describe or represent the native that cannot compete with the newcomer.
(54) Alah limau oleh benalu 'Citrus fruit is defeated by a parasitic plant' > The native is defeated by the non-native.

Phonological Representation
Indonesian has many proverbs that are exploiting phonological relation which holds between the proverbs and the intended meaning.Consider first ( 55) and (56) below.
(57) Ada ubi ada talas, ada budi ada balas 'There is sweet potato tuber, there is calladius tuber' >There is submission, there is response' or someone's submission should be response' (58) Sudah gaharu cendana pula, sudah tahu betanya pula 'It is already eagle wood, it is also sandal wood' > You already know, why do you still ask?

D. Conclusion
Proverb as a traditional formula exploits various entities to which the community members are more familiar with to enable them comparing with various realities that they have never found before.Those entities are human beings, animals, plants, sky objects, nature, water, etc.They can be exploited individually, or together with other entities as well.With regard to the combination between plant and another plant or its parts, six types of concurrences can be found.Those are concurrences between different plants, concurrences between parts of the same plants, concurrence between one plant and its part, concurrence between parts and different plants, concurrence between one plant and its part, and concurrence between parts of different plants.The plants or parts of the plant being combined are possibly regarded as: the same quality of plants or parts of plant for representing something hard or impossible to change, something must be obeyed by both parties, the same destiny to be experienced, or how should someone to behave; the different quality of plants or parts of the plant to represent unexpected thing (better or worse to happen), not easy to give up and always depend on something available, could differentiate between good and bad, to use the worse quality things than the better ones, imbalance competition, ability and sincerity to accept the good and bad aspect of things; different quantity of plants or parts of plant to represent something meaningless compared to the other and to prior or protect the bigger interest groups than the smaller ones; one plant or parts of the plant are older (coming out earlier) or younger (coming out later) than the others to represent the difficulties for the older people to change, any occasion follows cause and effect law, the new comers usually cannot drive out or defeat the natives; and phonological representation to show that sometimes the proverbs are created on the basis of aesthetic achievements instead of on metaphorical similarities.This study constitutes a superficial preliminary study, and accordingly, more serious and profound studies concerning this topic are urgently needed.
8. Different Quality of Plants or Parts of Plant Most plants concurred in Indonesian proverbs are ones perceived to have different quality.If this is the case, several possibilities of representation can happen.The concurrence might be between differently valued plants or parts of plants, stronger and weaker plants or parts of plants, bigger and lesser quantity plants or parts of plants, older or younger plants or parts of plants,