ujang Mardi

English translation: manservant

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Indonesian term or phrase:ujang Mardi
English translation:manservant
Entered by: Catherine Muir

23:26 May 21, 2012
Indonesian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / pre-1928 Indonesian novel written in Malay lingua franca
Indonesian term or phrase: ujang Mardi
Desperate and in need of a job, the protagonist--a young woman--masqueraded as a man to get a job as a houseboy at an inn in Surabaya. Years later, her brother chides her, calling her 'ujang Mardi'. I know that 'ujang' is a friendly term for a young man, but why 'ujang Mardi'. What is the significance of 'Mardi'?
Catherine Muir
Australia
Local time: 13:30
manservant
Explanation:

Wild guess, really.

ujang refers to the gender (i.e. male), whilst mardi could refer to Javanese word mardi or merdi, meaning putting an effort to do or serve something.

So, this is a friendly moniker to refer to the time she worked as a "man"servant.
Selected response from:

ErichEko ⟹⭐
Indonesia
Local time: 09:30
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2 +1manservant
ErichEko ⟹⭐
3Mardi is a male name
Toto Marwoto


  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
manservant


Explanation:

Wild guess, really.

ujang refers to the gender (i.e. male), whilst mardi could refer to Javanese word mardi or merdi, meaning putting an effort to do or serve something.

So, this is a friendly moniker to refer to the time she worked as a "man"servant.

ErichEko ⟹⭐
Indonesia
Local time: 09:30
Native speaker of: Native in IndonesianIndonesian
PRO pts in category: 48
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks, Erich. I wonder, however, why the word 'Mardi' was capitalised.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ikram Mahyuddin
9 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Mardi is a male name


Explanation:
Straight to the point, I believe she was in disguise and took "Mardi" as her name. In Surabaya and eastern Java, "Mardi" name is quite famous, since there was a man who was a record holder for several years especially in 100m sprint run of SEA GAMES,his name is Mardi Lestari.

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Note added at 5 hrs (2012-05-22 04:45:21 GMT)
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okay, salam hangat, mrs, Catherine Muir, then I think her brother call her "ujang Mardi" as a common call for common male people as most of Sundanese would call some guy that they meet or see as "ujang Asep", and that's because they don't know (yet) real name of the guy.
I hope this would help you out.

Regards, Toto

Toto Marwoto
Indonesia
Local time: 09:30
Works in field
Native speaker of: Indonesian
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Toto. I know that Mardi is a male name. However, the name she used when masquerading as a houseboy was 'Salimin'.

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