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Oral Origins: The Etymology of Putang Ina and Y@w@

by TRICIA ZAFRA
JUNE 30, 2016



I faintly remember what led to our teacher’s ire that afternoon and why she was scolding the class. All I can clearly recall now were the dusty black shoes I was wearing. They were the first things I saw when I looked down in shame upon hearing my classmate swore in class in the presence of our teacher: “’Tang ina mo!” (Your mother is a whore.) I flinched. This was in high school. It was a stage in my life where I was still practicing these expletives in my mind and to utter them, even when no one was hearing, felt so wrong. It clearly wasn’t directed at our teacher who I remember yelling afterwards: “Nakita mo bang nag-p**t ang nanay niya? Paninirang puri ‘yan!” (Have you seen her mother become a whore? That’s slander!) I don’t remember what happened after that.


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Putang Ina Mo (Your Mother Is a Whore)

In the 1960’s, the municipal trial court of Cavite City convicted a person named Rosauro Reyes of grave threats and grave oral defamation for cursing Agustin Hallare. Reyes was upset for having been terminated from the Naval Exchange at Sangley Point as a civilian employee and conducted protest actions in front of the office and at the residence of Hallare who Reyes believed had influenced his dismissal.

In June 1961, at Hallare’s residence, Reyes shouted the words: “Agustin, putang ina mo. Agustin, mawawala ka. Agustin lumabas ka, papatayin kita.” Hallare sued Reyes. The case reached the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s decision. In the high court’s ruling, however, while the conviction of Reyes for grave threats was upheld, he was acquitted of grave oral defamation:

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Among the countless things the Spaniards left behind after 300 years of colonizing the Philippines are its curse words that insult and demean mothers. A non-exhaustive list prepared by Michael A. Estrada entitled Profanities, Insults, etc. Across Spanish-speaking Countries published online back in August 2011 shows that most Spanish curses are “mother-directed” such as hijo de put* (son of a bitch), put* madre (bitch mother) and tu put* madre me la chupa (your bitch mother sucks me). There were nineteen of these insults compared to sixteen that belittle a person’s intelligence or character.

13 curse words were found to be “religion-based”, 11 fall under a “general” category [which includes put* (bitch) and zorra (slut)], 8 are “attacks on the person’s indolence/laziness”, 6 were seen as “sexually-based” insults and 5 were categorized as “homosexual insults”.

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My professor in Latin back in college would always tell the class that language anchors itself on culture and its rules are formulated through social conventions. When the vast Roman Empire fell, Latin use in its classic form gradually faded away. What emerged was the Latin language that is more culture-specific for Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians and French. The same thing happened to Spanish curses when their colonization of the Philippines had ended. While the cultural undertones of these insults found its comfortable place in our society, our Tagalog ancestors found it rightful to mix in some of our own conventions. Thus, hijo de p**t became putang ina and putang ina mo.

UP Diksyunaryong Filipino 2010 Edition defines “Putang ina!” as an exclamatory remark (padamdam), a shortened form of “puta ang ina”, and is: “isa sa pinakamasamang mura laban sa kaaway;” and “ekspresyong bunga ng pagkainis, pagkabigo at katulad.”

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Y@w@

Filipinos who have no Visayan roots probably wouldn’t notice whenever the President would utter y@w@ in his pronouncements. But it is a word also used as a curse. Its English translation is devil.

Where did this word come from?

Of all places where Spain established its stronghold for colonizing the Philippines, it had to be Cebu in the Visayas. Of all places the first holy mass was to be held, it had to be, according to disputing local historians, in Limasawa or Masaoa that are, either way, still in the Visayas. Among the first Filipinos to be baptized, it had to be the Visayans. And among the many Visayan words that are to be relegated to eternal damnation, it had to be y@w@ – a word that is said to have originated from a Visayan goddess named Malitong Y@w@, a character in one of the world’s longest epics, Hinilawod.

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The powerful enchantress also figured in the epic’s second part which talks about the adventures of Humadapnon — the chief of the Sulod people and Labaw Donggon‘s younger brother. According to the story, Humadapnon saw the lovely Malitong Y@w@ in his dream. When he woke up, he decided to go to Halawod river where Malitong Y@w@ lives to ask for her hand in marriage. Along the way, Humadapnon was lured and captured by an evil sorceress. With the help of Humadapnon‘s spirit-friends, Malitong Y@w@ learned of Humadapnon‘s capture. So she disguised herself as a man named Buyung Sunmasakay and rescued Humadapnon. Upon revealing herself, Humadapnon was said to have been struck by the deity’s beauty.

They went to Halawod river together, got married but had to part ways again when Humadapnon decided to accompany his brother Dumadalpdap to a journey to the Upper World to ask for a maiden’s hand in marriage. The journey took seven years that Humadapnon‘s mother, Matan-ayon thought her son was not coming back so she told Malitong Y@w@ to remarry instead. The latter heeded the suggestion. Just as when the marriage ceremony between Malitong Y@w@ and her new husband-to-be was about to start, Humadapnon and Dumalapdap arrived. Humadapnon killed everyone and stabbed Malitong Y@w@ to death. Realizing later that what happened was a mistake, Humadapnon summoned the help of his sister, Labin Anyag to bring Malitong Y@w@ back to life. But Malitong Y@w@ felt humiliated so she ran away from Humadapnon and sought refuge in the Underworld ruled by her uncle.

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Before the patriarchal Spaniards set foot in Cebu, women and men were of equal footing. If folk epics were indeed telling of our indigenous culture, Hinilawod‘s Malitong Y@w@ represents the prowess wielded by women in pre-colonial Visayas. While Labaw Donggon had the choice to acquire as many wives as he pleased, Malitong Y@w@ had the choice to flee from him; while Humadapnon had the prerogative to go on another quest just after getting married, Malitong Y@w@ had the option to move on and remarry; and while Humadapnon had the strength to end Malitong Y@w@‘s life, it was a goddess who had the power to resurrect the latter. In the end, it was also a female character, the goddess Alunsina, who was able to resolve the conflict and restore peace in the Sulod nation.

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In UP Diksyunaryong Filipino 2010 edition, “y@w@” is defined as an exclamatory expression meaning “demonyo” or “pahayag ng pagkainis, pagkainip, at ibang di-pangkaraniwang damdamin”. “Buyung” on the other hand is an anatomical term meaning “bayag” (scrotum).

From powerful mythical beings, their names became associated with the devil and the male sex organ.

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A classic example of such is the Niños Inosentes Day also dubbed as “y@w@-y@w@” or “devil-devil” festival held in Aklan every December. The festival re-enacts King Herod’s order to kill the infant Jesus Christ, which resulted in a mass murder of male children. An activity somewhat similar to trick or treat is also reportedly held where people dress up in devil costumes to ask for money or goods from households.

Anthropologist Susan Russell, in her lecture Christianity in the Philippines prepared for the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Northern Illinois University, said that most of our ancestors were easy prey for colonizers due to decentralized power and lack of political organizations:

“Most Philippine communities, with the exception of the Muslim sultanates in the Sulu archipelago and Mindanao, were fairly small without a great deal of centralized authority. Authority was wielded by a variety of individuals, including 1) headmen, or datu; 2) warriors of great military prowess; and 3) individuals who possessed spiritual power or magical healing abilities.”

“The absence of centralized power meant that a small number of Spaniards were able to convert a large number of Filipinos living in politically autonomous units more easily than they could have, say, converted people living in large, organized, complex kingdoms.”

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