The Netherlands Reformed Church established churches and translated the Bible, translated and adapted catechisms, and wrote dictionaries for four ethnic groups of Formosans, namely, the Sirayan (at present living in Tainan and Chia-yi counties), the Favorlang (at present living in Changhua and Yun-lin counties), the Pangsoia5 (at
4 Kuepers, The Dutch Reformed Church in Formosa, 10.
5 The Pangsoia are first mentioned in a missive written by Junius to G. G. Antonio van Diemen, who mentions that the Pangsoian villagers were friendly to Dutch people. He was optimistic about
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present living in Pingtong County) and the Bassay6 (at present living inTamsui and Kelung in Taipei County). Unfortunately, only Sirayan and Favorlang Christian literature and dictionaries still exist today.7 The Pangsoia and Bassay were located in relatively remote areas, and their interaction with Dutch missionaries is unclear. The Sirayan and Favorlang were located near the Dutch fort in Zeelandia, and had an intensive interaction with Dutch missionaries as well as with VOC administrators and employees. Because of this, they left sufficient sources for a comprehensive study.
Therefore, it is possible to reconstruct an integrated picture of the Dutch missionary activities with available sources.
Before we begin discussing the interaction between the local context and the missionary activities, we must first say some words about the division of the Sirayan and the Favorlang into two distinct tribes. The available sources show that these two tribes were hostile and often fought each other. In 1630 Sirayan warriors allied with the Dutch army in three expeditions against the Favorlang villages. This alliance succeeded in conquering the Favorlang three times and brought them under the direct control of the VOC. An additional complication was that during that period even villages of the same tribe, such as Sinckan and Mattauw, were permanently at war with one another.
Linguistic evidence reveals clues about the ethnic distinctions and relationships between the Sirayan and the Favorlang villagers. The most obvious example is the tribal name “Favorlang.” According to the Favorlang dictionary, the Favorlang alphabet consisted of only 22 letters – F, V, X, and Y were lacking.8 Therefore, the Favorlangers could not have named themselves. But who gave them this name then?
Both Japanese and Holo Chinese9 traders visited Formosa regularly during the early
converting the inhabitants if a minister could be sent to that area; Campbell, Formosa under the Dutch, 188.
6 The VOC expelled the Spanish from Kelung and Tamsui in 1642. But the Dutch hesitated to send any minister to serve there due to the dangerous situation. It was not until 1655 that the first minister, Marcus Massius, was sent to serve in that area. The results of his missionary work are unclear since only one report, written in 1657, casts any light on his activities. Lin Changhua, “The Dutch Reformed Church in North Formosa in the 17th Century – According to Marcus Masius’ (1655-1662) manuscript on Tamsuy and Quelang’s representation,” La Frontera Entre dos Imperios-Las Fuentes y las Imagenes de la época de los Epsañoles en Isla Hermosa (Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc. 2006), 179-207.
7 S. Adelaar, Siraya: Retrieving the Phonology, Grammar and Lexicon of a Dominant Formosan Language (Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2012).
8 The Favorlang alphabet data was collected by Rev. Gijsbert Happart (Gilbertus Happartus) as follows:
A.156, B.162, Ch.146, D. 73, E.9, G.25, H.6, I.40, J.3, K.135, L.51, M.670, N.21, O.44, P.467, Q.1, R.130, S.152, T.309, U.32, W.1, Z.40 – a total of 2673 letters used. W.R.van Hoëvell, ed., Woord-Boek der Favorlangsche Taal (Batavia: Parapaten, 1842).
9 The Holo Chinese traders were inhabitants of Fujian Province. They emigrated from there to the Philippine Islands, Java, Thailand, and even Japan long before any Westerners arrived in Asia. Some scholars call them Ho-lo Hai-Sion (Holo maritime trader) and describe their emigration as the Holo Diaspora. Chuang Guo-tu, “Lun shu-e chu shu-chio shu-chi ch’u Hai-oai Hua-sang chin-mau Uan-lu shin-ch’eng ho Fa-chang” (On the Origin and Development of the Overseas Trading Network of Chinese Maritime Traders from the 11th to the Early 19th Century), Maritime History of East Asia and
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seventeenth century. But Japanese merchants confined themselves mostly to Sinckan village and its vicinity, and probably never made contact with the Favorlangers;
therefore they could not have given them their name. The Holo Chinese visited Formosa regularly and exchanged goods with the aborigines for venison and mullet.
Consequently, they might have visited the Favorlang villages for that purpose. Further investigation, however, reveals that Chinese consonants have no F or V sound; thus it would not have been possible for them to give the Favorlangers their name. It is therefore probable that the Favorlang name might have been given to them by the Sirayans, their southern neighbor. According to the Sirayan dictionary, they had a V in their alphabet. In the Sirayan language, the nearest word to “Favorlang” is vavoy (pig).
They probably added the Chinese word lang (“man”) and thus combined the two words into one: vavoylang, i.e., “pig-man.” The Sirayans most likely gave the Favorlangers this humiliating name because of the hostile relationship between them.
When the VOC and its missionaries settled in Formosa, they followed the Sirayan custom of calling their northern neighbors Favorlang without realizing the derogatory intent behind it.
The Favorlangers called themselves Babosa, Cho, or Terner. Cho was used in everyday informal conversation. For example, “stepchildren” were called aran o cho (according to Favorlang custom, they had to work for their daily food); “persons of average size” were called babat o cho, “family members” were called chodon, and babosa was used as a formal or general denotation for “human” as in, “Jesus is the savior of all human beings” (Christus paga maababarras o babosa).10 It is noteworthy that they called the Dutch Bausie and not babosa. For example, to ask
“Do you know the God of the Dutch?” they would say: Ja madarram jonoe ta Deos o Bausie?11 They called the Chinese Poot, but the meaning and origin of this term and Bausie are unknown.
The use of these names reveals that the Favorlangers were a people who were hostile to strangers. In other words, only the Favorlangers were babosa, that is, human beings, whereas other people were considered sub-human. Furthermore, in the Favorlang language, the word for “stranger” (one who does not belong to their town or country) and “enemy” is the same: azijes.12 Anyone who did not belong to the Favorlang tribe was their enemy. Because of this, when the Favorlangers found Chinese hunters, farmers, or fishermen in their traditional territory, they would attack
the History of the Island of Taiwan in the Early Modern Period: International Conference in Celebration of the Eightieth Birthday of Professor Yung-ho Ts’ao (Taipei: Academia Sinica, 26-27, October, 2000).
10 William Campbell, ed., The Articles of Christian Instruction in Favorlang-Formosan Dutch and English (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner &Co. Ltd. 1896), 165.
11 Campbell, The Articles of Christian Instruction, 138.
12 Ibid., 125.
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them without hesitation. In short, the linguistic evidence demonstrates that the Favorlangers were hostile to all strangers, including the Sirayans. Therefore, the Favorlang and Sirayan peoples differed not only in language but also in their hostile attitude towards each other. At a deeper psychological level, their linguistic peculiarities can be attributed to their different worldviews.