Dumaget, *d ágat, and the Nominalizing Function of *

This paper explores two interconnected issues: the curious history of the once-widespread Central Philippine noun dumágat and the previously-unexplored nominalizing function of the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian infix * . Relevant evidence is presented both from contemporary Philippine and Greater North Bornean languages, as well as from Spanish-era dictionaries of four Philippine languages dating back as far as 1613. The conclusion is reached that Proto-Greater Central Philippines *d ágat can be reconstructed with the meaning of 'person who lives near or frequents the sea; sea-oriented person', and that * must have had a nominalizing function at least as early as Proto-Malayo-Polynesian. Finally, the totality of the evidence is brought to bear in refuting an alternate etymology for dumágat which has appeared in the literature over the past decade.