In this paper, I explore some less conventional ways to approach the linguistic history of Malay. By tracing constraints that lay at the base of Proto Malayic phonotactics, criteria can be obtained for what is an original root and what is a derived word or loanword.

The study of Malay loanwords in other languages (Tagalog, Malagasy, Old Javanese) sometimes gives clues for retrieving the original shape and meaning of Malay lexical items. For instance, the shape of Sanskrit loanwords that entered Tagalog and Malagasy via Malay strongly suggests that at an earlier stage of its history, Malay did adopt Sanskrit phonemes that are now lost.

As already shown for Sanskrit (Gonda) and Arabic loanwords (Gonda, Campbell), loanwords from other languages in Malay can sometimes be classified according to the Malay register they affected, the period when they entered Malay, the dialect area where they were borrowed and the intermediate language through which they entered Malay. Some dramatic moments in colonial history can be used with caution as vintage points for the periodisation of loanwords in Malay (together with written sources such as inscriptions and early wordlists).

Finally, a few fossilised affixes that did not automatically surface in the systematic reconstruction of Proto Malayic affixes (cf. Adelaar 1992) will be discussed.