Malaysia Malays -ia - ία: Tanah Melayu

The name "Malaysia" is a combination of the word "Malays" and the Latin-Greek suffix "-ia"/"-
ία"[14] which can be translated as "land of the Malays".[15] The origin of the word 'Melayu' is subject to
various theories. It may derive from the Sanskrit "Himalaya", referring to areas high in the
mountains, or "Malaiyur-pura", meaning mountain town. [16] Another similar theory claims its origin lies
in the Tamil words "malai" and "ur" meaning "mountain" and "city, land", respectively. [17][18][19] Another
suggestion is that it derives from the Pamalayu campaign. A final suggestion is that it comes from
a Javanese word meaning "to run", from which a river, the Sungai Melayu ('Melayu river'), was
named due to its strong current.[16] Similar-sounding variants have also appeared in accounts older
than the 11th century, as toponyms for areas in Sumatra or referring to a larger region around the
Strait of Malacca.[20] The Sanskrit text Vayu Purana, thought to have been in existence since the first
millennium CE, mentioned a land named 'Malayadvipa' which was identified by certain scholars as
the modern Malay peninsula.[21][22][23][24][25] Other notable accounts are by the 2nd century
Ptolemy's Geographia that used the name Malayu Kulon for the west coast of Golden Chersonese,
and the 7th century Yijing's account of Malayu.[20]
At some point, the Melayu Kingdom took its name from the Sungai Melayu.[16][26] 'Melayu' then
became associated with Srivijaya,[20] and remained associated with various parts of Sumatra,
especially Palembang, where the founder of the Malacca Sultanate is thought to have come from.
[27]
It is only thought to have developed into an ethnonym as Malacca became a regional power in the
15th century. Islamisation established an ethnoreligious identity in Malacca, with the term 'Melayu'
beginning to appear as interchangeable with 'Melakans'. It may have specifically referred to local
Malays speakers thought loyal to the Malaccan Sultan. The initial Portuguese use
of Malayos reflected this, referring only to the ruling people of Malacca. The prominence of traders
from Malacca led 'Melayu' to be associated with Muslim traders, and from there became associated
with the wider cultural and linguistic group.[20] Malacca and later Johor claimed they were the centre
of Malay culture, a position supported by the British which led to the term 'Malay' becoming more
usually linked to the Malay peninsula rather than Sumatra. [27]
Before the onset of European colonisation, the Malay Peninsula was known natively as "Tanah
Melayu" ("Malay Land").[28][29] Under a racial classification created by a German scholar Johann
Friedrich Blumenbach, the natives of maritime Southeast Asia were grouped into a single category,
the Malay race.[30][31] Following the expedition of French navigator Jules Dumont
d'Urville to Oceania in 1826, he later proposed the terms of "Malaysia", "Micronesia" and
"Melanesia" to the Société de Géographie in 1831, distinguishing these Pacific cultures and island
groups from the existing term "Polynesia". Dumont d'Urville described Malaysia as "an area
commonly known as the East Indies".[32] In 1850, the English ethnologist George Samuel Windsor
Earl, writing in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, proposed naming the islands
of Southeast Asia as "Melayunesia" or "Indunesia", favouring the former. [33] The name Malaysia
gained some use to label what is now the Malay Archipelago. [34] In modern terminology, "Malay"
remains the name of an ethnoreligious group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the
Malay Peninsula and portions of the adjacent islands of Southeast Asia, including the east coast of
Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and smaller islands that lie between these areas.[35]
The state that gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957 took the name the "Federation
of Malaya", chosen in preference to other potential names such as "Langkasuka", after the historic
kingdom located at the upper section of the Malay Peninsula in the first millennium CE. [36][37] The
name "Malaysia" was adopted in 1963 when the existing states of the Federation of Malaya, plus
Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak formed a new federation. [38] One theory posits the name was
chosen so that "si" represented the inclusion of Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak to Malaya in
1963.[38] Politicians in the Philippines contemplated renaming their state "Malaysia" before the
modern country took the name.[39]

Malaysia Malays -ia - ία: Tanah Melayu

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Malaysia Malays -ia - ία: Tanah Melayu

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Malaysia Malays -ia - ία: Tanah Melayu

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The name "Malaysia" is a combination of the word "Malays" and the Latin-Greek suffix "-ia"/"-

You might also like