The name "Indonesia" derives from Greek () and the word (), meaning "Indian islands". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms "Indunesians"—and, his preference, "Malayunesians"—for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago". In the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used "Indonesia" as a synonym for "Indian Archipelago". However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use "Indonesia"; they preferred "Malay Archipelago" (); the "Netherlands East Indies" (), popularly ; "the East" (); and .
Etymology
Indonesia
Indonesia | Etymology
Derives from Greek and the word meaning "Indian islands". The name "Indonesia" derives from Greek and the word , meaning "Indian islands". The name "Indonesia" derives from Greek , meaning "Indian islands". The name "Indonesia" derives from Greek, meaning "Indian islands"
what are the major global wind systems on earth
user
polar easterlies, westerlies to name a few.
assistant
what is the first one about?
user
are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas towards the low-pressure areas.
assistant
how does it effect the precipitation?
user
Orographic precipitation occurs on the windward side of mountains and is caused by the rising air motion of a large-scale flow of moist air across the mountain ridge, resulting in adiabatic cooling and condensation.
assistant
are there any trade that depend on this?
user
Yes, The trade winds.
assistant
what does it mean?
user
They are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics near the Earth's equator.
assistant
what is the length of the last thing mentioned?
user
The equator is 0.16% longer than a meridian.
assistant
where is it located?
user
The precise location of the equator is not truly fixed; the true equatorial plane is perpendicular to the Earth's rotation axis, which drifts about during a year.
assistant
which all countries does it pass through?
user
The equator passes through the land of 11 countries. Indonesia straddling the greatest length of the equatorial line.
assistant
how did this country mentioned get the name?
user
The name "Indonesia" derives from Greek () and the word (), meaning "Indian islands". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms "Indunesians"—and, his preference, "Malayunesians"—for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago". In the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used "Indonesia" as a synonym for "Indian Archipelago". However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use "Indonesia"; they preferred "Malay Archipelago" (); the "Netherlands East Indies" (), popularly ; "the East" (); and .
Indonesia | Etymology
"Indonesia" derives from the Latin and Greek "Indus" (Ἰνδός), meaning "Indian", and the Greek "nésos" (νῆσος), meaning "island". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms "Indunesians" — and, his preference, "Malayunesians" — for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago". In the same publication, a student of Earl's, James Richardson Logan, used "Indonesia" as a synonym for "Indian Archipelago". However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use "Indonesia". Instead, they used the terms "Malay Archipelago" ("Maleische Archipel"); the "Netherlands East Indies" ("Nederlandsch Oost Indië"), popularly "Indië"; "the East" ("de Oost"); and "Insulinde".
Names of Indonesia | Indonesia
The term "the Indies" derived from the Indus River flowing through modern-day Pakistan, India and western Tibet. It was applied by the ancient Greeks to most of the regions of Asia to the east of Persia. This usage dates at least from the time of Herodotus, in the 5th century BC (see Names of India). The term "Indies" was first used by European geographers to identify the geographic region of the Indian Subcontinent, and the islands beyond. After the discovery of America, the term was modified to include "east", to distinguish the area from the area associated with Columbus' discoveries, called the West Indies.
Names of Indonesia | East Indies (Oost-Indië / Hindia Timur)
Another one claims that the name originates from the tomatoes which began to grow wild on the island.
Paradajz | Geography
On identifying geographical names of their lands, the Indonesian natives seldom transcend their traditional boundaries, which is relatively small confined in their tribal environs. There are around 300 distinct native ethnic groups in Indonesia, and 742 different languages and dialects, which add to the complexity and nonconformity on the naming of the region. The concept of identifying the whole archipelagic region that today forms Indonesia with a single name was unknown then. Geographical names usually applied to individual islands, such as Java, one of the earliest identified islands in the Indonesian archipelago. It was foreign traders and explorers from India, China, the Middle East, and Europe who finally chose the names of this region.
Names of Indonesia | History
After 1900, the name "Indonesia" became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for political expression. Adolf Bastian, of the University of Berlin, popularised the name through his book "Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894". The first Indonesian scholar to use the name was Suwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar Dewantara), when he established a press bureau in the Netherlands, "Indonesisch Pers-bureau", in 1913. Although the name was originally meant for scientific purposes, on 28 October 1928, the name "Indonesia" gained more political significance when the native pro-independence nationalist youth in the Dutch East Indies declared the Youth Pledge, acknowledging Indonesia as one motherland, one nation, and upholding Indonesian as the language of unity.
Names of Indonesia | Indonesia
After 1900, "Indonesia" became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and native nationalist groups adopted it for political expression. Adolf Bastian, of the University of Berlin, popularised the name through his book . The first native scholar to use the name was Ki Hajar Dewantara when in 1913 he established a press bureau in the Netherlands, .
Indonesia | Etymology
European writers in the 19th century found that the indigenous inhabitants did not have a name for the island.
Sumatra | Etymology
Some literature works and poems describe Indonesia in eloquent poetic names, such as "Zamrud Khatulistiwa" ("Emerald of the Equator"), which refers to Indonesian green and lush tropical rainforest as the emeralds, as well as the geographic position of Indonesia, along the equator. It was originally from the Dutch phrase "Gordel van Smaragd" ("Emerald of the Tropic") which coined by Multatuli (a pen name used by Eduard Douwes Dekker, Ernest Douwes Dekker's granduncle), a 19th-century Dutch writer, who described Dutch East Indies as ""'t prachtig ryk van Insulinde dat zich daar slingert om den evenaar, als een gordel van smaragd"" ("the beautiful empire of Insulinde that girdles the equator like a belt of emerald").
Names of Indonesia | Zamrud Khatulistiwa (Gordel van Smaragd)
Gajah Mada delivered an oath called "Sumpah Palapa", in which he vowed not to eat any food containing spices until he had conquered all of Nusantara under Majapahit. In 1920, Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker (1879–1950), proposed "Nusantara" as a new name for this country instead of "Indonesia". He argued that the name was more indigenously developed, which did not contain any words etymologically inherited from the name "Indies", "Indus" or "India". This is the first instance of the term "Nusantara" appearing after it had been written in Pararaton manuscript.
Names of Indonesia | Nusantara
The specific name is derived the Indonesian word for "eight".
Trigonopterus delapan | Etymology
The specific name is derived from the Indonesian word for "twelve".
Trigonopterus duabelas | Etymology
The specific name is derived from the Indonesian word for "four".
Trigonopterus empat | Etymology
The great island of Iabadiu or Jabadiu was mentioned in Ptolemy's "Geographia" composed around 150 CE in the Roman Empire. Iabadiu is said to mean "barley island", to be rich in gold, and have a silver town called Argyra at the west end. The name indicated Java, and seems to be derived from the Hindu name Java-dvipa (Yawadvipa). Despite the name's indicating Java, many suggest that it refers to Sumatra instead.
Names of Indonesia | Iabadiu
Suvarnadvipa, "Golden Island", may have been used as a vague general designation of an extensive region in Southeast Asia, but over time, different parts of that area came to be designated by the additional epithets of island, peninsula or city. In contrast the ancient name for the Indian subcontinent is "Jambudvipa". In ancient Indonesia, the name "Suvarnadvipa" is used to designate Sumatra island; as counterpart of neighbouring "Javadvipa" or "Bhumijava" (Java island). Both Java and Sumatra are the principal islands in Indonesian history.
Names of Indonesia | Suvarnadvipa
Indonesia is the common and official name to refer to the Republic of Indonesia or Indonesian archipelago; however, other names, such as Nusantara and East Indies are also known. Some names are considered obsolete and confined to certain periods of history, while some might be more geographically specific or general.
Names of Indonesia | Introduction
During the age of exploration in the 16th century, "East Indies" became a term used by Europeans to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania and Maritime Southeast Asia. During that era, the East Indies portion now called "Indonesia" fell under Dutch colonial control and therefore was referred to as Dutch East Indies.
Names of Indonesia | East Indies (Oost-Indië / Hindia Timur)
The name "orangutan" (also written orang-utan, orang utan, orangutang, and ourang-outang) is derived from the Malay words "orang", meaning "man", and "hutan", meaning "forest". The locals originally used the name to refer to actual forest-dwelling people. The first attestation of the word for the apes is in Dutch physician Jacobus Bontius' 1631 "Historiae naturalis et medicae Indiae orientalis". He reported that Malays had informed him the ape could talk, but preferred not to "lest he be compelled to labour". The word appeared in several German-language descriptions of Indonesian zoology in the 17th century. The likely origin of the word comes specifically from the Banjarese variety of Malay.
Orangutan | Etymology
The specific name is derived from the Indonesian word for "six".
Trigonopterus enam | Etymology
The specific name is derived from the Indonesian word for "five".
Trigonopterus lima | Etymology
Eighth-century Arab geographers identified the whole Maritime Southeast Asian region as "Jawi" (Arabic:جاوي). The word "Jawi" (جاوي) is an adjective for the Arabic noun "Jawah" (جاوة). Both terms may originate from an Indian source, the term "Javadvipa", the ancient name for Java. "Jawah" and "Jawi" may have been used by the Arabs as catch-all terms referring to the entire Maritime Southeast Asia and its peoples. Today, the term Jawi is also used to describe the Jawi alphabet, the Arabic script that has been used and modified to write in Southeast Asian languages, especially Malay. In native Javanese, the term also means Java (geographically: "tanah Jawi" , or ethnically: "tiyang Jawi" ).
Names of Indonesia | Jawi
Other local epithets such as "Bumi Pertiwi" ("Land of Pertiwi or Mother Earth"), refer to Indonesia through its national personification, Ibu Pertiwi, and "Tanah Air" (Indonesian lit: "soil and water"), an Indonesian word for "homeland".
Names of Indonesia | Bumi Pertiwi (Ibu Pertiwi) and Tanah Air
The Minangkabau of Indonesia are the largest group of people who use this naming system. People of Enggano Island also use a matronymic system. They also have family name/surname (marga).
Matronymic | Indonesia
Nusantara is an Indonesian word for the Indonesian archipelago. It originated from Old Javanese and literally means "archipelago". The name derived from the Old Javanese words of Sanskrit origin "nusa" ("island") (The word "nosy" in Malagasy refers to "island") and "antara" ("in between") or "antero" ("the whole of" or "the collection of"); the combined word therefore connotes "collection of islands" or "archipelago". The word Nusantara was taken from an oath by Gajah Mada in 1336, as written on an old Javanese manuscript Pararaton and Negarakertagama. Gajah Mada was a powerful military leader and prime minister of the Majapahit Empire who was credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory.
Names of Indonesia | Nusantara
The name is derived from medieval Latin word "aequator", in the phrase "circulus aequator diei et noctis," meaning 'circle equalizing day and night', from the Latin word "aequare" meaning 'make equal'.
Equator | Etymology
The name "Indonesia" derives from the Latin "Indus", meaning "India", and the Greek "nesos", meaning "island". (due to the similarity of the culture in both regions). The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. During the Srivijaya era, many Indonesians studied at Nalanda University in India. Indonesia entered its historical period after the adoption of Pallawa script and Sanskrit language from India as evidence in some of earliest inscriptions dated from Indonesia's oldest kingdoms such as the Yupa of Kutai, Tugu of Tarumanagara and historical records of Kalingga. Indianised Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, such as Srivijaya, Medang, Sunda and Majapahit were the predominant governments in Indonesia, and lasted from 200 to the 16th century, with the last remaining being in Bali.
India–Indonesia relations | History
No-one quite seems to know the origin of the name "padewakang," though some have suggested that it stems from Dewakang Island, an important navigational landmark between Sulawesi and Java. Dutch records from the 1735 mention letters from Sulawesi arriving in Batavia ‘per Paduakkang’. According to Horridge, the words "padewakang", "paduwakang" (Sulawesi) and "paduwang" (Madura) have its roots from word "wa", "wangka", "waga", "wangga", and "bangka" of Austronesian languages. The term is associated with outrigger perahu or small perahu.
Padewakang | Etymology
Western names were brought to Indonesia by the Portuguese and later the Dutch. Names with a Dutch origin include Henry, Agus, Johan, Andri, Anto (Antonius), Siska, Roni, Jono, Riska, Suzanna, Rian, and Markus. These names are found in Muslim and Christian people of Java. Catholic Indonesians may use Latin first or Christian names such as Antonius, Ignasius, Yohanes, Andreas, Matius, Markus, Paulus, Anastasia, Fransiska, Maria, Gregorius, and Theresia. Protestant Indonesians may use Anglicised names such as Kevin, Andrew, Anthony, Martin, George, James, John, Paul, Caroline, Eva, Stephanie, Mary, or Melinda. There are some similarities between the Indonesian Catholic and Muslim names such as Fatima, Omar, and Soraya.
Indonesian names | Western names
The equator passes through the land of 11 countries. Indonesia is the country straddling the greatest length of the equatorial line across both land and sea. Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the equator passes through: Despite its name, no part of Equatorial Guinea lies on the equator. However, its island of Annobón is south of the equator, and the rest of the country lies to the north.
Equator | Equatorial countries and territories
"Malayunesia" is another name next to "Indunesia" that was proposed by George Samuel Windsor Earl to identify the archipelago. It was a Greek translation of the Malay Archipelago also connected to the concept of Malay race, the inhabitant of the archipelago. It was said that Windsor Earl prefer the name Malayunesia (Malay Archipelago) instead of Indunesia (Indian Archipelago), because Malayunesia is an appropriate name for the Malay archipelago, while Indunesia can also refer to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Maldives. He also argues that Malay language is spoken throughout the archipelago.
Names of Indonesia | Malayunesia
Most Indonesians regardless of personal religion, especially the Javanese, Sundanese and Balinese, have names derived from Sanskrit. This is because of the Indian cultural influence which came to the archipelago since thousands of years ago during the Indianization of South East Asian kingdoms, and ever since, it is seen as part of the Indonesian culture, especially Javanese, Balinese, and some part of Sumatran culture. Thus, related Hindu or Indian culture in Indonesia is present not only as part of religion, but also culture. As a result, it is common to find Muslim or Christian Indonesians with Indo-Sanskritic sounding names. Unlike Sanskrit-derived names in Thai and Khmer, the pronunciation of such names in either Javanese or Indonesian is similar to the original Indian pronunciation, except that the "v" is changed to a "w".
Indonesian names | Sanskrit-derived names
The specific name is derived from the Indonesian word for "two".
Trigonopterus dua | Etymology
The genus name is a combination of the name of the country and the name of the type-genus of the tribe. The species name refers to the topography of the type locality and is derived from Latin "montanus" (meaning mountainous).
Sabahtortrix | Etymology
The island's name is believed to originate from the Kawi (or Sanskrit) phrase "ba" (light) "we" (the sun) "an" (is) - thus: "having the sunlight". According to the legend, Javanese sailors wandering in the mist in 1350 named the island because they saw a glimpse of light around it; previously the island bore the Arabic name of Majidi. During the Dutch colonization in the 18th to the 20th centuries, the island was renamed Lubok, but the locals and even the Dutch continued to use the name "Bawean". The Dutch name fell out of use in the 1940s. As a linguistic variation, the island is also called Boyan and its natives Boyanese.
Bawean | Etymology
The specific name is derived from the island of Java.
Trigonopterus javensis | Etymology
It was located in southern Bengal, with the core region including present-day southern West Bengal (India) and southwestern Bangladesh. The suffix ""al"" came to be added to it from the fact that the ancient rajahs of this land raised mounds of earth 10 feet high and 20 in breadth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". From this suffix added to the Bung, the name Bengal arose and gained currency". Support to this view is found in Ghulam Husain Salim's Riyaz-us-Salatin. Other theories point to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe, the Austric word "Bonga" (Sun god), and the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom.
List of country-name etymologies | <a href="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</a>
Indonesians comprise more than 300 ethnic groups. Not all of these groups traditionally have surnames, and in the populous Java surnames are not common at all – regardless of which one of the six officially recognized religions the name carrier profess. For instance, a Christian Javanese woman named "Agnes Mega Rosalin" has three forenames and no surname. "Agnes" is her Christian name, but "Mega" can be the first name she uses and the name which she is addressed with. "Rosalin" is only a middle name. Nonetheless, Indonesians are well aware of the custom of family names, which is known as "marga" or "fam", and such names have become a specific kind of identifier.
Surnames by country | Indonesia
Fossilised remains of "Homo erectus", popularly known as the "Java Man", suggest the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago. "Homo sapiens" reached the region around 43,000 BCE. Austronesian peoples, who form the majority of the modern population, migrated to Southeast Asia from what is now Taiwan. They arrived in the archipelago around 2,000 BCE and confined the native Melanesian peoples to the far eastern regions as they spread east. Ideal agricultural conditions and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the eighth century BCE allowed villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE.
Indonesia | Early history
The origins of the name "Java" are not clear. One possibility is that the island was named after the "jáwa-wut" plant, which was said to be common in the island during the time, and that prior to Indianization the island had different names. There are other possible sources: the word "jaú" and its variations mean "beyond" or "distant". And, in Sanskrit "yava" means barley, a plant for which the island was famous. "Yavadvipa" is mentioned in India's earliest epic, the Ramayana. Sugriva, the chief of Rama's army dispatched his men to Yavadvipa, the island of Java, in search of Sita.
Java | Etymology
Insulindia or Insulinde, is an archaic geographical term for Maritime Southeast Asia, encompassing the entire area situated between Australasia and Indochina. More common in Portuguese and Spanish, it is a combined word (portmanteau) from "insula" ("island") and "india" (India).
Names of Indonesia | Insulindia
Indonesian names and naming customs reflect the multicultural and polyglot nature of the over 17,000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago. The world's fourth most populous nation, Indonesia is home to approximately 365 ethnic groups, each with their own culture, customs, and language. The state officially recognises more than 300 of these ethnic groups. The Javanese are the largest single group, comprising around 40 percent of Indonesia's population.
Indonesian names | Introduction
The name "Sulawesi" possibly comes from the words "sula" ("island") and "besi" ("iron") and may refer to the historical export of iron from the rich Lake Matano iron deposits. The name came into common use in English following Indonesian independence. The name "Celebes" was originally given to the island by Portuguese explorers. While its direct translation is unclear, it may be considered a Portuguese rendering of the native name "Sulawesi".
Sulawesi | Etymology
"Zanj" in Arabic means the "country of the blacks". Other transliteration include Zenj, Zinj, and Zang. Anthony Christie argued that the word "zanj" or "zang" may not be Arabic in origin, a Chinese form (僧祇 "sēngqí") is recorded as early as 607 AD. Christie argued that the word is South East Asian in origin. Javanese word "jenggi" means African people, precisely the people of Zanzibar. It is known that the Indonesian Austronesian peoples reached Madagascar by ca. 50–500 CE. As for their route, one possibility is that the Indonesian Austronesian came directly across the Indian Ocean from Java to Madagascar.
Zanj | Etymology
The word "Asia" originated from the Ancient Greek word Ἀσία, first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BCE) in reference to Anatolia or to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. It originally was just a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, an area known to the Hittites as Assuwa. In early Classical times, the Greeks started using the term "Asia" to refer to the whole region known today as Anatolia (the peninsula which forms the Asian portion of present-day Turkey). The Roman Empire referred to the entire Lydian region of what is now northwestern Turkey as the province of Asia.
List of continent name etymologies | <a href="Asia">Asia</a>
The loss of "h" in Utan and the shift from -ng to -n has been taken to suggest the term entered English through Portuguese. In Malay, the term was first attested in 1840, not as an indigenous name but referring to how the English called the animal. The word 'orangutan' in Malay and Indonesian today was borrowed from English or Dutch in the 20th century—explaining why the initial 'h' of 'hutan' is also missing.
Orangutan | Etymology
The forms for visa application many Western countries use, has a square for writing the last name which cannot be left unfilled by the applicant.
Surnames by country | Indonesia
Another possibility, put forward by Sollewijn Gelpke in 1993, is that it comes from the Biak phrase "sup i papwa", which means 'the land below [the sunset]', and refers to the islands west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera. The name "Papua" came to be associated with this area, and more especially with Halmahera, which was known to the Portuguese by this name during the era of their colonization in this part of the world.
New Guinea | Names
Since the independent Indonesian government inherited the Dutch legal system, it also survived until 1965 in the Sukarno era.
Chinese Indonesian surname | Colonial era until 1965
Unlike most islands in the Indonesian archipelago, the modern name "Flores" was given by the Portuguese, from "Cabo de Flores" (Cape of Flowers), the Portuguese term for the eastern part of the island. This part of the island, originally called Kopondai, was so named by the Portuguese because of the flowering "Delonix regia" trees found there. The original name of Flores was "Nipa", referring to the serpent.
Flores | Etymology
Although there are earlier descriptions of an island in the Sunda Strait with a "pointed mountain," the earliest mention of Krakatoa by name in the western world was on a 1611 map by Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, who labelled the island "Pulo Carcata" ("pulo" is the Sundanese word for "island"). About two dozen variants have been found, including "Crackatouw," "Cracatoa," and "Krakatao" (in an older Portuguese-based spelling). The first known appearance of the spelling "Krakatau" was by Wouter Schouten, who passed by "the high tree-covered island of Krakatau" in October 1658. The origin of the Indonesian name "Krakatau" is uncertain. The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program cites the Indonesian name, "Krakatau," as the correct name, but says that "Krakatoa" is often employed.
Krakatoa | Etymology
The species is named after the country of its discovery.
Adaina costarica | Etymology
The history of Indonesia has been shaped by its geographic position, its natural resources, a series of human migrations and contacts, wars and conquests, as well as by trade, economics and politics. Indonesia is an archipelagic country of 17,000 to 18,000 islands (8,844 named and 922 permanently inhabited) stretching along the equator in South East Asia. The country's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade; trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history. The area of Indonesia is populated by peoples of various migrations, creating a diversity of cultures, ethnicities, and languages. The archipelago's landforms and climate significantly influenced agriculture and trade, and the formation of states.
History of Indonesia | Introduction
The name "Malaysia" is a combination of the word "Malay" and the Latin-Greek suffix "-sia"/-σία which can be translated as "land of the Malays". 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. Another similar theory claims its origin from the Tamil words ""malai"" and ""ur"" meaning "mountain" and "city, land", respectively. 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.
Malaysia | Etymology
People can tell what a person's heritage is by his or her family or clan name. Javanese people are the majority in Indonesia, and most do not have any surname. There are some individuals, especially the old generation, who have only one name, such as "Suharto" and "Sukarno". These are not only common with the Javanese but also with other Indonesian ethnic groups who do not have the tradition of surnames. If, however, they are Muslims, they might opt to follow Arabic naming customs, but Indonesian Muslims don't automatically follow Arabic name traditions. In conjunction with migration to Europe or America, Indonesians without surnames often adopt a surname based on some family name or middle name.
Surnames by country | Indonesia
The specific name is derived from that of the Indonesian province of Lampung.
Trigonopterus lampungensis | Etymology
HD 117618, and its planet HD 117618b, were chosen as part of the 2019 NameExoWorlds campaign organised by the International Astronomical Union, which assigned each country a star and planet to be named. HD 117618 was assigned to Indonesia. The winning proposal named the star "Döfida" meaning "our star" in Nias language, and its planet "Noifasui" meaning "revolve around" in Nias language (derived from the word "ifasui", meaning "to revolve around", and "no", indicating that the action occurred in the past and continued to the present time).
HD 117618 | Name
The Indo-Aryan suffix "Desh" is derived from the Sanskrit word "deśha", which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name "Bangladesh" means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal".Sanskrit language influenced the name of Bangladesh. The term vanga(वङ्ग) was used in the Sanskrit texts.
List of country-name etymologies | <a href="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</a>
The specific name is derived from the Indonesian word for Borneo, Kalimantan.
Trigonopterus kalimantanensis | Etymology
"Timor" is derived from "timur", the word for "east" in Malay, which became recorded as "Timor" in Portuguese, thus resulting in the tautological toponym meaning "East East": In Portuguese "Timor-Leste" ("Leste" being the word for "east"); in Tetum "Timór Lorosa'e" ("Lorosa'e" being the word for "east" (literally "rising sun")). In Indonesian, the country is called "Timor Timur", thereby using the Portuguese name for the island followed by the word for "east", as adjectives in Indonesian are put after the noun. The official names under the Constitution are Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste in English, República Democrática de Timor-Leste in Portuguese, and Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste in Tetum.
East Timor | Etymology
Other nations may modify an official Indonesian name to conform to local standards. This is most apparent in nations where personal names are divided by law into given/first name and family/last name. In the Netherlands, for example, a person without an official family name would be given the surname "Onbekend" (which means "unknown"). Individuals with multiple-word names will often be given this surname, particularly if the last name on the birth certificate differs from the father's family name. Individuals with a distinct family name may also be given this surname if it is recorded differently on the birth certificate. Referring to the examples above, a Netherlands identification card would record the individual's name as:
Indonesian names | Modifications to the name outside of Indonesia
Late in the 14th century the name Sumatra became popular in reference to the kingdom of Samudra Pasai, a rising power until replaced by the Sultanate of Aceh. Sultan Alauddin Shah of Aceh, in letters addressed to Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1602, referred to himself as "king of Aceh and Samudra". The word itself is from Sanskrit ""Samudra"", (समुद्र), meaning ""gathering together of waters, sea or ocean"". Marco Polo named the kingdom Samara or Samarcha in the late 13th century, while the 14th century traveller Odoric of Pordenone used Sumoltra for Samudra. Subsequent European writers then used similar forms of the name for the entire island.
Sumatra | Etymology
Yogyakarta is named after the Indian city of Ayodhya, the birthplace of the eponymous hero Rama from the "Ramayana" epic. "Yogya" means "suitable; fit; proper", and "karta" means "prosperous; flourishing". Thus, "Yogyakarta" means "[a city that is] fit to prosper". In colonial era correspondence, the city is often written in the Javanese script as , read as with the added prefix "nga"-. In the orthography of the time, the proper name was spelt with the Latin alphabet as "Jogjakarta". As the orthography of the Indonesian language changed, the consonant came to be written with , and the consonant with .
Yogyakarta | Etymology and orthography
Various Philippine legends also refer to Indonesia as a place of ancestral origin. According to Visayan folklore, during the Chola occupation of Sumatra, a minor prince by the name of Rajamuda Lumaya was sent to establish a vassal state and a base. Known better by the name Sri Lumay, he reached what is today Cebu, establishing the Rajahnate of Cebu and ruling with his sons Sri Alho and Sri Bantug. The Kedatuan of Madja-as, an ancient confederation in what is today Western Visayas and the Negros Island Region, was a vassal state of the Srivijaya Empire.
Indonesia–Philippines relations | Ancient era
The word "Indies" comes from (Names for India). The original name "Dutch Indies" () was translated by the English as the "Dutch East Indies", to keep it distinct from the "Dutch West Indies". The name "Dutch Indies" is recorded in the Dutch East India Company's documents of the early 1620s. Scholars writing in English use the terms "Indië", "Indies", the "Dutch East Indies", the "Netherlands Indies", and "colonial Indonesia" interchangeably.
Dutch East Indies | Etymology
In Indonesia it is called buah kayu ules or ulet-ulet on Java.
Helicteres isora | Common names
If a system intensifies into a tropical cyclone between the Equator – 10°S and 90°E – 141°E, it will be named by the Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (BMKG/TCWC Jakarta). Names are assigned in sequence from list A, while list B details names that will replace names on list A that are retired or removed for other reasons.
Tropical cyclone naming | Indonesia
The name Kemang came from the fruit "kemang", a species of mango ("Mangifera kemanga").
Kemang, Jakarta | Etymology
Indonesian historian Slamet Muljana suggests that the name "Kalamanthana" was derived from Sanskrit terms "kala" (time or season) and "manthana" (churning, kindling or creating fire by friction), which possibly describes the heat of the weather. In earlier times, the island was known by other names. In 977, Chinese records began to use the term "Bo-ni" to refer to Borneo. In 1225, it was also mentioned by the Chinese official Chau Ju-Kua (趙汝适). The Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Majapahit court poet Mpu Prapanca in 1365, mentioned the island as "Nusa Tanjungnagara", which means the island of the Tanjungpura Kingdom. Nevertheless, the same manuscript also mentioned "Barune" (Brunei) and other polities on the island.
Borneo | Etymology
It is called "songkok" in the Ethnic Malay cultural sphere in Malay Archipelago. While in Java, it is called "kopiah" or "kopeah". It is also known widely in Indonesia as "peci", although peci has a more ellipse shape and sometimes decorated. The name "peci" was probably derived from the Dutch word "petje" means literary "small hat", or possibly derived from the Turkish "fez" instead. All names refer to the same object.
Songkok | Names
"Djibouti" is officially known as the "Republic of Djibouti". In local languages it is known as "Yibuuti" (in Afar), "جيبوتي, Jībūtī" (in Arabic), and "Jabuuti" (in Somali). The country is named for its capital, the City of Djibouti. The etymology of the name is disputed. Several theories and legends exist regarding its origin, varying based on ethnicity. One theory derives it from the Afar word , meaning "plate", possibly referring to the geographical features of the area. Another connects it to "gabood", meaning "upland/plateau". Djibouti could also mean "Land of Tehuti" or "Land of Thoth", after the Egyptian Moon God.
Djibouti | Name and etymology
There are several legends about the origin of the name. One is a species of palm tree called "taraw" in the area and another is "garao" in reference to the "swift river current." The most accepted version is the Ibanags' reply to the Spaniards when the latter asked for the name of the place — "Tuggi gari yaw" ("this was cleared by fire"). On the other hand, historical evidence that might provide clues to the origin of the city's name comes from the fact that in 1591, the place was listed as a Spanish "encomienda", which was originally a pre-colonial settlement called "Tubigarao".
Tuguegarao | Etymology
There is no single name that is widely accepted, but the name of Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, can be found in many articles; it has the advantages of being Javanese (about 45% of the Indonesian population), a single word (see Indonesian name), and well-known. Other male names: Joni (Indonesian for Johnny), and Budi (widely used in elementary textbooks). Popular female placeholder names: Sinta, Sri, Dewi
List of placeholder names by language | Indonesian
The island of Java was the earliest island within Indonesia to be identified by the geographers of the outside world. "Yavadvipa" is mentioned in India's earliest epic, the Ramayana dating to approximately 5th–4th century BC. It was mentioned that Sugriva, the chief of Rama's army dispatched his men to Yawadvipa, the island of Java, in search of Sita.
Names of Indonesia | Yavadvipa
The English language name Singapore comes from its Malay name "Singapura", which is believed to have been derived from Sanskrit meaning "Lion City". "Singa" comes from the Sanskrit word "siṃha" (सिंह), which means "lion", and "pūra" (पुर) means "city" in Sanskrit and is a common suffix in many Indian place names. The Sanskrit "-pura" suffix is the linguistic ancestor of the Malay and Indonesian "-pura" (e.g., "Jayapura"), the Thai "-burī" (e.g., "Kanchanaburi"), the Khmer "-borei" (e.g., "Angkor Borei") suffixes. It is also cognates with the "-polis" suffix (e.g., "Acropolis") of Ancient Greek via a common Proto-Indo-European linguistic ancestor. Sanskrit was used as it was considered for a long period the prestigious international language of the region.
Names of Singapore | Etymology of Singapore
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
Indonesian | Introduction
For instance, Indonesian business tycoon Liem Swie Liong (林绍良) "indonesianised" his name to Sudono Salim. In this case "Liem" (林) was rendered by "Salim", a name of Arabic origin, while "Sudono", a Javanese name with the honorific prefix "su-" (of Sanskrit origin), was supposed to be a rendering of "Swie Liong". During the era of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade many Africans lost their native names and were forced by their owners to take the owners' surnames and any given name the "owner" or slave master desired. In the Americas, the family names of many African-Americans have their origins in slavery ("i.e." slave name).
Surname | Ornamental surname
The Latin forms ' and ' derive from the Greek "Sērikḗ" () and "Sḗres" (). This seems to derive from their words for silk (, "sērikós"; ), which since Klaproth has often been linked to the Chinese , whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as . The Greeks and Romans knew of silk long before they understood its origin from silkworms, making "sēr" () a backformation. Other forms of the name include "Serica Regio". Flavius Josephus, in his book Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, paragraph 147, call that region "Σηρια", that in Latin letters is "Seria". Some classicists have argued that it was extremely improbable that a nation would be named after an insect.
Serica | Name
Some common names derived from Sanskrit and using the names of Indian Hindu gods or heroes include Indra, Krisna, Wisnu, Surya, Dharma, Rama, Lesmana, Sudarto (Javanese for Siddharta), Dewi, Pertiwi, Sri, Sinta, Ratna, Paramitha, and Kumala. Other Sanskrit derived names used widely in Indonesia also include such as: Wibisana or Wibisono (from the Ramayana figure Vibhisana), Arya or Aryo, Subrata, Aditya, Abimanyu, Bima (from Bhima), Sena, Satya, Cakra (read Chakra), Putri, Putra, Mahardhika, Gatot or Gatut (from the Mahabharata figure Ghatotkacha), Perdana (from the word "Pradhan"), Prameswara or Prameswari, Pertiwi (from Pritvhi), Dewi (Devi), Wijaya (from Vijay), and many more.
Indonesian names | Sanskrit-derived names
The genus name is derived from Indonesian "rugi" (meaning damage) and "gegat" (meaning moth).
Rugigegat | Etymology
Many of the later generations have kept the Indonesian form of the name. Other Chinese Indonesians, however, maintain their Chinese name as well as their family names. As is customary with Chinese names, the family name (or surname) is traditionally placed in front of the given (or first) name.
Indonesian names | Chinese names
The boundaries of the state of Indonesia represent the 20th century borders of the Dutch East Indies. Fossilised remains of "Homo erectus" and his tools, popularly known as the "Java Man", suggest the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited by at least 1.5 million years ago. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the modern population, are thought to have originally been from Taiwan and arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE. From the 7th century CE, the powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished bringing Hindu and Buddhist influences with it. The agricultural Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties subsequently thrived and declined in inland Java.
History of Indonesia | Introduction
Eventually, however, the name had been stretched progressively further east, until it came to encompass the much larger land area with which we associate it today, while the Anatolian Peninsula started being called "Asia Minor" or "The Lesser Asia" instead. The deeper root of the etymology can only be guessed at. The following two possibilities have been suggested:
List of continent name etymologies | <a href="Asia">Asia</a>
The name was derived from a concatenation of the original planned sites of 'Jakarta' - 'Surabaya' - 'Australia'. However the Surabaya landing was abandoned before project commencement, though the name remained.
JASURAUS | Introduction
According to Venetian documents, the name of the island originated in the Greek expression στην Ελούντα "stin Elounda" (meaning "to Elounda"). The Venetians could not understand the expression so they familiarized it using their own language, and called it "spina" "thorn" "longa" "long", an expression that was also maintained by the locals. The Venetians were inspired for this expression by the name of an island near Venice called by the same name and which is known today as the island of Giudecca.
Spinalonga | Origin of the name
The specific name is derived from that of the island of Borneo.
Trigonopterus bornensis | Etymology
In addition to the "Philippines", the islands have historically had numerous other names.
Names of the Philippines | Historical names
The species name is derived from the country of origin, Ecuador.
Pseudopostega ecuadoriana | Etymology
Many Indonesian names are Sanskrit-based, and Bahasa Indonesia contains loads of loandwords of Sanskrit origin. The vehicle of Vishnu, Garuda, was adopted as both national emblem Garuda Pancasila and flag carrier national airline named Garuda Indonesia.
Hinduism in Southeast Asia | Indonesia
The name "Japan" is based on the Chinese pronunciation and was introduced to European languages through early trade. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded the early Mandarin or Wu Chinese pronunciation of the characters as "Cipangu". The old Malay name for Japan, "Japang" or "Japun", was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia, who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century. The first version of the name in English appears in a book published in 1577, which spelled the name as "Giapan" in a translation of a 1565 Portuguese letter.
Japan | Etymology
The species is named after its native island, Celebes, now named Sulawesi.
Hilarographa celebesiana | Etymology
This theory was endorsed in "Oregon Geographic Names" as "the most plausible explanation".
Oregon Country | Name origin
The Icelandic word "Tyrkland", and the Hungarian word "Törökország", i.e. "Turk-land", use native forms of derivation. In Sanskrit language "turask (तुरस्क)" means Turkey. It is also used largely in Bengali language.
Name of Turkey | In other languages
The name "Jadugora" or "Jadugoda" has been derived from the word "Jadagoda", which means 'land of elephants in a local tribal language. It is said that there was a time when this was home to many Asian elephants. But with time as many mines and factories were established, they moved to denser forests due to loss of habitat.
Jadugora | Etymology
Another possible assumption is that the word "Java" comes from the root words in a Proto-Austronesian language, "Awa" or "Yawa" (Similar to the words "Awa'i" (Awaiki) or "Hawa'i" (Hawaiki) used in Polynesia, especially Hawaii) which means "home". An island called "Iabadiu" or "Jabadiu" is mentioned in Ptolemy's work called "Geographia" which was made around 150 AD during the era of the Roman Empire. "Iabadiu" is said to mean "island of barley", also rich in gold, and has a silver city called Argyra at its western end. This name mentioned Java, which most likely origins from the Sanskrit term Java-dvipa (Yawadvipa).
Central Java | Etymology
The origin of the name "Java" can be traced from the Sanskrit chronicle which mentions the existence of an island called yavadvip(a) ("dvipa" means "island", and "yava" means "barley" or also "grain"). Are these grains a millet (Setaria italica) or rice, both of which have been widely found on this island in the days before the entry of Indian influence. It is possible that this island has many previous names, including the possibility of originating from the word "jaú" which means "far away". Yavadvipa is mentioned in one of the Indian epic, Ramayana. According to the epic, Sugriva, the commander of the wanara (ape man) from Sri Rama's army, sent his envoy to Yavadvip ("Java Island") to look for the Hindu goddess Sita.
Central Java | Etymology
The Indonesian patronymic family name is usually constructed of the father's name, with the word "putra" (for male) or "putri" (for female) appended. One example is former Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of former President Sukarno. However, it is also common for the father's name alone to form the child's surname (for instance, 'Ali Ahmad' from the father 'Ahmad Sudharma').
Indonesian names | Patronymic family names
The planet was originally named "HD 117618 b", being the second object in the HD 117618 system. It was given the name "Noifasui" by the IAU, chosen by Indonesian representatives for the NameExoWorlds campaign, meaning "revolve around" in Nias language (derived from the word "ifasui", meaning "to revolve around", and "no", indicating that the action occurred in the past and continued to the present time). Its parent star was simultaneously named "Döfida" in the contest.
HD 117618 b | Name
Another suggestion is that the name may have originate from a kind of tree found in Kuala Selangor and along Selangor River named "mentangau". In the absence of a firm etymological explanation, alternative theories abound. One theory claims the state's name is derived from the term "Salang Ur" where "ur" means "town" or "village" in Tamil, meaning village of the Salang people. It has also been proposed that the name is derived from a combination of "salang" (stabbing) and "jemur" (dry in the sun), indicating that it was once a place where traitors were stabbed ("salang") then left to roast in the sun ("jemur").
Selangor | Etymology
In Sundanese language the word "Pakuan" derived from the term "paku" which means "nail", and it also could means "fern" plant. According to "Carita Waruga Guru" manuscript (c. 1750), the name was derived from "pakujajar" or rows of "pakis haji" or cycas plant. In Sundanese "pakis haji" means "king's fern" to refer to cycas plant. This theory was further supported by K.F. Holle in his book "De Batoe Toelis te Buitenzorg" (1869), mentioned that in Buitenzorg area there is a village called "Cipaku", and Pakuan Pajajaran refer to "op rijen staande pakoe bomen" (place where rows of "paku" trees stood).
Pakuan Pajajaran | Etymology and toponymy
Jambudvipa (Sanskrit: जम्बुद्वीप "Jambu-dvīpa", lit. "berry island") was used in ancient scriptures as a name of India before Bhārata became the official name. The derivative "Jambu Dwipa" was the historical term for India in many Southeast Asian countries before the introduction of the English word "India". This alternate name is still used occasionally in Thailand, Malaysia, Java and Bali to describe the Indian Subcontinent. However, it also can refer to the whole continent of Asia.
Names for India | Jambudvīpa