The Word 'Orangutan
Old Malay Origin or European Concoction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2883904 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan (0000-0002-9541-1907, 1 The University of Sydney Australia Sydney, NSW, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 176 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 532-541 |
| Publication date | 2020-11-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Bijdragen tot de taal- land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0006-2294 • E-ISSN: 2213-4379 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/22134379-bja10016 |
| OpenAlex | W3102874568 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 1 |
Orangutans are a type of great ape found in the wild in Sumatra and Borneo. The word 'orangutan' in European languages originates from a Malay expression meaning 'forest person', but many scholars have argued that it was not in genuine usage among the indigenous peoples of the archipelago. Instead, it is widely believed that the word 'orangutan', as a term for the ape, resulted from either an invention or a misunderstanding on the part of European visitors in the seventeenth century CE. I argue against this view, using data from Old Javanese texts and historical-linguistic analysis to show that orangutans have been referred to by this term since the first millennium CE. My findings indicate that the modern use of the word 'orangutan' has much older roots in Malay than has been recognized previously
Archaeology · Archipelago · Biology · Ethnology · Geography · Indigenous · Linguistics · Malay · Meaning (existential · Sociology · Word (group theory · Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior · Anthropology · Ecology · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Philosophy · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |