Malay Race - Etymology

Etymology

The earliest records of the word Melayu or Malayu came from Chinese record, that reported a kingdom named Malayu had sent the envoy to Chinese court for the first time in 645 CE, it was recorded in the book T'ang Hui Yao collected by Wang p'u during Tang dynasty. Another Chinese source mentioned about the kingdom of Malayu, two book written by a buddhist monk I-tsing or I Ching (義淨; pinyin Yì Jìng) (634–713), in his journey from China to India in 671 he reported:

"When the northeastern wind blow, we sail leaving Canton heading south.... After sailing for twenty days, we reach the land of Srivijaya. We stay there for about six months to learn Sabdavidya. The king was very kind to us. He help to sent us to the land of Malayu, where we stayed for two months. Later we continued our journey to Kedah .... Sailing northward from Kedah, we reached the island of naked people (Nicobar) .... From here we sailed westward for half a month and finally we reached Tamralipti (Indian east coast)"

It was suggested that the term "Melayu" originated from Tamil word Malaya or Malaiur which means "hill" or "high ground". Another source dated from later period mentioned the name Bhumi Malayu, written in Padang Roco Inscription dated 1286 CE in Dharmasraya, and later in 1347 CE, Adityawarman edicted his own inscription inscribed on Amoghapasa statue, declaring himself as the ruler of Malayupura. The Majapahit record, Nagarakretagama dated 1365 CE, mentioned about lands of Melayu dominated under Majapahit" From these records the name Malayu seems to be identified with the area around Batanghari river valley from estuarine to hinterland in present day Jambi and parts of West Sumatra province. The people that inhabit Eastern coast of Sumatra and parts of Malay peninsula identified themself as Malay with common language called Malay language. After the arrival of European people in 16th century, they identified the native people living on both coasts of the Malacca strait as Malay people. This term extended to neighboring people with similar traits.

Malays were once referred as "Kun-lun people" in various Chinese records. Kunlun was originally referring to a fabled mountain range that was believed to span parts of Tibet and India. It was used by the Chinese as reference to black, wavy-haired barbarians of the mountains and jungles from the remote part of geographically known world. The Champas and Khmers were called Kunlun people by the Chinese before the term being applied to the Malays or more accurately Austronesians as a whole. In 750, Jianzhen (688–765) noticed the presence of many "Brahmans, Persians and Kunluns in Canton". The Book of Tang reported that "every year, Kunlun merchants come in their ships with valuable goods to trade with the Chinese".