The Etymology of a Nation Indonesia

The name "Indonesia" comes from various historical series whose peak occurred in the mid-19th century. Past records refer to the islands between Indochina and Australia by various names, while Chinese chronicles refer to this area as Nan-hai. 

 Various ancient Indian records call this archipelago Dwipantara ("Otherland Islands"), a name derived from the Sanskrit words dwipa (island) and antar (outside, across). The story of the Ramayana by poet Valmiki tells of the search for Sinta, Rama's wife, who was kidnapped by Ravana, all the way to Suwarnadwipa ("Golden Island", thought to be Sumatra Island now) which is located in the Dwipantara Islands. The name "Indonesia" comes from two Greek words, namely, Indus (Ἰνδός) which means "India" and the word Nesos (νῆσος) which means island/archipelago, so "Indo-nesia" means "Indian islands".

The Arabs called the island region Jaza'ir al-Jawi (Java Islands). The Latin name for incense, benzoe, comes from the Arabic name, luban jawi ("Javanese incense"), because Arab traders obtained incense from the trunk of the Sumatrana Styrax tree which previously only grew in Sumatra. To this day our Hajj pilgrims are still often called "Javanese" by Arabs, including Indonesians from outside Java. In Arabic, the names Samathrah (Sumatra), Sholibis (Sulawesi Island), and Sundah (Sunda) are also known which are called kulluh Jawi ("all Javanese"). 

The European nations who first arrived thought that Asia only consisted of Arabs, Persians, Indians and Chinese. For them, the vast area between Persia and China was all the Indies. They called the South Asian peninsula "Front Indies" and mainland Southeast Asia called "Rear Indies", while these islands received the name of the Indian Archipelago (Indische Archipel, Indian Archipelago, l'Archipel Indien) or East Indies (Oost Indie, East Indies, Indes Orientales ). Another name that was later used was "Malay Archipelago" (Maleische Archipel, Malay Archipelago, l'Archipel Malais). The political unit under the Dutch colony had the official name Nederlandsch-Indie (Dutch Indies). The Japanese occupation government from 1942-1945 used the term To-Indo (East Indies) to refer to its conquered territory in this archipelago.

Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887), known by the pseudonym Multatuli, once used a specific name to refer to the Indonesian archipelago, namely "Insulinde", which also means "Indian Islands" (in Latin "insula" means island). The name "Insulinde" subsequently became less popular, although it was the name of newspapers and movement organizations in the early 20th century.

 

 

 Even though we are Indonesians, perhaps not all people know the origin of why this country uses the name Indonesia as its official name. If explored further, the history of the origin of this country using the name Indonesia is stated in the article title "About the Name Indonesia" in the book "Mohammad Hatta: Politics, Nationality, Economy (1927-1977).

It started with the Dutch Royal Government, which used the name Nederlandsch-Indie or Hinda-Dutch for Indonesia during colonialism (starting in 1602 and interspersed with French, British and Japanese colonization). The name "Indonesia" first appeared in 1850, in an annual scientific magazine, Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (JIAEA), published in Singapore. The inventors were two English: James Richardson Logan and George Samuel Windsor Earl.

At that time, the name Indies—the name of our region at that time—was often confused with the names of other places. Because of this, both of them thought that this Dutch colony needed to be given its own name. Thearl proposed two names: Indunesia or Malayunesia. The Earl himself chose Malayunesia. Meanwhile, Logan chose the name Indonesia. Later, Logan changed the letter "u" in the name to "o". Be: INDONESIA

The name Indonesia was then popularized by the German ethnologist, Adolf Bastian, through his books, Indonesien Oder Die Inseln Des Malayischen Archipels and Die Volkev des Ostl Asien (1884). In 1924, the use of the name Indonesia began with the publication of the newspaper Indonesia Merdeka, belonging to the Indonesian Association. Then the national use was expressed in the Youth Pledge of 28 October 1928 until finally our country was officially named Indonesia through the Proclamation of Independence on 17 August 1945.