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Place-names in the Sitiawan Area, Perak*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

K. E. Chan ,
C. H. Cho  and
S. H. Khoo
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Extract

An exercise in nomenclature can throw interesting light on the settlement history of an area. The location, site and situation of each of the place-names could in fact be incorporated into each place-name, which can thus authenticate, or can be authenticated by, a feature or features on the landscape. Place-names, when taken in the context of the geography of the area, can also commemorate events or personages, real or mythical, a locality being thus imbued with associations at once romantic. Coloured by romance, however, historical verisimilitude then is but an incidental consideration. Frequently, place-names just serve the mundane purpose of designation, the convenient presence of such features as trees, rocks, bays and others providing the root terms for the names. Even here though, it is possible to be adventurous and the rocks and stones and trees can be conceived fancifully, or even in the full force of belief, in terms of their semblances of animals shapes or of their magical properties. They can also be interpreted as petrifications of human forms (usually heroes or heroines, or ill-fated lovers) or as having historical pertinence in being touched by, or sat upon, or having sheltered some legendary or supernatural personalities.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , September 1971 , pp. 185 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1971

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References

1 Anecdote related by Y. M. Dato Raja Shahriman, Orang Besar Jajahan, Lumut, Perak, on 27 July 1970.

2 ‘Gangga Negara’, translated literally, refers to the ‘Ganges country’. The word ‘gangga’, a Sanskrit word, hints at the presence or influence of the Indians. In fact, it has been recorded that in 1025, Rajendra Chola, the famous king of Nagapatam, invaded Beruas.

3 Omar, , ‘The History of Sitiawan’, The Loyal Pioneer, Vol. 1, 1931, Sitiawan, Perak, p. 35Google Scholar.

4 In perpetuation of the name of the founder of Sitiawan, there remains today Sungei Lebai Mat Salleh, near Kampong Damar Laut.

5 This term ‘Tanah Merah’ in fact serves as the reference of the local Malays for Lumut and its environs. Equally interesting is that the Chinese dialectical version of the place-reference for the Lumut area is ‘Ang Thor K'um’ or ‘Red Earth Cover’. It is a matter of note also that there is a Kampong Dendang, located to the east of Beruas, a name that would be close to the Siamese term.

6 In recent usages, Batu in its meaning of ‘mile’ denotes distance from one referential point to another. Thus Kampong Sembilan Belas Batu is a settlement located nineteen miles south from Simpang Lima, Sitiawan.

7 See Chan, Khoo & Cho, “Foochow Settlement in Sitiawan, Perak: Preliminary Investigations” Geographica Vol. 6 pp. 65–71.