English Explanatory Dictionary

Maluku

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. A province of Indonesia. Capital: Ambon.
  2. Synonym of Moluccas.

Word forms

Maluku Molucca

Etymology

The islands are said to have been named Arabic جَزِيرَات المَلِك (jazīrāt al-malik, literally “king islands”) by Arab merchants. However, since the name itself has been mentioned in a 14th-century Majapahit eulogy, Nagarakretagama, that predates the arrival of Islam in Maluku at the late fifteenth century, other sources claim that the name comes from a local language with the meaning "the head of a bull" or "the head of something large".

Synonyms

Moluccas
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