Comments on: Malay Contributions to English, pt. 5

By: Bin Gregory Productions » Blog Archive » Orangutans and Orangijabs

Bin Gregory Productions » Blog Archive » Orangutans and Orangijabs — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:50:53 +0000

[...] a visit, but we managed to bring the Man of Hijab to commune with the Men of the Forest at the Semenggong Nature Center where my kids were as enthralled with the bright orange apes as they were with the dung beetles [...]

By: temi

temi — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

if i’m not mistaken, the sarawakian name for orangutan is kuyat.

By: fmg

fmg — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Having been to the exact same place, I must say that the pictures don’t exactly do justice to the beauty of these animals. The orangutans have reddish fur, simply amazing to look at. Highly recommended for anyone in the Kuching area.

By: the AHFW guy!

the AHFW guy! — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Malay name for orangutan is “mawas.”

I once had a book written by the Russian scientist, traveller and humanist Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay (1846-1888) about his travels in Borneo where he goes into some depth into the origin of the word “orangutan,” which he translates as the “man of the forest.”

Unfortunately, I have lost the book and books published in Russia are hard to come by; certainly not available at amazon.com. Also, I do not remember its title as it has been 30 years since I last read it, but it could have been simply “Borneo” or “Travels in Borneo.”

Sorry, can’t be of more use on that score.

I had adopted a juvenile orangutan at the Zoo Negara in Ulu Klang about ten years ago and can attest to the reddish hue of its fur. It was a lovely creature, friendly and allowed me to dokong it with ease.

By: emily

emily — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

i’m malaysian and i’ve never even been to kuching! i know, i know… it’s terrible! i’ve been to sabah, but never sarawak. i should visit there sometime when i go back…. great blog, btw. very interesting – and i like the fact that i almost always know what blogs of malaysia are talking about – not in the way that those politics blogs of US stump you… heh.