𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 "𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐘"

Resource: ASEAN Culture of History with Malay World

The oldest literary record of the word 'Melayu' can be found in the work of 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐲 (100-170 CE), a Greco-Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who lived in the city of Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.⁽¹⁾

In about 150 CE, he wrote his most well-known work, 𝐺𝑒𝑜̄𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑘𝑒̄̀ 𝐻𝑦𝑝ℎ𝑒̄́𝑔𝑒̄𝑠𝑖𝑠 (Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις) literally "Geographical Guidance", also known by its Latin name 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑎, a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, compiling the geographical knowledge of the 2nd-century 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞. The work was a revision of a now-lost atlas by 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐲𝐫𝐞 using additional Roman and Persian gazetteers and new principles.⁽²⁾

The work is divided into eight books with twenty six maps. Of the books, the first form an introduction, the eighth, a summary description of the maps, the second and third are devoted to Europe, the fourth to Africa, and the fifth, sixth and seventh to Asia.⁽³⁾ The second until seventh books contain his systematic tabular location of places and features in terms of latitude and longitude for all countries.⁽⁴⁾

The seventh book, deals with a land called 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑦𝑠𝑒̄́ 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜́𝑛𝑒̄𝑠𝑜𝑠 (Χρυσῆ Χερσόνησος) or in Latin 𝐴𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑠 (the golden peninsula). Ptolemy mentioned Μαλεου Κώλον, variously transliterated as 𝑀𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑜𝑢, 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑜𝑢, 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑜𝑢, 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑜𝑢, 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑜𝑢, 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑖-𝐾𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑛, referring to a toponym for a cape, located on the Malay peninsula.⁽⁵⁾ The word 𝑘𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑛 (Κώλον) is an Ancient Greek noun, meaning 'limb', 'arm' or 'a part of something',⁽⁶⁾ therefore 'Meleou-Kolon' may carry the meaning 'part of Meleou', and can be interpreted as a 'territory of Meleou' (Territory of Melayu).⁽⁷⁾ Based on the mathematical correction on the geographic coordinates as provided by Ptolemy, scholars identified three possible locations of 𝑀𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑜𝑢-𝐾𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑛, all located on the east coast of Malay Peninsula.⁽⁸⁾

Tanjong Gelang, Kuantan, Pahang - G.E Gerini (1909)⁽⁸⁾

Tanjong Penyabong, Mersing, Johor - A. Berthelot (1930) & R. Braddell (1951)⁽⁸⁾

Tanjong Tenggaroh, Mersing, Johor - F.W Douglas (1949)⁽⁸⁾

𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬

⁽¹⁾ Heath, Sir Thomas (1921), pp. vii, 273

⁽²⁾ Berggren, J. Lennart & Alexander Jones (2000)

⁽³⁾ Braddell, R. (1936), p. 12

⁽⁴⁾ Linehan (1951), p. 85

⁽⁵⁾ Linehan (1951), p. 87

⁽⁶⁾ Liddell & Scott (1940)

⁽⁷⁾ Md Salleh Yaapar , Nasha Rodziadi Khaw (2023), p. 2

⁽⁸⁾ Linehan (1951), p. 86

𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲

Linehan, W. (1951). The Identifications of some of Ptolemy’s Place-Names in the Golden Khersonese. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 24(3 (156)), 86–98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41503002

Braddell, R. (1936). An Introduction To The Study of Ancient Times in The Malay Peninsula and The Straits of Malacca. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 14(3 (126)), 10–71. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41559854

“κῶλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=kw=lon

Heath, Sir Thomas (1921). A History of Greek Mathematics

https://archive.org/details/ahistorygreekma00heatgoog

Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Berggren, J. Lennart & Alexander Jones (2000), Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters, Princeton: Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-09259-1.

Md Salleh Yaapar , Nasha Rodziadi Khaw (2023), Melayu Mahawangsa: Tanah Air, Sejarah, Kerajaan dan Peradabannya. Penerbit USM. ISBN: 9789674616953

Via Malay World

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