Rob, below is only Javanese usage, specifically usage in Solo, which includes BI usage, the type of Bi that I speak is mixed with Javanese, to know what words are strictly BI or strictly Javanese I'd need to go to several dictionaries & check, & I don't have time for that. Balinese varies, as can usage in other places.
wrongko is a corruption of wrangka or warangka, Javanese pronunciation of warangka is worongko, thus wrongko. The A = O thing is because the actual sound is neither " a" nor " o", it is a sort of an " o" formed in the back of the throat that sounds like a sort of undernourished " o".
On the old typewriters this used to be typed as an " a" with a dot over it, but we cannot do that now, and the pronunciation has changed for Javanese speakers so that it is now given a clear "o" sound, however, Balinese people pronounce this same word with a clear a:- wahrahngkah.
Similar thing with the word Java, English speakers will pronounce this as it is written, but in The Land of Java, Java becomes Jawa, & those "A''s become "o"'s: thus Jowo.
the wrongko is the entire scabbard, the top transverse section is called the gambar, the perpendicular part is called the gandar.
the word gambar is also the word for a picture or drawing; the word gandar can also mean an axle, or a carrying pole, or a lever, or the arm of a pair of scales, or the shaft of an arrow, in fact gandar can be applied to just about anything long & thin.
but the scabbard can also be called the sarung.
however, the word "wrongko " can be used to refer to just the top transverse part of the scabbard, as well as the entire scabbard, but most people I know will use gambar when they wish to differentiate between the entire sarung & just the top part of the sarung, which some other people might refer to as the atasan, which simply means "top".
I'm not going to delve into the "kitchen" : "form" ; & "prestige" things, I'll leave that to Just ys but these are also interesting.
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