How wide spread is the term Sundang

Federico · 18th February 2005, 12:46 AM

So we find locals in Pampanga, Leyte/Samar, Manila, add Nueva Ecija (just remembered mom using the term) using the term sundang. Anymore specific areas that use this term? The Malay root sounds like a very plausible reason for its diffusion in such a large area, but what does the sundang refer to in Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia (aside from the keris sundang)? I like Zel's interpretation that perhaps sundang refers to fighting blades, but then when my mom uses the term she uses it to describe just regular bolo. Is its meaning perhaps also rooted in time? Eg. in the past it refered to a weapon, but as modern times erase the commonness of weapons in Xtian areas, it joins the pantheon of generic bolo terms such as itak, tabak, etc... (in the kitchen my mom always tells me to pass her the itak when she wants a knife and the tabak when she wants the cleaver).

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18th February 2005, 12:46 AM	#9
Federico Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA Posts: 312	So we find locals in Pampanga, Leyte/Samar, Manila, add Nueva Ecija (just remembered mom using the term) using the term sundang. Anymore specific areas that use this term? The Malay root sounds like a very plausible reason for its diffusion in such a large area, but what does the sundang refer to in Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia (aside from the keris sundang)? I like Zel's interpretation that perhaps sundang refers to fighting blades, but then when my mom uses the term she uses it to describe just regular bolo. Is its meaning perhaps also rooted in time? Eg. in the past it refered to a weapon, but as modern times erase the commonness of weapons in Xtian areas, it joins the pantheon of generic bolo terms such as itak, tabak, etc... (in the kitchen my mom always tells me to pass her the itak when she wants a knife and the tabak when she wants the cleaver).