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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US">Dear
An-Langers,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US">I
am researching the origin of the toponym ‘Moni’ (vars. ‘Mony’ and ‘Monij’) that
appeared on 16th and 17th century European (Dutch, English, Portuguese) charts
of the East Indies. The toponym was ascribed to what we now know as ‘Christmas
Island’. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US">Logic
dictates that the name derives from Dutch, Portuguese, Malay or some Javanese
language. It certainly isn’t Dutch. I haven’t found any satisfactory Portuguese
candidates either, although <span class="citation">the </span>1st person<span class="citation"> singular past-perfect form of the transitive verb <i style>monir</i> ‘to remind, advise, warn’ (i.e. <i style>eu moni</i><span style>
</span>= ‘I had warned’) (</span></span><span class="addmd"><span style="color:black" lang="EN-US">Vieyra 1850;
</span></span><i style><span style="color:black" lang="EN-US">Infopédia Enciclopédia e Dicionários Porto Editora</span></i><span style="color:black" lang="EN-US"> [n.d.]</span><span class="addmd"><span style="color:black" lang="EN-US">)</span></span><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US"> comes close.</span></span><span style lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US">If
<i style>moni</i> were the 1st person simple
present tense form of <i style>monir</i>, it would
be tantalizingly suggestive of the Dutch use of the Portuguese expression <i style>abrolhos</i> on the </span></span><span style lang="EN-US">Tirion<span class="citation"> map mentioned above, and in the toponym <i style>Houtman Abrolhos</i>. <i style>Abrolhos</i>
is said to</span> be a contraction of the Portuguese expression <i>abre os
olhos</i> ‘open the eyes’ or <i>abri vossos olhos</i> ‘keep your eyes open’,<span class="citation"> and was used by European mariners as a toponymic generic
meaning ‘reef’. However, (Forsyth 1957, 19) provides convincing evidence that </span>this
is a folk etymology. In the contemporary Portuguese, <i>abrolhos</i> referred
‘spiked obstructions’ (e.g. caltrops or <i style>cheveaux</i>-<i style>de-frise</i>), but also appropriately served
as a term for offshore reefs. To Spanish ears, however, the term sounded like <i>abre
ojos</i> ‘open your eyes’, so this meaning was imputed, with this folk
etymology being adopted by other European mariners in naming dangerous reefs.<span class="citation"> The Dutch were not averse to using Portuguese geographic
feature names, e.g. the use of <i style>cabo</i>
instead of the Dutch term <i style>kaap</i>/<i style>kaep</i>/<i style>caep</i>
‘cape’. Examples of early Dutch placenames using Portuguese terms along the
coast of the Southland include: </span></span><span class="citation"><i style><span style lang="EN-US">Cabo Keerweer</span></i></span><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US"> (Willem
Janszoon 1606), </span></span><i style><span style="color:black" lang="EN-US">Pedra Brancka</span></i><span style="color:black" lang="EN-US"> (Abel Tasman 1642), </span><span class="citation"><i style><span style lang="EN-US">Cabo Maria</span></i></span><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US"> and <i style>Cabo van Diemen</i> (Abel Tasman 1644). It
would be tempting to suggest that the term <i style>moni</i>
was used by the Dutch as a warning in much the same way they had used the term <i style>abrolhos</i>. <i style>Moni</i>’s isolation, rugged coast, lack of easy landing sites, and its
being uninhabited would have made it a definite maritime hazard at the time,
thereby justifying the use of a name incorporating a warning. However, to
suggest that <i style>moni</i> is derived from the
verb <i style>monir</i> and thus used in this way
is stretching matters too far, I think.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US">The other alternative – Malay, also doesn’t offer any
candidates. This only leaves some Javanese or other indigenous Indonesian
language.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="citation"><span style lang="EN-US">There is a village by the name of ‘Moni’ on the island of
Flores. It’s close to the town Ende. The local language is Ende-Lio (a </span></span><span style lang="EN-US">Bima-Sumba
language). I have not been able to discover the meaning of this toponym, so I
don’t know whether it would be some clue to the origin or meaning of 'Moni' aka
'Christmas Island'.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US">Can anyone help with this conundrum?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US">Thanks in advance,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style lang="EN-US">Jan</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Dr Jan Tent<br>Department of Linguistics<br>Macquarie University<br>NSW 2109<br>Room C5A 528<br><br>Telephone: +61 (02) 9850 9659<br>Fax: +61 (02) 9850 9352<br><br>