Yes, I have actually asked several people I know who either are Madurese, or who have lived in Madura, and their responses were all pretty similar to that of my d-i-l's mother.
Further, Aswin Wirjadi ( Pesona Hulu Keris) writes:-
"Nobody knows for sure the etymology of the word donoriko, but there is an assumption that it came from the word jenariko; the word jenar meaning yellow, and riko meaning you. This may have been used to adore Putri Kuning, the yellow queen of Madura."
Maybe.
My own possibility of origin is perhaps no less extreme.
Dono = dana = wedana (spelling is "dana", pronunciation is "dono", or in the case of the unabbreviated word "wedono")
Riko can mean you, or yours, it can also mean "over there"
A wedana is a district head; these big flamboyant hilts are pretty much what one might expect to see an important official wearing.
I'm inclined to think that there is a connection between the donoriko hilt and a district head, or wedana.
As for the skull, I know of no established related motif, however, I am now pretty convinced that the donoriko and similar Madura and North Coast hilts are distillations of the ancestor motif, so if this floral decoration can be read as a skull, it may well be a reference to the ancestor who is hidden in the foliage.
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