Keris Madura with Thai influences

[A. G. Maisey]

Max, I don't know what book you've presented a photo from, but I rather feel that the person who named that hilt form "temenggungan" is a little out of his depth.

The correct name is actually "tumenggungan", this name does not come from any flower of anything, rather it comes from the word "tumenggung", which is a part of a bupati's title. A bupati is a regent, who is responsible for the administration of a kabupaten, which is a semi-autonomous administrative district. In the old days the position of a bupati tended to pass from father to son, so the family became something like minor nobility.

The spelling "temenggungan" is a corruption which follows a local pronunciation.

The name "tumenggungan" indicates that this form of hilt would be suitable for wear by a tumenggung. The way in which the title is used is, for example, "Bupati Tumenggung Surodiningrat".

Incidentally, I probably should not be so positive as to say that this is the correct name, I probably should say that some people believe it to be the correct name.

Edit --- A further note:-

I just mentioned to an educated native speaker of Javanese the idea that the word "temu" is the name of the ginger flower, I had never heard this usage..

He laughed out loud, and commented that whoever thought that the word "temu" referred to a flower was clearly looking at the wrong end of the ginger plant.

It seems that "temu" is the word used to refer to spices that come from the root of a plant, as does ginger when used as a spice.

I did not know this, I think only a native speaker would know it.

The information in this photo caption is just about as wrong as it can be.