Kalis: Origin of Minadanaon Kris

baganing_balyan · 26th June 2008, 02:33 PM

keris, the sword, was already in Java during the rule of srivijayan empire.

Keris, the term, is the most problematic one. It has no etymology in sanskrit, hindi, or Tamil. So I am not really sure if it was also an Indo-Buddhist word.

That's why I said I am not sure because I have limited materials. However, I believe people began to use keris as a word around 1400, and before that, it had an indo-buddhist name-- maybe naga, curiga, or even kali-- I wish I could be sure. It's up to a serious researcher to look into it.

I even want to believe that keris came from kurusooli (Tamil short snake), then kurusu, then keris. Linguistically, that is an overstretch. Who knows? maybe there is evidence hiding somewhere.

26th June 2008, 02:33 PM	#10
baganing_balyan Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 89	keris, the sword, was already in Java during the rule of srivijayan empire. Keris, the term, is the most problematic one. It has no etymology in sanskrit, hindi, or Tamil. So I am not really sure if it was also an Indo-Buddhist word. That's why I said I am not sure because I have limited materials. However, I believe people began to use keris as a word around 1400, and before that, it had an indo-buddhist name-- maybe naga, curiga, or even kali-- I wish I could be sure. It's up to a serious researcher to look into it. I even want to believe that keris came from kurusooli (Tamil short snake), then kurusu, then keris. Linguistically, that is an overstretch. Who knows? maybe there is evidence hiding somewhere.