Indian name for Australia?

Thande

Thande

Donor
Given the zillions of languages spoken in southern India, a bit difficult to say...

Also, what bit of it they find will probably influence the name they give to it (lush vs. deserty).
 

Elidor

They are probably likely to find the Northern Shore, which is fairly tropical. So probably some word in Sanskrit or Tamil meaning "far away southern paradise/forest/island/etc." would be my opinion. But I am not sure.
 
Kevin in Indy

Kevin in Indy

Well, I played around looking for some words in Telugu for "desert" - there were six of them, and the online source did not give any connotations, but the most impressive-sounding one looks like "Marusthala."

I apologize if somebody who actually knows the language says that this really denotes "kitty litter." Here in Indiana, our second-favorite leisure activity (after basketball) is butchering foreign languages! :D
 

Ridwan Asher

Tony Jones said:
Well Makassarian fishermen from Sulawesi who visited northern Australia called it Marege, so the Indians could adopt that name...
Click to expand...


The next question is how. Not that I'm saying that it is impossible. It's just that it means we would need to make another drama in order to make it happen....




BTW, is there anybody here who knows that the name we're now using to call this continent is actually derived from the Ambonese ? ;):eek::p:D
 

Tony Jones

Xenophobo-phobic guy said:
The next question is how. Not that I'm saying that it is impossible. It's just that it means we would need to make another drama in order to make it happen....
Click to expand...

I was thinking something like Indian sailors go east along OTL Indonesia and via their contacts with the people there - including Makassarians - learn about the land to the south and travel there. They adopt the Makassar name because it's the first one they have for the place.
 

Ridwan Asher

Tony Jones said:
I was thinking something like Indian sailors go east along OTL Indonesia and via their contacts with the people there - including Makassarians - learn about the land to the south and travel there. They adopt the Makassar name because it's the first one they have for the place.
Click to expand...

Possible. But there is actually a chance for the Indians to find the place by themselves...
 

Tony Jones

Usually? I'm sure there could be one Indian captain who could use a name like that! :p

Or it's a Tamil-speaking European captain working for a south Indian government...
 
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