Skip to content

Papua

proper noun

  1. Indonesian province
L254204 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈpaːpwə/

name

Etymology: There are three theories: * From Malay pepuah (“curly (of hair)”) for the natives of the island of New Guinea. * From Ternate/Tidore papo ua (“not united; not coalesced”), referring to the territory that geographically was far away from the Sultanate of Tidore (and thus not united). The territory was called papo ua gam sio (“nine village/region that is not united”). * From Biak sup i babwa (“the land below [the sunset]”), referring to the islands (Raja Ampat) west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera.

  1. The southern part of what is now called Papua New Guinea, formerly administered as a separate territory to New Guinea.
  2. The western part of New Guinea, currently part of Indonesia.
  3. A province of Indonesia.

    Muksin specifically mentioned 11 extinct indigenous languages, such as Tandia and Mawes in West Papua and Papua, along with Kajeli, Piru, Moksela, Palumata, Ternateno, Hukumina, Hoti, Serua, and Nila in different areas of Maluku.

noun

Etymology: There are three theories: * From Malay pepuah (“curly (of hair)”) for the natives of the island of New Guinea. * From Ternate/Tidore papo ua (“not united; not coalesced”), referring to the territory that geographically was far away from the Sultanate of Tidore (and thus not united). The territory was called papo ua gam sio (“nine village/region that is not united”). * From Biak sup i babwa (“the land below [the sunset]”), referring to the islands (Raja Ampat) west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera.

  1. A person indigenous to Papua.

    The Papuas are so termed in the Malay language, from their extreme darkness, approaching to black.

    The Papua are more numerous in the Philippine Islands than anywhere else, with the exception of New Guinea.