NoeticOne

My proposal for Malay origins

The Etymology of Malay or Malayu goes back to the 7th century and is derived from what the Kshatriya (the bunts and the Nairs) ruling class of the Srivijaya Kingdom, who were from South West region of India speaking Malayalam a Dravidian dialect named from Ancient times from Malaya Mountains where it originated. This is evidenced by the Balinese Kshatriya's who claim ancestral origin from south west India Kshatriya casts. The Romans referred to south western region of India as Malainadu meaning the land of the Malai. Some historian promote that the word Melayu derives from the Sanskrit term Malaiur translated as "land of mountains" which is erroneous since Sanskrit nor any other Prakrit has a similar word in context. During the time of the first unified Kingdom of the region the local people must have identified with the rulers and started to refer themselves as such, So when the European colonist first arrived the must have proclaimed themselves 'Malayu' or any such other similar variant.NoeticOne (talk) 08:48, 23 January 2011 (UTC)