Brunei places named after native words

SOMETIMES Bruneians forget that there are other puak jatis or Brunei aborigines who are also Bruneians. Even though they belong to their own native races and speak their own languages and have their own cultures, nevertheless, they have contributed to the cultural diversity of place names in our country, Brunei Darussalam.

For instance, there are two rivers in Temburong named Sungai Nagalang and Sungai Peliunan. These two place names come under descriptive names in a Brunei toponym (toponomy being the study of place names). The names of both rivers are derived from the Murut language. Nagalang comes from the word galang (the standard Malay word is gelang) which means "circular bracelet".

Sungai Peliunan comes from the Murut and Brunei word liun which means "to circle around". Most Bruneians would use the word beliun which can mean circling around or making a u-turn. These two names are considered as descriptive because these two rivers, like most natural rivers, meander in loops.

Another place name in Temburong is Batu Apoi which takes its name from the same-named river, Sungai Batu Apoi. A long time ago, a Murut longhouse stood beside the river. According to their legend, Batu Apoi takes its name from a fiery rock which was once upstream. This rock made the whole area unhospitable and uninhabitable by any human being. One day a Murut culture-hero came. He took a look at the fiery rock and, with his great strength and force, threw that rock far out into the sea. By doing so, he made the whole area inhabitable and safe for the Muruts.

Why Batu Apoi? Apoi is the Murut word for Api, hence "fiery rock" is Batu Api, or Batu Apoi in Murut, which became widely used to our time.

Other Brunei puak jati or native words made up some other place names. Because the majority of Brunei Malays speak Brunei Malay, there is a tendency to forget these other languages from which a large number of Brunei place names originate.

There are several versions on the origin of the names of Sengkurong and Bengkurong. However, according to Dusun speakers, Sengkurong means "Kurong People" and Bengkurong means "Kurong River". Presumably, the area around Sengkurong and Bengkurong was in the old days known as Kurong.

Kurong also means "to be enclosed". At one time, the river around the area, as most rivers do, meandered. At one place, it did so to the extent that it was almost a circle surrounding the area.

It was said that one day, when flooding occurred, the meandering parts of this river met each other and formed a circle but because the flow of the river was so fast, this circular path got cut off. In geographical terms, the circle formed into an ox-bow lake cut off entirely from the river. Over time, this cut off part disappeared but the name kurong remained in reference to the enclosure once caused.

For Dusun speakers, Tutong is the name of a turtle. There are a few other place names in Tutong whose place names are derived from native words in Tutong.

One such name is Bukit Ambok, a hill near Tutong Town. Ambok, as all Bruneians know, is the Brunei Malay word for monkey. Presumably, Bukit Ambok can be translated as Monkey Hill. Most people would guess that there used to be lots of amboks or monkeys there for that hill to be named so.

However according to Tutong speakers, this is not the case. They hold that Bukit Ambok is named after a fruit. Ambug is an old Tutong word for buah mata kucing — mata kucing or cats' eyes is a type of longan-like fruit but smaller. On this hill, there used to be many ambug trees — so the hill was called Bukit Ambug. Over time, people changed the name from Bukit Ambug to Bukit Ambok.

Surprisingly, another animal place name in Tutong does not sound like an animal place name unless you know the Tutong language very well.

Lamunin is derived from two words — Lat and Munin. Lat apparently means hill and Munin means "musang" or "fox". Lat Munin, the original name, thus means Fox Hill as there used to be foxes around the area. Over time, the two names merged and became Lamunin, thus concealing the animal connection of its origin.

Another famous area in Tutong is Tasek Merimbun. Tasek Merimbun is probably one of the more internationally known parks in Brunei. It is the only one in the country to have been declared an Asean National Heritage Site way back in 1984.

The park has a total area of about 8,000 hectares. Two rivers flowed through to the lake named Sungai Meluncur and Sungai Bang Oncom. If you have ever been to Tasek Merimbun, the waters from the two rivers are fairly blackish as they flow through swamp forests full of peat.

How does Merimbun gets its name? According to the sources, Merimbun was inhabited by the Dusun people hundreds of years ago. The Dusuns said that the area was discovered by someone named Imbun, said to be the son of a Ketua Kampung from Merangking in Ulu Belait. It is said that while hunting, he reached this beautiful lake. He discovered that the place had plenty of food — fish in the lake and wild animals in the nearby forest.

He brought his family and several of his fellow villagers followed suit to build a new home there. Over time, the Tasek and its surrounding area was called Tasek Merimbun, as a tribute to the founder, Imbun.

Another version of how the name Merimbun is derived is also interesting. It is said that after the area was settled by the Dusun people, traders would come to bring goods to the area. One such trader was a Chinese man named Eng Boon. It is said that the name Merimbun came from this Eng Boon.

Last but not least, Bukit Udal in Tutong has an interesting story of how its name came about. Once upon a time it was said that there was a huge flood in the area. All human, animals and even insects ran up a high area called Bukit Kukub. Since all living things were there, there was not enough food. Everything was eaten including the grass — and the place was named Bukit Badal, badal being the Tutong word for "bald". For reasons unknown, Badal changed to Dudal and in the 1940s, it was officially named as Bukit Udal.

The writer runs a website on Brunei at bruneiresources.com.

The Brunei Times