---
title: The name Waq-Waq
type: Reference
description: The competing explanations for the name, from imitation of the fruit's cry to Chinese and Austronesian origins.
tags: [etymology, linguistics, austronesian]
timestamp: 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z
---

# The name Waq-Waq

The origin of the name Waq-Waq is uncertain, and writers both medieval and modern have explained it in several ways.

The explanation most at home in the legend is imitative. The fruit of the [[waqwaq-tree|tree]], as it ripened and dropped, was said to cry *waq! waq!*, and the land was held to take its name from the sound. The Arabic verb *waqwaqa* means to cry out or to yelp, and is used of the calls of certain birds, which fits a name built from a noise.

Other explanations look outside the story. Michael Jan de Goeje proposed that the name rendered a Cantonese form of the old Chinese name for Japan, which would place Waq-Waq in the far east of the Arab world's reach. Ann Kumar and Tom Hoogervorst have argued instead for an Austronesian source, comparing the Malagasy word *vahoaka*, meaning people, and Malay *awak-awak*, which would tie Waq-Waq to seafarers from the Indonesian archipelago and agree with the eastern raids on [[islands-of-waqwaq|the East African coast]].

None of these has won general agreement. The double life of the word, as both a place and a sound, is part of why the question stays open.
