Forget about history; trade ways, Silk Ways, Pithecanthropus erectus, other sapiens, evolutions, missing links, whether it has same root from Arabic or not, etc. Even forget about title of this writing, because I’m just questioning how come these two languages have same words with same meanings. There are many similarities? Yup! Not strongly related to the title, here is just to mention “surprising words” of them which have been found by Salam.
Malayalam itself is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala (from Wikipedia) . I read that Hindi is the official language of Indian Union (in other articles, stated there’s no national language in India). English is added for official work. Me Indonesian, see it as Indonesia with National Language and many local languages.
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries. The Indonesian name for the language is Bahasa Indonesia (literally “the language of Indonesia”). This term can sometimes still be found in written or spoken English In addition, the language is sometimes referred to as “Bahasa” by English speakers, though this simply means “language” and thus does not technically specify the Indonesian language. (from Wikipedia).
Okay, let me show you the similarities!
- Sabun (Malayam and Bahasa) = Soap (English)
- Putri (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Daughter (English)
- Tatah (Malayalam) = Teteh (Sundanese of Indonesia) = to call an elder woman = (close to) sister (English)
- Kaka (Malayalam, for older brother) = Kakak (Bahasa, for older sister and brother) = Older Brother or Older Sister (English)
- Surgam (Malayalam) = Surga (Bahasa) = Heaven (English)
- Nerakam (Malayalam) = Neraka (Bahasa) = Hell (English)
- Bumi (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Earth (English)
- Dunia (Malayalam and Bahasa) = World (English)
- Maya (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Maya/Illusion (English)
- Rahasia (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Secret (English)
- Suryan (Malayalam) = Surya (Bahasa) = Sun (English)
- Pustaka (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Book/References (English)
- Karyam (Malayalam) = Karya (Bahasa) = Work/Creation (English)
- Danam (Malayalam) = Dana (Bahasa) = Fund (English)
- Labam (Malayalam) = Laba (Bahasa) = Profit (English)
- Nadi (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Pulse (English)
- Bhasa (Malayalam) = Bahasa (Bahasa) = Language (English)
- Bakti (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Devotion/Service (English)
- Bugempam (Malayam) = Gempa (Bahasa) = Earth Quake (English)
- Acar (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Pickles (English)
- Mesa (Malayalam) = Meja (Bahasa) = Table (English)
- Rupam (Malayalam) = Rupa (Bahasa) = Form (English)
- Desam (Malayalam) = Desa (Bahasa) = Village (English)
- Mangga/Mampazham (Malayalam) = Mangga (Bahasa) = Mango (English)
- Dosam (Malayalam) = Dosa (Bahasa) = Sin (English)
- Upacaram (Malayalam) = Upacara (Bahasa) = Ceremony (English)
- Sukam (Malayalam) = Suka (Bahasa) = Joy (English)
- Dukam (Malayalam) = Duka (Bahasa) = Sorrow (English)
- Maap (Malayalam and Sundanese of Indonesia) = Maaf (Hindi and Bahasa) = Sorry (English)
- Mukam (Malayalam) = Muka (Bahasa) = Face (English)
- Saksi (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Witness (English)
- Acaram (Malayalam) = Acara (Bahasa) = Event (English)
- Siksa (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Torment (English)
- Madu (Malayam and Bahasa) = Honey (English)
- Kapi (Malayalam) = Kopi (Bahasa) = Coffee (English)
- Kapal (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Ship (English)
- Gua (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Cave (English)
- Guru (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Teacher (English)
- Daham (Malayalam) = Dahaga (Bahasa) = Thirsty (English)
- Janela (Malayalam) = Jendela (Bahasa) = Window (English)
- Eka, Dwi Tri (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Single, Double, Triple (English)
- Almara (Malayalam) = Almari (Bahasa) = Cupboard (English)
- Chitram (Malayalam) = Citra (Bahasa) = Image (English)
- Saudaran (Malayalam) = Saudara (Bahasa) = Brother (English)
- Saudari (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Sister (English)
- Stri (Malayalam) = Istri (Bahasa) = Wife (English)
- Jiwan (Malayalam) = Jiwa (Bahasa) = Soul/Spirit (English)
- Kudira (Malayalam) = Kuda (Bahasa) = Horse (English)
- Maha (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Great (English)
- Raja (Malayalam and Bahasa) = King (English)
- Manusian (Malayalam) = Manusia (Bahasa) = Human (English)
- Roti (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Bread (English)
- Topi (Mlayalam and Bahasa) = Hat (English)
- Warnam (Malayalam) = Warna (Bahasa) = Color (English)
- Wanita (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Woman (English)
- Upavasam (Malayalam) = Puasa (Bahasa) = Fasting -in Ramadan- (English)
- Nikah (Malayalam and Bahasa) = Wedding (English)
- Chakrawala (Malayalam) = Cakrawala (Bahasa) = Horizon (English)
- Darmam (Malayalam) = Darma (Bahasa) = Duty (English)
- Sastram (Malayalan) = Sastra (Bahasa) = Literature (English)
- Mantri (Malayalam) = Menteri (Bahasa) = Minister (English)
- Karanam (Malayalam) = Karena (Bahasa) = Because/Reason (English)
- Sutradaran (Malayalam) = Sutradara (Bahasa) = Director (English)
P.S: Most of Malayalam Words will be added by ~m
So, how is it? Cool? Amazing. Thanks to Abdul Salam. He found them all, not me. I hadn’t realized before. How many languages are there in the world? From Stephen R. Andersen’s book, the number of languages in the world must be much greater than the Ethnologue’s 6,809. I believe there are many cases like these Malayalam and Bahasa Indonesia out there.
I made a little research only by comparing taxonomy of both.
(Taxonomy of Indonesian and Malayalam – crop and paste from Wikipedia)
According to that taxonomy, what point you take out to explain why? If you are still asking how it happens, you go with deep research. 
For people who wanna add more words, especially Indians and Indonesians (and comment please..) – hai, douzo..
Funny thing about it is that sometimes, Indonesians cannot understand Malaysians speaking bahasa, but Malaysians can understand Indonesians. haa~ Great post.
well.. the scenario is actually like this.. indonesia was ruled by Kings from Tamil nadu.. the great Chola kings and they incorporated the tamil language and hindu religion in your country. Bhasa Indonesia has bits of tamil in it and Bali is still a hindu state. Kerala – the state were malayalam is spoken is basically a derivative of Tamil. The tamil kings have ruled Kerala as well. Considering both Indonesia and Kerala were under the rule of Tamils, that is the reason why you see Tamil (Malayalam) words common in both languages.
For example- your national airlines Garuda actually means Eagle in Sanskrit.
even Megawathi sukaroputri (which means putri(daughter) in sanskrit of Sukarno)
nice info, at least it can help me understand how it happened. do u learn history? btw, i think Garuda and Eagle are different type of bird
Dhienar, it is totally wrong. It is not because of tamil kings. It came from portuguese. Portuguese has ruled Kerala and Indonesia at same time. They adopted the words from their language. No relation with tamil..
the portugese connection is what i too want to point out..ther r lot of portugese words in malayalam,n indo…n itz tht influence tht brough abt the similarity..and andr thng is sanskrit ..malayalam has lot of sanskrit words..also indo has itz own sanskrit influences.. So these r the causes, n itz amazing how language in a smal indian state,kerala got relatd to country tht is seperatd frm it by the vast ocean…
absolutely amazing
like this i am from indonesia..malay..
some of the words came to Malayalam and Bahasa from Sanskrit. People from Orisa settled in Indonesia 2000 years ago and Indonesia was a hindu country for a long time. Thus the Sanskrit words came to Indonesia and some of the words like ‘mesa’ – table, ‘janala’ – window are from Portuguese. Between AD 1100 – 1900 many Keralite muslims settled in Indonesia and married from there. Some of the malayalam words thus became popular in Indonesia.
i think so. my boyfriend is so proud to tell that many words of my languages coming from his language ^o^
tell me about realtionship Sundanese between Bugisnes…some words are similar….
I’m half Sundanese, but I don’t know the language much, just basic things and never speak Sundanese. Need some ‘research’ then hehe
Remember the theory that Oppenheimer uttered in his book “Eden In The East” that the people of Southeast Asia has been exploring all over the world including Mesopotamia and India,, So, chances are they (Malayalam) is a descendant or in colonies of Southeast Asia Ancient People
indeed. I do believe it. Was just getting surprised by that coz we Indonesians rarely in contact with Keralites, different case with Western people
We are in the Sriwijaya Emperor frequent contact with domestic Yawana / Yavana (Middle East Affairs) and Gujarat traders,,,,
even the Majapahit era, in the book Eko Laksono, title Meluruskan Sejarah Majapahit,, Vijayanegara (India) to the area Majapahit
Indonesia ancestors clever use of Sanskrit inscriptions and write the language of Sanskrit, Old Malay and Javanese kuna. Got it?! Indonesia is the Eastern Hindi, Not Dravidian ….
We are in the Sriwijaya Emperor frequent contact with domestic Yawana / Yavana (Middle East Affairs) and Gujarat traders,,,,
even the Majapahit era, in the book Eko Laksono, title Meluruskan Sejarah Majapahit,, Vijayanegara (India) to the area Majapahit
Maksudnya dari Buku Irawan Djoko , judulnya meluruskan sejarah majapahit
maksudnya dalam buku kedua Irawan Djoko, judulnya Majapahit : Peradaban Maritim…… Na disana dikatakan Vijayanegara ( India) menjadi wilayah Majapahit…. Bahkan orang Dravidian menjadi budak di Majapahit,, Orang Hindi menjadi warga kilalan (duta dagang Hindi) …. Kurasa perlu membaca Ini
, walaupun agak Rasis,,, he
Irawan Djoko in the second book, titled Majapahit: Maritime …. there is said Vijayanegara (India) to Majapahit territory …. Even the Dravidian slaves in Majapahit, people become citizens kilalan Hindi (Hindi trade ambassador) …. I think need to read this
, although somewhat racist,,, he
An interesting analysis. Thank you. Dr. Stephan Frederic Dale has pointed out some similarities between the architectures of worshiping places both in Kerala and Indonesia.