लवङ्ग

Borrowed from Malayo-Polynesian.

The etymology has been standardly supported by comparison to Old Javanese lawaṅga.^[1][2][3] However, the Old Javanese term is attested in the Rāmāyaṇa Kakawin, which is based on and closely follows the Sanskrit Bhaṭṭikāvya, and so is likely to have borrowed the term from Sanskrit per Zumbroich.^[4] However, Zumbroich notes the preponderance of many more Malayo-Polynesian cognates which do not appear to be loaned from Sanskrit but do not always refer to "clove", including Indonesian bunga lawang (literally “nail flower”), Balinese (wuŋa lawaŋ), Malay kulit lawang (“kind of cinnamon tree”), Gayo (lawaŋ, “kind of tree whose bark tastes like clove”), Acehnese (kulet lawaŋ, “id.”), Minangkabau (lawaŋ, “id.”), etc.;^[5] ultimately, the word seems to refer to the tree Cinnamomum culitlawan, whose bark has a strong clove-like smell.

• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /l̪ɐˈʋɐŋ.ɡɐ/

लवङ्ग • (lavaṅga) stem, n

1. clove (Syzygium aromaticum)
   • 200 BCE – 1200, Kāvya literature

• Pali: lavaṅga
• Prakrit: 𑀮𑀯𑀁𑀕 (lavaṃga) (see there for further descendants)

Borrowed terms