Based on the last blogpost, I’ve asked the Question “Are we going to stick with ‘The Philippines’ as a name for our Nation?”, “What do we want to call Ourselves?”
It is a well-established fact that what we call our country today is derived from what our Spanish colonizers ‘chose’ for us. Being named after a colonizer’s monarch is not exactly flattering. Yet we choose to continue this ‘tradition’ simply because we do not have a strong proposal for a change of the name.
In the Marcos era, there was a move to change the name to ‘Maharlika’. This did not prosper, for the reason I encourage you to discover in the posted readings. And because it is associated with the Marcos era, the term ‘Maharlika’ is already tainted.
I’ve been playing with the PC game ‘Civilization’ ever since I discovered it in the 1990s. Now that I’m thirty, I still play the addictive civilization-building game in its 4th incarnation, Civilization IV (with the expansion packs ‘Warlords’ and ‘Beyond the Sword’). The game lets you change the name of your ‘civilization’ and I’ve always experimented with what name I would call a ‘Filipino’ civilization. The game asks you for the Full Name, a Shortened Name, Adjective, and Noun use of the civilization name.
I have used the following names for all my games:
- Full Name: “Dakilang San-Lahi”, “Dakila”
- Shortened Name: “San-Lahi”, “Dakila”
- Adjective: “Dakilan”, “Kadakila-an”
- Noun: “San-Lahi”, “Dakilan”
Translated, “Dakilang San-Lahi” is “great/noble-people-of-one-heritage”. It shows that the people of these islands are a great and noble people, diverse in culture, but with one common heritage that is embraced and enriched.
I am unfamiliar with other languages, but will this pass for Ilokano, Bikolano, and Cebuano translations? I hope that this suggestion is not too ‘tagalog’.
“Republikang Federal ng Dakilang San-Lahi”
“Kapuluan ng Dakilang San-Lahi”
An what do we call ourselves? “Dakila”. “Dakilan”, “Ka-Lahi”.
What do you think?
5 comments
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August 14, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Steven Baldesco
I would like to propose to change the Official Name of our country
from the present “Republic of the Philippines” to the “Federal Republic of the Philippines” as the Filipino term shall be “Federal na Republika ng Pilipinas”.
I personally think that we should not change the name of our country as it has represented our identity for many generations.
What do you think?
August 17, 2008 at 12:20 am
Steven Baldesco
If we are allowed to change the Constitution, sorry.
August 19, 2008 at 3:28 pm
elijah
The name Philippines and its Spanish counterpart Filipinas are derived from the name of Philip II of Spain.[8] Ruy López de Villalobos used the name Las Islas Filipinas in honor of the then-Crown Prince during his expedition to the Philippines, originally referring to the islands of Leyte and Samar. Despite the presence of other names, the name Filipinas was eventually adopted as the name of the entire archipelago.[8]
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Philippine archipelago was collectively known as Maharlika, which may have come from the Old Malay language meaning “noble creation”.
The Philippines once contemplated to rename itself as Malaysia, although the present-day Malaysia adopted the name first in 1963 before the Philippines could act further on the matter.[9]
The official name of the islands, however, changed throughout the course of Philippine history. In the Philippine Revolution, the Philippines was officially called the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the time of the Spanish-American War until the Commonwealth, American colonial authorities have referred to the Philippines as the “Philippine Islands”, a translation of the original Spanish. It was in the Commonwealth period that the name Philippines began to appear, a name that persists as its current official name.[2]
December 15, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Arben Saavedra
in Chavacano that would be: Republica Federal di Dakilang San-Lahi
(dakilang san-lahi= /gran uno rasa/ spelt as “gran uno raza”)
June 15, 2010 at 11:56 am
Unknown (Hiwaga)
The term(s) “Philippines/Filipinas/Pilipinas” just sound so out of place in the Southeast Asian region, compared to our neighboring countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Singapore, etc.), and it just doesn’t “fit in”with the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) peoples of our country. In fact, as a further insight about our people as a “race,” we share common genetic and ancestral ties with the aboriginal people of Taiwan (Formosa), the Indonesians, Bruneians, Malaysians, as well as other nations in the Southeast Asian region; even as far out as the Pacific Islands and Madagascar. For those wanting further information about the indigenous peoples of our country and the Southeast Asian region, search “Austronesian” on YouTube or on the web.
In order to come up with a new name for our country in which our people as a whole can truly accept, all ethnic groups in the Philippines must agree on a common term. For example, this term must have a definitive meaning that is mutually understandable and acceptable to all of our ethnic groups; it must be a native word that is evident throughout our languages; and the name should be easy to pronounce and spell. This new name for our country should have a definitive relation with neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region. Adding to that, this new name for ourselves must coincide well with the rules of our languages, and also an exonym in which foreign nations can refer to us by.
An example of this would be Japan. In their native language they refer to their country as “Nippon-koku” or “Nihon-koku” (Nippon/Nihon), and as a people, they refer to themselves by their autonym/endonym, “Nihon-jin,” and their language, “Nihongo.” The definition of their nation’s name (Nippon/Nihon) can translate into “the sun’s origin,” and there people (Nihon-jin) as “the people of the sun.” On the other hand, the terms “Japan/Japanese” are English exonyms, which belong to the English language.
Instead of having a name for our country that denotes a foreign king (which is absolutely embarrassing and disgraceful), we should replace our nation’s name and people’s demonym with an indigenous name (autonym/endonym), which again, should be MUTUAL to all present “Filipino” ethnic groups.
Examples of autonyms/endonyms (indigenous/native names):
> Tagalog: Taga- (Taga/From), -log (Ilog/River) — “People of the Rivers”
> Tausug: Tau- (Tau/People), -sug (Sug/Current) — “People of the Current”
> Iloka-non, Sugbua-non, Marana-on, Maguindana-on, Waray-non, Hilagay-non, etc.
Using our languages as a guide, these are just some examples that “Filipinos” can use to form a new national name.
As for our native languages, I believe that with a new national name, we should also create a new national language by merging or fusing our native languages/dialects. For those familiar with the history of the English language, the modern English vernacular has borrowed hundreds of words from various languages throughout Europe, Asia, etc.
Here’s a good example:
> Boondocks – A rural area. Derived from Tagalog, “bundok (mountain).”
> Cootie/Cooties – Louse; another term for germs (usually childish). Derived from Tagalog and Malay, “Kuti/Kuto/Kutu (louse/flea).”
Filipinos have over a hundred different languages and dialects from various different ethnic groups across the Philippines, and with all that, we can form a new language. For example, there are words in Tagalog that cannot be found in Sugbuanon (Cebuano/Visayan); there are words in Waray that cannot be found in Maranaon, Maguindanaon, Ilokano, etc., and vice versa. Creating a new language is a daunting new task (primarly due to our various languages and differences), but this can be a possible proposition to resolve the language problem in the Philippines, since no one seems to be in favor of “Tagalog imperialism,” we might as well merge our languages into ONE; and besides, Tagalog is a difficult and tedious language to learn and use. We must create a common language that is easy to use and mutually intelligible amongst the inhabitants of our “New Nation,” but however, this does NOT mean that we should destroy our original languages and dialects. We will preserve our ancestral vernaculars and rid our languages of Spanish vocabulary, while developing a new common tongue. This is in somewhat what our neighboring country (Indonesia) did to solve their language problem, and Indonesia has more than over 300 different languages and dialects that are still in use today, along with the use of their common language – Bahasa Indonesia. If our Indonesian brothers and sisters can create a common language for themselves, then we can as well – and we SHOULD.
We “Filipinos” should get rid of our colonial names, and take a name change into consideration, as well as a new beginning for the entire nation.