Where does “bawah tanah” come from?

bawah tanah (Indonesian) comes from Indonesian tanah, from Malay tanah, from Proto-Malayic *tanah, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tanəq — earth, soil, land.

bawah tanah (Indonesian): underground

Definitions

  1. underground

Ancestry of “bawah tanah”, step by step

bawah tanah traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Indonesian tanah

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Indonesiantanahearth; ground; land
2Malaytanahground; land; earth
3Proto-Malayic*tanahearth; soil
4Proto-Malayo-Polynesian*tanəqearth, soil, land

via Indonesian bawah

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Indonesianbawahunder; below
2Malaybawahunder, below; under; below
3Proto-Malayic*bawah

via English underground

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishundergroundBelow the ground; below the surface of the Earth;...
2Middle Englishundergrounde

Words derived from “bawah tanah

Every word from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tanəq