Bima Sakti

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay Bima Sakti, from Javanese ꦧꦶꦩꦱꦼꦏ꧀ꦠꦶ (bimasekti), ultimately put together from Sanskrit भीम (bhīma). (a character from the Mahabharata, a popular epic in Javanese culture) and Sanskrit शक्ति (śakti, “magical power”). This was derived from a Javanese myth that imagines the Milky Way in the sky as Bhima (the white stars) fighting a great snake (the black stripes).

Proper noun

Bima Sakti

  1. (nonstandard, common) the Milky Way

Alternative forms

Malay

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowing from Javanese ꦧꦶꦩꦱꦼꦏ꧀ꦠꦶ (bimasekti), ultimately put together from Sanskrit भीम (bhīma, “Bhima”, literally “a character from the Mahabharata, a popular epic in Javanese culture”)) and Sanskrit शक्ति (śakti, “magical power”). This was derived from a Javanese myth that imagines the Milky Way in the sky as Bhima (the white stars) fighting a great snake (the black stripes).

Proper noun

Bima Sakti

  1. the Milky Way.
    Synonym: Bintang Temabur

References

  • Crawford, John (1852), A Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., page 29
  • Wilkinson, Richard James (1901), “بيم bima”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, page 145
  • Wilkinson, Richard James (1932), “bima”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume I, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 140

Further reading

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