orangutann.

Brit.

/əˈraŋətan/,

/əˈraŋətaŋ/,

/ɔːˈraŋətan/,

/ɔːˈraŋətaŋ/,

/ɒˈraŋətan/,

/ɒˈraŋətaŋ/,

/ˌɔːraŋˈuːtan/, U.S.

/əˈræŋ(ɡ)əˌtæŋ/,

/oʊˈræŋ(ɡ)əˌtæŋ/

Forms: 1600s– orang-outang, 1700s oerang oatan, 1700s orangnogang, 1700s oran-ootan, 1700s oran-outang, 1700s ourang outang, 1700s ouran outang, 1800s orang-utin, 1800s oran otan, 1800s ourang outan, 1800s ourang-outan, 1800s urang-utang, 1800s– orang-utan, 1800s– orangutan, 1800s– oran outang, 1800s– ourangoutang, 1800s– uran-outang, 1900s– orangatan, 1900s– orangatang, 1900s– orang utan, 1900s– orang-utang, 1900s– oranhotan.

Origin: Probably of multiple origins. Apparently a borrowing from Malay. Probably also a borrowing from Dutch. Etymons: Malay orang utan; Dutch orang-oetan.

Etymology: Apparently < Malay orang utan person of the forest (although the compound is not the Malay term for the animal, except in recent use: see note) < orang person + utan (also as hutan ) forest, probably via Dutch orang-oetan, orang-oetang (1654 as orangh-outangh ; also as oerang-oetan (18th cent.)): see also quot. a1631 in note. Similar forms (and similar variants) are found in most European languages, both Romance and Germanic; compare e.g. German Orang-Utan (17th cent.), Swedish orangutang (1783; earliest as Orangh Gutans, plural (1667)), Danish orangutang, French orang-outan (dated 1680 in Robert Dict. alphabétique et analogique (1986)), Portuguese orangotango (18th cent.), Spanish orangután (1843), Italian orang-utan (1848; earliest as orang-outang (1766–70)). In many of these languages, the second element represents an alteration of Malay utan after the -ng of the first element.The name is first recorded by Bontius (a Dutch East Indian physician), as in use in Java in the 17th cent.:a1631 J. Bontius Hist. Naturalis et Medicæ Indiæ Orientalis (1658) v. xxxii. 85 Iavani..Nomen ei induunt Ourang Outang, quod hominem silvæ significat. N.E.D. (1903) further notes that ‘the Kayan of Borneo are said, in Jrnl. Indian Archipel. (1850) 4 186, to know it as orang-utan , meaning “man of the woods” or “wild man”.’ There is some evidence for the occasional use of the compound in Malay in its literal sense to refer to a member of a specific forest-dwelling people in Sumatra (compare Orang Asli n. and adj., Orang Laut n., Orang Ulu n.), but none for its original use for the animal, and it must therefore be assumed to have been a regional use or a descriptive collocation used to explain the animal to early travellers to the area. In some recent Malay dictionaries, however, orang (h)utan is listed in this sense, although the preferred term is mawas (compare mias n.). N.E.D. enters this under orang-outang, more correctly orang-utan, and gives the pronunciation for the form orang-outang as (oræ:ŋˌū·tæŋ) /ɒˌraŋuːˈtaŋ/, and that for orang-utan as (ō^ə·răŋˌū·tăn) /ˈɔərəŋˈuːtæn/.

1. A large, mainly arboreal ape, Pongo pygmaeus, native to forests of Borneo and Sumatra and formerly of Java and the mainland of South-East Asia, having long reddish hair, long arms, and (in mature males) prominent fleshy cheek pads and a throat pouch. Formerly also: a chimpanzee or other large African primate.

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the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [noun] > group Catarrhinae (Old World monkey) > member of superfamily Hominoidea (apes and humans) > family Pongidae (ape) > genus Pongo (orang-outang)

satyra1398

orangutan1699

man of the woods1755

pongo1775

orang1778

yahooc1790

wild man1791

mias1840

red orang1840

outang1869

lesser orang-utan1903

1653 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis (rev. ed.) 437 Of some such kind of extraction that Indian Satyr seems to have been described by Tulpius, that was brought from Angola in his time... He was called by the Indians Orang-Outang, or a wild man.]

1699 E. Tyson (title) Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris: or, the Anatomy of a Pygmie, Compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man.

1699 E. Tyson Orang-outang Pref. The Orang-Outang imitates a Man more than Apes and Monkeys do.

1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies II. 131 As there are many Species of wild Animals in these Woods, there is one in particular, called the Oran Outang.

1769 E. Bancroft Ess. Nat. Hist. Guiana 130 The Orang-Outang of Guiana is much larger than either the African or Oriental, if the accounts of the natives may be relied on.

1779 Philos. Trans. 1778 (Royal Soc.) 68 170 The oerang oatan, or wild-man (for that is the meaning of the words) I have heard much talk of, but never seen.

1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. I. 37 The Oran Otans..are much more deliberate and sedate than the rest of the tribe.

1836 Penny Cycl. V. 188/1 The variety of the ape and monkey tribes is endless [in Borneo]; and among them is the orang-outang, or the ‘man of the woods’, as the name implies.

1884 Amer. Naturalist 18 1283 We have not yet looked into the recesses of the minds of the lowest races of man, nor do we know the conditions of the minds of the chimpanzee and orangutan.

1916 R. M. Yerkes Mental Life Monkeys & Apes iii. 87 This young orang utan..strove persistently, and often vainly, to gain insight.

1966 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Apes v. 130 The animal in question..was in fact a chimpanzee, but Tulp gave it the name Orang-outang.

1983 G. C. Whittow Malaysian Wildlife V. 35 The largest of the Malaysian apes, the Orang Utan (Mawas - Pongo pygmaeus), does not occur in peninsular Malaysia.

2002 Nature Conservancy Spring 12/2 Other threats to orangutans include overharvesting of timber and poaching.

2. lesser orang-utan n. a small Bornean orang-utan, formerly believed to be a distinct species ( Simia morio). disused.

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