Editing Penang (section)

== Etymology ==
The name Penang comes from the modern [[Malay language|Malay]] name ''Pulau Pinang'' which means '[[areca nut]] island'.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Heritage Trees of Penang |last=Gardner |first=Simon |publisher=Areca Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-967-5719-06-6 |location=Penang }}</ref> Penang is also colloquially referred to as the "Pearl of the Orient" and "The Island of Pearls" ({{langx|ms|Pulau Mutiara}}).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Abe |first=Burhanuddin |date=29 December 2009 |title=Penang: Pearl of the Orient |work=[[The Jakarta Post]] |url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/29/penang-pearl-orient.html |access-date=13 December 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mari Kenali Bendera Negeri-Negeri di Malaysia |url=https://dbook.penerangan.gov.my/dbook/dmdocuments/mari_kenali_bendera/files/basic-html/page24.html |access-date=13 December 2023 |website=Department of Information Malaysia |language=MS }}</ref>

Over the course of history, [[Penang Island]] had been known by different names by seafarers from various regions. The locals named it ''Pulo Ka Satu'', meaning "The First Island", as it was the largest island on the maritime route between [[Lingga Regency|Lingga]] and [[Kedah]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Pulo Ka Satu : Warisan Sejarah Awal Persuratan Melayu Pulau Pinang |url=https://www.pnm.gov.my/pnm/resources/UploadFile/Penerbitan/jualan%20buku/PuloKaSatu.pdf |journal=[[National Library of Malaysia]] }}</ref> The [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Siamese]], who were the overlords of Kedah, called it ''Ko Mak'' ({{Langx|th|เกาะหมาก}}).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Larry |first=Sternstein |title=The London Company's Envoys Plot Siam |url=https://thesiamsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/1993/03/JSS_081_2b_Sternstein_LondonCompanysEnvoysPlotSiam.pdf |journal=[[Siam Society]] |pages=37 }}</ref>

Maritime explorers also took note of the island's abundance of areca nut. During the 15th century, [[Zheng He|Admiral Zheng He]] of [[Ming dynasty|Ming China]] referred to the island as ''Bīngláng Yǔ'' ({{zh|s={{linktext|槟榔屿}}|first=t|poj=Pin-nn̂g-sū|t={{linktext|檳榔嶼}}|l=areca nut island}}) in his navigational charts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ooi |first=Kee Beng |date=September 2012 |title=Penang before Francis Light (As the English Saw It in 1905) |url=http://penangmonthly.com/article.aspx?pageid=7083&name=penang_before_francis_light_as_the_english_saw_it_in_1905 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203182540/https://penangmonthly.com/article.aspx?pageid=7083&name=penang_before_francis_light_as_the_english_saw_it_in_1905 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |access-date=2 March 2018 |website=Penang Monthly }}</ref> In the ''Description of Malacca'', Portuguese cartographer [[Manuel Godinho de Erédia]] named it ''Pulo Pinaom''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haji Endut |first=Esmawee |date=November 1993 |title=Traditional Malaysian Built Forms: A Study on the Origins, Main Building Types, Development of Building Formd, Design Principles and the Application of Traditional Concepts in Modern Buildings |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14839/1/389486_vol1.pdf |journal=[[University of Sheffield]] }}</ref>