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According to popular belief, the origin of the name Terengganu is attributed to terang ganu, Malay for 'bright rainbow'. Another theory, based on narration attributed to the ninth Sultan of Terengganu, Baginda Omar, tells of a party of hunters from Pahang roving and hunting in the area of what is now southern Terengganu.
One of the hunters spotted a big animal fang lying on the ground. A fellow party member asked to which animal did the fang belong. The hunter, not knowing which animal, simply answered "fang of something" which in Malay, is taring anu.
Floating Mosque of Kuala Terengganu
Author: bbbsheep (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
The party later returned to Pahang with a rich hoard of game, fur and sandalwood, which impressed their neighbors. They asked the hunters where did they source their riches, to which they replied, from the land of taring anu, which later evolved into Terengganu.
The traditional Malay name for Terengganu has been dingjianu in Pinyin, a direct transliteration of the Malay name. However, in recent years, the Chinese community in Terengganu has raised objections to the name, citing that the name loosely translates to "giving birth to a child who will become a slave".
They successfully petitioned the regulatory commission for Chinese language in Malaysia to change the Chinese name for the state to dengjialou, which can be loosely translated to "aspiring/stepping up to a higher level", in September 2004. It is worth noting, however, that the new name has been in unofficial use by the state's Chinese society for at least 30 years before its official adoption.
There are certain segments of the Chinese society who opposed to the name change, citing the fact that the new name contains too many character strokes, making it much more difficult to write. They have proposed to revert the name back to the version used before 2004, but with the word "slavery", which was mainly the cause of the controversy) to the similar sounding, but more positive "perseverance".
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