Intrigued by ‘Mali-Mali’ and ‘Abang-Abang’

I was curious about these red wild flowers up on a tree. An online search identified it as Leea guineensis, a tree that grows up to 10 meters in secondary forests in Central Africa, tropical Asia, Australia, and Melanesia. It was named after James Lee, a Scottish nurseryman who lived in London in the 1700’s.

Its local names are ‘mali-mali’ and ‘abang-abang.’

But what’s in a name? as William Shakespeare asked.

Well, these names intrigued me because ‘mali’ in the local dialect means ‘mistake.’ In Malayo-Polynesian languages, repeating a word makes it plural, hence ‘mali-mali’ means ‘many mistakes.’

‘Abang-abang,’ its other name, means ‘to wait for a while.’

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I don’t know how the tree got these names. Tongue in cheek, I can put them together and ‘abang-abang, mali-mali’ could mean two things:

• ‘You’re making a big mistake! Wait for a while.’
• ‘It’s a big mistake to wait too long.’

They mean exactly the opposite of each other. Such is the ambiguity of language.
So here’s a third alternative.

• ‘Wait long enough and you will see many mistakes.’

If I had to choose, I’ll pick the last one because it’s bound to be true.

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Floral Friday
and 1Day4Cee