The Word Bugis

Journals once routinely included Notes & Queries. These communications have mostly gone online, but in a nod to a distinguished tradition, JMBRAS occasionally publishes enquiries directed to members of the Society. For the current issue, there are two queries addressed to members of the Society.

The Word Bugis

I have a query regarding the name Bugis (the question is prompted by an inquiry from Oxford English Dictionary.) In their own language the Bugis are known as Wugi or Ugi. A Bugis informant writes ‘‘most of the Bugis still refer to themselves as Ugi or ‘to ugi’, which can be translated as ‘orang Bugis’ (Bugis people). It can be assumed that the English form ‘Bugis’ is taken from the Malay ‘Bugis’. But can anyone explain where the Malay form acquired its final ‘-s’?”