Editing Visayas (section)

==Etymology==
{{See also|Visayans#Terminology}}
The exact meaning and origin of the name of the Visayas is unknown. The first documented use of the name is possibly by Song-era Chinese maritime official [[Zhao Rugua]] as the ''Pi-sho-ye'', who raided the coasts of [[Fujian]] and [[Penghu]] during the late 12th century using iron javelins attached to ropes as their weapons.<ref name="Isorena">{{cite journal |last1=Isorena |first1=Efren B. |title=The Visayan Raiders of the China Coast, 1174-1190 AD |journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society |date=2004 |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=73–95 |url=https://www.academia.edu/4813411}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frances Antoinette Cruz, Nassef Manabilang Adiong |title=International Studies in the Philippines Mapping New Frontiers in Theory and Practice |date=2020 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=9780429509391 |page=27}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Richard Pearson |title=Taiwan Archaeology Local Development and Cultural Boundaries in the China Seas |date=2022 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824893774 |page=119}}</ref>

Visayans were first referred to by the general term ''[[Pintados]]'' ("the painted ones") by the Spanish, in reference to the prominent practice of full-body tattooing ([[batok]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jocano |first1=F. Landa |title=Sulod Society: A Study in the Kinship System and Social Organization of a Mountain People of Central Panay |date=July 31, 2009 |publisher=University of the Philippines Press |pages=23, 24}}</ref> The word "Bisaya", on the other hand, was first documented in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] sources in reference to the non-[[Ati people|Ati]] inhabitants of the island of [[Panay]]. However, it is likely that the name was already used as a general [[endonym]] by [[Visayans]] long before Spanish colonization, as evidenced by at least once instance of a place named "Bisaya" in coastal eastern Mindanao as reported by the [[Loaísa expedition|Loaisa]] (c.1526),  [[Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón|Saavedra]] (c.1528), and the [[Ruy López de Villalobos|Villalobos]] (c.1543) expeditions. It is likely that the reason the Spanish did not use the term generally until the later decades of the 1500s is due to the fact that people were more likely to identify themselves with more specific ethnic names like ''[[Cebuano people|Sugbuanon]]''.<ref name="Baumgartner 1974">{{cite journal |last1=Baumgartner |first1=Joseph |title=The Bisaya of Borneo and the Philippines: A New Look at Maragtas |journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society |date=1974 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=167–170 |jstor=29791138 }}</ref>

In ''Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas'' (1609) by [[Antonio de Morga]], he specifies that the name "''Biçaya''" is synonymous with ''Pintados''.<ref name="Morga"/>
{{Blockquote
|text="South of this district lie the islands of Biçayas, or, as they are also called, Pintados. They are many in number, thickly populated with natives. Those of most renown are [[Leyte|Leite]], [[Samar|Ybabao]], [[Samar|Çamar]], [[Bohol]], island of [[Negros]], [[Cebu|Sebu]], [[Panay]], [[Cuyo Archipelago|Cuyo]], and the [[Calamianes]]. All the natives of these islands, both men and women, are well-featured, of a good disposition, and of better nature, and more noble in their actions than the inhabitants of the islands of [[Luzon]] and its vicinity.

They differ from them in their hair, which the men wear cut in a cue, like the ancient style in España. Their bodies are tattooed with many designs, but the face is not touched. They wear large earrings of gold and ivory in their ears, and bracelets of the same; certain scarfs wrapped round the head, very showy, which resemble turbans, and knotted very gracefully and edged with gold. They wear also a loose collarless jacket with tight sleeves, whose skirts reach half way down the leg. These garments are fastened in front and are made of [[medriñaque]] and colored [[silk]]s. They wear no shirts or drawers, but [[Bahag (garment)|bahaques]] of many wrappings, which cover their privy parts, when they remove their skirts and jackets. The women are good-looking and graceful. They are very neat, and walk slowly. Their hair is black, long, and drawn into a knot on the head. Their robes are wrapped about the waist and fall downward. These are made of all colors, and they wear collarless jackets of the same material. Both men and women go naked and without any coverings, and barefoot, and with many gold chains, earrings, and wrought bracelets.

Their weapons consist of large knives curved like cutlasses, spears, and [[kalasag|caraças]]. They employ the same kinds of boats as the inhabitants of Luzon. They have the same occupations, products, and means of gain as the inhabitants of all the other islands. These Visayans are a race less inclined to agriculture, and are skilful in navigation, and eager for war and raids for pillage and booty, which they call [[mangayaw|mangubas]]. This means "to go out for plunder."

. . .
The language of all the Pintados and Biçayas is one and the same, by which they understand one another when talking, or when writing with the letters and characters of their own which they possess. [[Baybayin|These resemble those of the Arabs.]] The common manner of writing among the natives is on leaves of trees, and on bamboo bark. 
|multiline=yes
|author= [[Antonio de Morga]]  
|title =''Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas'' (1609) translated in ''Morga's Philippine Islands'' (1907) by [[Emma Helen Blair]] and [[James Alexander Robertson]]
|source=<ref name="Morga">{{cite book |last1=Blair |first1=Emma Helen |last2=Robertson |first2=James Alexander |title=Morga's Philippine Islands |date=1907 |publisher=Artur H. Clark Company |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7001/pg7001.html}}</ref>
}}

===Speculations===
From the 1950s to 1960s there were spurious claims by various authors that "Bisaya" is derived from the historical empire of "[[Sri Vijaya]]" which came from the [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] term "Śrīvijaya" (श्रीविजय), arguing that the Visayans were either settlers from [[Sri Vijaya]] or were subjects of it. This claim is largely based only on the resemblance of the word ''Bisaya'' to ''Vijaya''.<ref name="Baumgartner 1974"/> But as the linguist Eugene Verstraelen pointed out, ''Vijaya'' would evolve into ''Bidaya'' or ''Biraya'', not ''Bisaya'', based on how other [[Sanskrit]]-derived [[loanword]]s become integrated into Philippine languages.<ref name="Verstraelen">{{cite journal |last1=Verstraelen |first1=Eugene |last2=Trosdal |first2=Mimi |title=Lexical Studies on the Cebuano Language |journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society |date=1974 |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=231–237 |jstor=29791163 }}</ref><ref name="Verstraelen2">{{cite journal |last1=Verstraelen |first1=Eugene |title=Linguistics and Philippine Prehistory |journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society |date=1973 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=167–174 |jstor=29791077 }}</ref>

The name has also been hypothesized to be related to the [[Bisaya (Borneo)|Bisaya]] ethnic group of [[Borneo]], the latter incidentally recounted in the controversial ''[[Maragtas]]'' epic as the alleged origins of the ancestral settlers in Panay. However historical, archeological, and linguistic evidence for this are still paltry. The languages of the Bisaya of Borneo and of the Bisaya of the Philippines do not show any special correlation, apart from the fact that they all belong to the same [[Austronesian family]]. Similarly there are claims that it was the name of a folk hero (allegedly "Sri Visaya") or that it originated from the exclamation "Bisai-yah!" ("How beautiful!") by the Sultan of Brunei who was visiting Visayas for the first time. All these claims have been challenged and remain as mere speculations and [[folk etymology|folk etymologies]].<ref name="Baumgartner 1974"/>