The marvelous natural features of bamboo make it one of the most recognizable plants in the world. Its name, too, is very interesting. Because of the way it sounds and the same pronunciation in all parts of the world, very few people can hear it and then forget it.
And why "Bamboo Mamboo"...
There are two stories about the origin of the word BAMBOO, and both came from Malaysia.
The first story says that the word BAMBOO was formed by combining the words “mamboo”, which originated in the ancient Dravidian, spoken mostly by Malayans, and the word “bamboes”, which was used, and introduced in that part of the world by the Dutch colonists, at the end of the 16th century. According to this story, the word BAMBOO was coined in the period between 1590 and 1600.
MAMBOO + BAMBOES =BAMBOO
The second story dates back to an even earlier period and says the original Malay word MAMBOO, in fact, was pronounced BAMBOO, and was coined as onomatopoeia for the sound of burning bamboos.
Namely, when bamboo gets heated, the hot air inside the hollow trunks expands them and causes them to burst, which is followed by loud explosions. Those explosions remind of “bam-bam” sound, therefore it is believed that they are the root of this amazing plant’s name.
Whichever of these two interesting stories is true, the fact is that the uniqueness of bamboo and its top qualities had transferred to its name, too.
Nature uses all ways to make us never forget about it, to easily remember what is valuable and what can be of great use in every period of our lives.
Reference : Great article from https://www.bigbamboo.rs/en/blog/bamboo-called-bamboo/
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