vagas (Coastal Kadazan)
Where does "vagas" come from?
The Coastal Kadazan word 'vagas', meaning husked rice, traces its roots back to the Proto-Austronesian term *bəʀas. It was inherited through Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, maintaining a consistent link to the staple grain throughout its linguistic evolution.
Full etymology tree
- vagas (Coastal Kadazan), 'husked rice'
- inherited *bəʀas (Proto-Malayo-Polynesian), 'rice'
- inherited *bəʀas (Proto-Austronesian), 'rice ((raw) seeds used as food)'
- inherited *b-ras (Proto-Sino-Tibetan), 'rice'
- inherited *bəʀas (Proto-Austronesian), 'rice ((raw) seeds used as food)'
- inherited *bəʀas (Proto-Malayo-Polynesian), 'rice'
Ancestors
- *bəʀas (Proto-Malayo-Polynesian)
- *bəʀas (Proto-Austronesian)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris