Why do Polynesians say "wai' / "vai", Malays say "air" and some Filipinos say "tubig"?

The words for "water" in many Austronesian languages usually come from either "daNum or "wahiR. These are reconstructed Proto-Austronesian words meaning "fresh water" or "stream / river". Howevers a few languages have other words for example "tubig" in some Philippine languages and "banyu" in Javanese and Balinese. Let's trace the origins of these fascinating words. How do you say "water" in your language? Map source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geograp... Images are all from https://unsplash.com/ Also, do check out my video from the Polyglot Gathering where I ask speakers of Malagasy, Malay, Bisaya and New Zealand Maori to guess the meanings of words in their respective languages.    • Echoes of Ancestral Voices: Comparing lang...