tanga

1 of 2

noun (1)

tan·​ga tən-ˈga 

plural tanga

: a former monetary unit equal to 1/100 Tajikistan ruble

tangka

2 of 2

noun (2)

tang·​ka

plural tangkas

1

: tankah

2

or tanga : an old debased silver coin of Tibet

3

: tanga entry 1 sense 2

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Tajik, borrowed from Persian, "gold or copper coin, cash," probably borrowed (perhaps via Pashto ṭanga "a copper coin") from a Middle Indic counterpart to Sanskrit ṭaṅka- "a unit of weight, a coin," of uncertain origin

Note: As a word for a unit of currency or weight, this etymon is widely distributed over southwest, central, and south Asia. Etymological theories were discussed and evaluated in Gerhard Doerfer, Türkische und Mongolische Elemente in Neupersischen, Band 2 (Wiesbaden, 1965), pp. 587-92; the author also cataloged the languages in which the word appears. Doerfer believed that the source was Indic, on the grounds that the initial retroflex in the Indic and Pashto forms would not result if the word was borrowed from outside the South Asian sphere. Persian also has tanka "gold leaf, gold, money, a coin," which would appear to more directly reflect the Indic source. Note, however, that Manfred Mayrhofer (Kurzgefaßtes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen) compares the Sanskrit word with counterparts in "tatarisch," Armenian and Persian, counting it as a "Kulturwortsippe" ("culture word family"). He alludes to a passage in Jules Bloch, L'Indo-Aryen, in which Bloch asserts precisely the opposite of Doerfer, that a retroflex in ṭaṅka- could reflect borrowing (see, in translation, Indo-Aryan: From the Vedas to Modern Times [Paris, 1965], p. 62). Note also that Sanskrit attestation of ṭaṅka- is late; as sources, R. L. Turner (Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages) cites the Śārṅgadhara-Saṃhitā (ca. 1300) and the Hitopadeśa (twelfth century).

First Known Use

Noun (1)

2000, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for tanga

• ganga
• manga
• pampanga

Geographical Definition

Tanga

geographical name

Tan·​ga ˈtaŋ-gə 

city and port on a channel of the Indian Ocean in Tanzania on the northeastern mainland population 247,000