FORGET “SUGBO”
We’ve all heard the story. Although different versions mention either Magellan’s or Urdaneta’s expedition, the story is the same.
When the Spaniards came, they found some natives gathered around the campfire. Asking for the name of the place, they pointed to the ground. The natives thought they were pointing at the ashes of the campfire, so they replied, “Sugbo.”
Thus, the myth that the native name of Cebu is “Sugbo”.
This, of course, is a fictitious story. Magellan had the services of Enrique, adept in the language of the natives. Pigafetta records the name of the town as “Zzubu” (without a “g”).
As a little boy, I could never find an 80 year old who would tell me that the name of the city I was born in was “Sugbo.” It was always Cebu.
Unfortunately, decades of Tagalog ethnocide (Cebuanos are not taught Visayan, the language of which Cebuano is a dialect, in school and are encouraged to use Tagalog or English outside the classroom) ensured that many Cebuanos would believe this story. The result can be seen in how quickly native Cebuanos name their restaurants “Sugbo-sugbo” and such, and government officials hail their projects as for “Sugbuanons” (too close to "Sinugba", the Cebuano word for "barbecue", if you ask me. How about it, Sinugba-anons?).
Few things could be considered a greater insult to the Cebuanos. The name “Sugbo” is derogatory as it is. “Sugbo” was adopted as the “Pilipino” name for Cebu only because the Tagalogs managed to have Tagalog made the basis for the “Pilipino” language to the consternation of the Visayans.
The National Language Committee that was created then adopted a truncated alphabet without the letters C, J,V and Z. Unlike Tagalog, all four letters are essential in Visayan and Cebuano.
The committee then scoured the Visayan language for words that would come closest to “Cebu” that could be spelled in Tagalog. This search yielded the word, “Sugbo”. To give credence to the name, the fable that there was confusion between the Spaniards and early Cebuanos was created.
A noted Cebuano historian, Dr. Resil Mojares, claims that the name Cebu has its origins in an early Malay phrase that means “to walk on water.” (Ashes might be credible if Cebu had a volcano.) Other linguists opine, and this to me is the more logical explanation, that the name Zzubu, or Zebu, has the same origin as the Malay word “Sebu” which means “full” (as in stomach) or having in abundance.
If we go over Pigafetta’s chronicles, it is clear that the town of Zzubu was the most developed or civilized of all the towns of the Philippines, to be surpassed by Manila only when the Spaniards made it their capital. Thus, that the native name of Zzubu or Zebu meant “a place of abundance” is the more likely origin of the proud city’s name.
Time to forget “Sugbo.”
October 13th, 2005 at 3:29 am
Your comment that “Sugboanon” is too close to “Sinugba” caught my eye. In my choir, “Huni”, which is the Cebuano word for “Melody”, we sing a song with the line, “Ang Babaeng Sugbuanon” which we sometimes sing as, “Ang Babaeng Sugbaon.”