Dili Municipality (, ) is one of the 14

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, formerly districts, of

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

, and includes the national capital

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

. The municipality had a population of 277,279 , most of whom live in the capital city.

Etymology

Several explanations have been proffered for the origin of the municipality's name. It is often explained, including by the municipality's own website, as being derived from the Tetum word , which means pawpaw. According to Australian

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Geoffrey Hull, however, that explanation is

phonologically Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

and historically implausible, as the language spoken in the area now known as Dili before the Portuguese established their seat of administration there in 1769 was

Mambai Mambai may refer to: * Mambai people, a people group also known as Mambae, Manbae or Maubere from Timor-Leste * Mambai language (Timor) Mambai, also called Mambae or Manbae, is a language spoken by the Mambai people, the second largest ethn ...

, not Tetum. Hull describes such explanations as "folk etymology". In Hull's view, the word Dili appears to be cognate with the Bunak language, Bunak word ''zili'' (), a reference to the escarpment behind the city; he comments that a Papuan language, of which Bunak is an example, was spoken in the Dili area before the spread of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian-based Mambai and Tetum languages. Another "folk etymology" explanation suggested by the municipality is that its name is derived from the Portuguese word , which, in turn, is an approximation of the Tetum expression (). According to the municipality, there were lots of Hemp, hemp trees in what is now the Sucos of East Timor, suco of at the centre of the then , which covered present day Dili. Every year, the local community held a traditional dance ceremony, and also offered sacrifices for the hemp tree. The local people believed that the Portuguese word meant 'sacred eye', and so they adopted it as the area's name.

Geography

Since 1 January 2022, Dili has been the second smallest municipality in East Timor by area, at . It also has the highest population. It lies on the north coast of the island of Timor facing Ombai Strait, and borders the municipalities of Manatuto Municipality, Manatuto to the east, Aileu Municipality, Aileu to the south, and Liquiçá Municipality, Liquiçá to the west. Atauro Island, to the north of the municipality opposite the capital, was one of Dili's Administrative posts of East Timor, administrative posts until the end of 2021, when it became a separate municipality. Dili is the economic and political centre of East Timor.

Administrative posts

The municipality's administrative posts (formerly sub-districts) are: * Cristo Rei Administrative Post, Cristo Rei * Dom Aleixo Administrative Post, Dom Aleixo * Metinaro Administrative Post, Metinaro * Nain Feto; and * Vera Cruz Administrative Post, Vera Cruz The administrative posts are divided into 31 sucos ("villages") in total. File:Sucos Dili.png, Subdivisions of the municipality File:Dili cities rivers.png, Cities in the municipality of Dili

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* – official site (in Tetum with some content in English) * – information page on Ministry of State Administration (East Timor), Ministry of State Administration site {{Authority control Dili Municipality, Municipalities of East Timor