Talk:Barong tagalog

I wondered whether the Spanish imposition of the Barong Tagalog on the Filipinos was folklore or not. A further condition regarding the Barong was, in the same untraceable source in which I originally read the contents of the article, that it should have no pockets. Not having pockets meant, to the colonial Spanish, that the Pinoys could not steal the silver.

An ironical twist to the tale is that all visitors to Malacañang (The presidential palace) are now required to wear the barong. Folklore? I've never been invited to the palace. But I wonder if George W. Bush has a barong in his closet. Shirt tails out (to show deference), thin material (he could thus not hide a WMD) and no pockets in which to hide GMA's silver?

An interesting thought! How much of this is truth and how much folklore?

Sean (Cape Town, ZA)

Source: An untraceable email. Hoping there is someone out there who can coroborate/refute.

There is a competing theory which disputes the official story about the barong. The alternate theory is that the barong is the Philippine adaptation of the guayabera, a shirt which is popular in Latin American communities. Harvzsf 06:54, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

Well, it seems the some of the Spanish themselves believe the "official" theory. Soluziona, a Spanish company, reportedly prohibits its Filipino employees in the Philippines from wearing the Barong in the office, because of its colonial implications. --seav 14:26, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

BARONG IS UNIQUELY A FILIPINO DRESS.

Barong Tagalog is like the Filipino culture, a fusion of Asian and Western culture. Bold text

baros and indios?

It says in the fourth paragraph:

"Connoisseurs of historical details say that during the Spanish era, the rulers required that the baro of the indio be made of flimsy material so that he could not conceal weapons on his person."

What's a baro and an indio? Neither of the things that they linked to make sense so I'm removing the links, but if someone does know what they are and/or how the old links were relevant, I hope they'll fix it and maybe update the baro and indio pages to better explain. 75.22.207.224 (talk) 03:03, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Baro is the Tagalog word for Blouse in girls (like the BARO't Saya which is the Philippine National dress for Women) and shirt for men (BAROng Tagalog which is literally Tagalog Shirt in English).

Indio, on the other hand, in English translation, is Indian. In colonial times, all the natives are caled Indio. The term Filipino is used for Spaniards who were born in the Philippines. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.85.21.251 (talk) 07:20, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

The Aussie Racial Superiority Insult.

The Aussie racists are very quick to judge any cultural aspect on it's face, a dress is a dress but the Aussie Imperialists see the world for their own bigoted mind, Hitler is very happy because the Aussie racists are gaining strength from not keeping their intellectual mouths shut.DON'T Judge in ORDER not to be judged, and please remove the controversy section it ignites the open minded Filipinos here, thanks a lot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.54.68.114 (talk) 10:56, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Page is chock full of advertising for "barongwarehouse.com"

Page is chock full of advertising for "barongwarehouse.com" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.56.76.6 (talk) 17:43, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

You're right. I've removed it. Scottjduffy (talk) 19:30, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

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Barong Tagalog

Voice of a teacher and British accent 136.158.25.116 (talk) 07:23, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

Tapis/Tapi

@DevSuwarna:, since you keep reinserting this, I'm going to give you the long version of why I'm reverting you. You don't seem to be Filipino either so you don't even realize the difference.

Tagalog "tapis" and "tapi" are completely DIFFERENT words, even though they are near-synonyms. The -s in "tapis" is not a suffix, nor a simple spelling variation. As I've noted in my edit summary, they are what are known as doublets in linguistics. Words that have the same ultimate etymons (in this case, Proto-Austronesian *tapis, "loincloth"), but entered/developed in the language via different routes (cf. English frail and fragile, both from Latin fragilis, but the former entered English via Old French).

In this case, their distinction stems from the fact that Tagalog "tapis" is directly derived from Proto-Austronesian *tapis ("loincloth"). While Tagalog "tapi" is derived from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tapiq ("apron, skirt"), which in turn is derived from Proto-Austronesian *tapis.

They have very similar related and overlapping meanings, but they are not synonyms. "Tapis" is mainly a noun. It means the rectangular/tubular piece of cloth worn as lower body clothing, later expanding to mean the tapis of the baro't saya ensemble (as well as to aprons and petticoats, hence the overlap with "tapi"). When used as a verb it means "to wear a tapis."

"Tapi" (note that it ends in a glottal stop, which in Malay orthography would be spelled "tapik"), in contrast, is mainly used as a verb, it means "to cover the lower body" (with ANY piece of cloth or material that can be wrapped around). When used as a noun, it means an apron, a towel, or something wrapped around the lower body (e.g. a blanket, a canvas sheet, a jacket, a large piece of plastic, etc.) with a very specific but subtle distinction that it is a covering/protection of the lower body, rather than a specific type of clothing. In fact, this meaning specifically excludes worn lower body clothing (skirts, pants, shorts, underwear, etc. are all not applicable to this word).

These doublets also exist in Cebuano, where they are more obviously distinct, as "tapis" and "tampi" (which don't resemble each other, but are also doublets). In modern Tagalog, these distinctions have largely disappeared because "tapi" is now archaic and almost never used. Also note that these are not the only terms, though they are the most widespread in Luzon. This piece of clothing exists in pretty much all the 180+ Filipino ethnic groups. It has different names, different patterns, different fiber material, different dimensions, etc. Patadyong (Visayan) and malong (Maguindanao/Maranao/Iranun) are the next most common terms. But there are a ton of other versions and names like Ivatan "inahapad", Igorot "gateng", Tboli "lewek", Kalinga "kain", Mandaya "dagmay", etc.

Neither of "tapis" or "tapi" (or any of the names mentioned) are derived from Bruneian Malay which is a distantly-related cousin language. Brunei Malay "tapih" is also from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tapiq (i.e. the reconstructed proto-language of the prehistoric ancestor group of ALL Austronesians, excluding Aboriginal Taiwanese), which in turn is also ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *tapis (i.e. the reconstructed proto-language of the prehistoric ancestor group of ALL Austronesians). Also note that though both belong to the Austronesian languages, the Philippine languages are an older branch than the Malayo-Sumbawan languages. The real language counterpart of the reconstructed Proto-Malayo-Polynesian proto-language was most likely originally spoken somewhere in the northern Philippines in 3500 to 3000 BCE (probably by the Nagsabaran culture). In other words, *tapiq was first distinguished from *tapis in the Philippines before being transmitted to the rest of Southeast Asia via the migrations of our ancestors. It is not a Malayo-Sumbawan innovation.

THIS is the list and map of the cognates of *tapis. It includes (among others):

• Bunun tapis - "breech-clout"
• Itbayaten tapis - "an apron-like piece worn over skirt, petticoat"
• Yogad tápit - "garment (for women only; a broadcloth that women wrap around down to the knee)"
• Tagalog tápis - "apronlike cloth worn over skirt of mestiza dress"
• Cebuano tápis/tapis - "piece of cloth worn around the waist or upper body as a skirt"
• Bikol tapis - "wrap-around skirt"
• Selaru tais - "sarong of native material"
• Tetun tais - "woven material, cloth, clothing"

THIS is the list and map of the cognates of *tapiq. It includes (among others):

• Tagalog mag-tapíʔ - "to wear an apron; to cover one’s body (e.g. with a towel) from the waist down"
• Tagalog tapíʔ - "apron; any piece of cloth used by women to cover the body in bathing, working or washing"
• Cebuano - támpiʔ - "tuck a piece of cloth under another to hold it in place, e.g. a shirt that sticks out, or something wrapped around the waist"
• Maranao tampiʔ - "malong (skirt-like garment with open ends) worn by men knotted at the waist"
• Kadazan Dusun topi-on - "to be worn as a sarong"
• Kadazan Dusun tapiʔ - "sarong"
• Murut (Timugon) tapiʔ - "sarong"
• Iban tapih - "unsewn sarong worn by women wrapped at waist"
• Malay tapeh - "long sarong, unsewn and worn as a skirt by Javanese women"
• Malay ber-tapeh - "to wear a sarong as a skirt, i.e. from the waist downwards, in contrast to wearing it as a bodice as well, i.e. from the breasts downwards"
• Ngaju Dayak tapih - "an underskirt worn by women"
• Old Javanese tapih - "garment worn by women around the lower part of the body"
• Javanese tapih - "ankle-length batik wrap-around skirt worn by ladies"
• Balinese tapih - "an underskirt worn by women"
• Proto-Sangiric tapiʔ - "cloth worn when bathing"

As for the tapis being worn like a bahag. I have removed it altogether until better sources are found.  OBSIDIAN†SOUL 00:22, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

Sorry for replying to this discussion late. I haven’t opened Wikipedia for a while.

I’m actually Tagalog, and I chose Dev Suwarna because Dev has the same meaning as my actual name, while Suwarna comes from the Laguna Copperplate Inscription.

Anyway, thank you very much for all this information. I was already aware of some of it, particularly the etymology of tapi and tapis. However, the reason I keep bringing them up on the page is because of the sources I’ve read about tapi. It was mentioned in the Boxer Codex, Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society by William Henry Scott, and Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala. Based on what I read, it gave me the impression that by the time the Spanish arrived in the mid to late 1500s, the term tapi was what Tagalog men were already using to refer to the wraparound cloth they wore around their waist, instead of the older term tapis. That’s why I included both in the article—as similar garments that differ based on the gender of the wearer. DevSuwarna (talk) 03:17, 10 November 2025 (UTC)