Originally Posted By: Bingley
>>'Mata Hari' means 'sunrise' in Indonesian.<<

No, it doesn't, it means 'sun'. Sunrise would be 'terbit matahari', though it's not common. Far more common is 'fajar', meaning 'dawn'(quite a common man's name).

Another meaning of 'mata': point (of a needle, dagger, etc.)

In compounds 'mata' often means something like 'item', e.g., mata acara agenda item, mata belanja budget item, mata pelajaran subject of study.

Some other compounds with 'mata': mata kaki ankle (lit. eye of the foot/leg), mata kayu wood knot (lit. eye of wood/timber), (telur) mata sapi fried egg (lit. bull's/cow's eye), mata susu nipple (lit. milk eye), mata uang currency (lit. money eye)


Oops. Sorry. Like I said, High School Indonesian. I'll edit my post and fix it.