it's an Austronesian word for 'east' taken in through Portuguese.

Now that's interesting, Nicholas. (Delighted you're here,
BTW! ) So East Timor, Indonesia, is really East East? How odd.

And, JosieWales-who-has-almost-the-name-of-my-favorite-Clint-Eastwood-flick, if timor is a word, I'd guess its
pronunciation would be TIMor, since we have TIMorous.