Italian of the East

English Etymology From the supposed similarities in pronunciation. Proper noun 1 en poetic The Telugu language. en poetic The Malay language. en 1801 John Collegins Literary Characteristics of The Most Distinguished Members of the Asiatic Society The Asiatic Annual Register 114 Or in soft whispers may he be address'd, By girls who lisp th' Italian of the East? en 1887 Harriet W. Daly Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia 128 Our first native servant, a boy called "Omah," came from Timor in the Gulnare, and I then heard spoken for the first time what is now as familiar to me as my mother tongue, the melodious Malayan language, the "Italian of the East," as some writers term it.