The ‘secondary district’ (kepala mére) or ‘domain’ (tana) of Worowatu is named after the village (nua) of Worowatu (from, woro ‘hill’; watu, ‘stone’). According to a local myth, people established this settlement after a tsunami and inundation forced them to take refuge on the south slope of Mt Koto. This flood is blamed on the cancellation of a marriage between a Keo girl from Wondo village and a whale. Before the flood, the founding ancestor of Worowatu, a man called Taku Nuru, had resided at Tudiwado and had married the mythical girl ’Embu Tonga from the So’a region. When Worowatu was established as a secondary district (kepala mére) by the Dutch in 1917, the man appointed by the Dutch as subdistrict head (kepala mére) was Séme Rau, a direct descendant of Taku Nuru. ^[3]

It is interesting to note that the villages within Tana Worowatu are named on the basis of distinguishing features including natural or strategic features of their location. Worowatu village is named as such because it is located on a stony hill. Tudiwado (tudi, ‘drop in or stop over’;wado, ‘return’) refers to the strategic location of this settlement and the legendary hospitality of its people to travellers passing through. The name of the village, ’Udi, means ‘rudder’. Kodinggi (kodi, ‘lontar palm’;engge, ‘clusters’) refers to the plenitude of lontar palms in this particular village. Its previous name, Bedo, which referred to an area at the southern end of ’Udi village, might derive from a word belo, which means ‘to make a turn’ as the result of a rudder’s function. Tonga Tonggo (tonga, ‘to watch, supervise’;tonggo, ‘the people from Tonggo’) indicates a strategic position in which the people of Tonggo guard and supervise the coming of the people to an open market in Ma’undai. Ma’undai (ma’u, ‘coast’; Ndai, name of a tribe) means the strip of coastline belonging to the Ndai people.