Guangdong

The word crossed four languages before reaching English, and the place at the end of the chain may not be there at all.

Middle English galyngale came from Old French, which took it from Arabic khalanjan, which took it from Persian and ultimately Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word may go back to Chinese gaoliangjiang, ginger from Gaoliang, an old prefecture in what is now Guangdong. Each step is documented but the last one is only probable, so the toponym at the root of the word is not certain.