Old Hippie Posted January 2, 2002 Report Share Posted January 2, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Old hippie: correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Bangkok the old name of the city? as Siam is the former name of the country? I was told this by one of my Thai teachers. Can anyone verify it? She said we call Krueng Thep Bangkok the same way we call Yangoon Rangoon and Mynmar Burma, basically, we haven't come up to date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 3, 2002 Report Share Posted January 3, 2002 Thanks SanukBoot. And thanks Good Thai Girl. It is unfortunate when normal words in one language can have undesirable connotations in another, especially if it is a proper name like a name of a person. I have a Japanese friend named Arai (just like the helmets) -- he told me he felt he was being mentioned everywhere he went in Thailand. I still find it kind of interesting that Thais don't insist on the foreigners to call the city Krungthep. Ciao! micsnee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 3, 2002 Report Share Posted January 3, 2002 Bangkok บางกอก means literally the village (บาง barng) of the water olive (กอก gog). It was an area where they used to grow water olives and farangs called it Bangkok. [ January 03, 2002: Message edited by: Snake Head ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodthaigirl Posted January 3, 2002 Report Share Posted January 3, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Old hippie: I was told this by one of my Thai teachers. Can anyone verify it? She said we call Krueng Thep Bangkok the same way we call Yangoon Rangoon and Mynmar Burma, basically, we haven't come up to date. "Bangkok" comes from the Thai word "บางกอก". In olden day, maybe Ayudthaya era I'm not sure, when first farang came to bkk, the city major trading area was บางกอกน้อย or Bangkok Noi. So first farangs started to call the city Bangkok. This means that the word only refered to a smaller part in Bangkok as we now know it. So I think when your Thai teacher explained the word to you it depends on her notion whether she refered to the larger area ot smaller area or whether she knew the background of the word at all. Historitically speaking there've been argument over the origin of the word. What I mentioned earlier is the most popular notion. There are other assumptions obviously. One of them is "Village of Island". Please follow this link for more info. http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9149/bangkok.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted January 3, 2002 Report Share Posted January 3, 2002 Thank you Good Thai girl! I think many legends will abound about this! Thank you for your insight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeng bireley Posted January 3, 2002 Report Share Posted January 3, 2002 GTG, Interesting, Ive seen that story before but it doesnt really seem right to me. Im not a linguist or expert on thai history so what I say doesnt really count, but.. I think the story that the name Bangkok comes from Bang บาง meaning "waterside village" and kok กอก from มะกอก a "hog plum" (apparently something like an olive) is a more likely story. Ive read this a number of times including articles published by Universities etc. Note place names such as bangkapii, bangkhwang, bangsaen etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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