BkkShaggy Posted August 5, 2001 Report Share Posted August 5, 2001 Lek Nana's family comes from India. They are Muslim - not Sikh. Unfortunately, my Indian friend doesn't know what "nana" means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 5, 2001 Report Share Posted August 5, 2001 Originally posted by BkkShaggy:"Lek Nana's family comes from India. They are Muslim - not Sikh. Unfortunately, my Indian friend doesn't know what "nana" means." OHOOO, so we have a new scenario here, but very interesting. And we might come closer to nailing it: If he's Muslim his name may have been derived from "Nan-baai", which is Persian for "baker"! The "nan" is just the one which we know from Indian restaurants. Nans, made of refined wheat flour (maida), and baked in an oven (tandoor), are a Muslim food import into India and were a breakfast stample during Moghul times. So Khun Lek Nana may be nothing but Mr. "Shorty" Baker! [ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: Scum_Baggio ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 6, 2001 Report Share Posted August 6, 2001 Leafing through my hefty Hindi dictionary, which is a kind of hobby anyway, I have found another possible root of "Nana". A "nan-kar" was in olden days "an assignment of part of the land or revenue for an estate, made to a tenant or landlord for his maintenance; a similar assignment to a tax or village officer." So, possibly, a "Nana" could have been the beneficiary of such an assignment? Tinker, tailor, baker, revenue recipient ... I guess I won't give up till I've found out for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BkkShaggy Posted August 27, 2001 Report Share Posted August 27, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Scum_Baggio: So Khun Lek Nana may be nothing but Mr. "Shorty" Baker! [/QB] Sorry Scum..."Lek" means small - not short. Short in Thai is "Son" with short sound and high tone. But you know all of this - right ?? Looking forward to your finding !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2001 Report Share Posted August 30, 2001 Jesus, I hope none of you guys are English Teachers In BKK, !!!! Only Joking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2001 Report Share Posted August 30, 2001 Originally posted by BkkShaggy: "Sorry Scum..."Lek" means small - not short. Short in Thai is "Son" with short sound and high tone. But you know all of this - right ?? Looking forward to your finding !!" Sure, I do, but then "Shorty" is American slang for a small, short guy, ain't it? Well, let's not get into splitting hairs here. Anyhow, as you found out yourself the first Nana emigrating to Thailand came from the area of Surat in Gujarat (in the mid-19th century, right?). There's one Muhammed Nana in Samsen Soi 2 (?) running the New World Guest House; I'd be surprised if he's not a descendent of the old guy; there are not many Nanas around here, after all. There's a Nana Chowk (Nana Square) in Bombay, which means that the Nanas (or at least one of them) must have been a person of considerable standing. He could have been a Bohra Muslim, a community which is very prominent in business there (the Bohra Muslims are converted Gujarati Hindus; the name is derived from Sanskrit "vyavahari", trader, which after many changes became Bohra/Vohra). As for the meaning of Nana, I haven't edged further, but I'm sure I'll find out on my next visit to Bombay. [ August 29, 2001: Message edited by: Scum_Baggio ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 30, 2001 Report Share Posted August 30, 2001 <<a depth of knowledge>> Yet nobody knows the answer. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BkkShaggy Posted September 5, 2001 Report Share Posted September 5, 2001 >Sure, I do, but then "Shorty" is American slang for a small, short guy, ain't it? Well, let's not get into splitting hairs here. I just didn't want people to get confused with the Thai translation. That's all >Anyhow, as you found out yourself the first Nana emigrating to Thailand came from the area of Surat in Gujarat (in the mid-19th century, right?). The first Nana - Ali Ahhamud Nana - and his people came from Rander - an area in Surat during the reign of King Rama IV (2394-2419 B.E. or 1851-1868 A.D.). They settled in the neighborhood called "Turk Daeng" (meaning "Red Building " in Thai) on the bank of Chao Praya river behind Wat Anong-ka-ram. He sold clothes and worked at the Warehouse Department as a translator. I wrote in the earlier post that Lek Nana's house is on Sukumvit main road between Soi 1 and Soi 3 with a question mark. I've checked and would like to confirm that my post is correct. I would like to add that this house has a very unique design as it has a certain flavor of Muslim architecture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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