Saturday, December 24, 2011

The origin of the name "Siem Reap" by Bora Touch

"Siem Reap is written as เสียมราฐ in Thai. I was once told by a teacher who taught Thai language to me that it means "conquered by Siam" in Thai." - Ponleu Cheu
Thank you for raising the issue and contribution.

The name "សៀមរាប" was given by a Royal Decree of King Ang Chan (r 1516-1566) to commemorate the King's victory over Ayuthya troops' occupation. សៀមរាប or Siem Reap, litterally means "flattened Siamese".

According to Siamese chronicles from Ayuthya to Bangkok, period of 1500-1839, the province was as always called Muang Nakhon Siem rab. For example, the so-called Ayuthya Chronicle stated that in 1595-1596 AD , "Muang Nakhon Siem rab was taken by assualt by the Governor of Khorat". According to Siamese chronicles, the province was taken at least three times, the first time was in 1259, second time was in 1595 and third time was in 1838. According to the Bangkok chronicle, សៀម Siamese troops constructed a citadel in Angkor; the construction started from January 1839 under General Phya Raja Subhavati (correct title was Chau phya Bodindr Deja, mistaken by Aymonier, Le Cambodge (1901) as Chau Khun Bodin).

Only after the construction of the citadel and in 1850s, did the name សៀមរាប/Siem Rab was slightly altered to เสียมราฐ/Siem Rath (Syama rastra "Siamese land"), "with the evident object" as a seasoned scholar/historian pointed out " of doing away with the unpleasant of the old name [Siem rab] conveyed of a Siamese defeat. But this [Siamese] attempt at tampering with history - or, at any rate, with time-honoured tradition - was just as inconsiderate and useless, as it was powerless to obliterate the fact", Lt.-colonel G.E. Gerini (1904) (Note, at the relevant times, Gerini was a top military advisor to King Chulankon and a founder of the Journal of the Siam Society, a scholarly journal, first published in 1906. Gerini's other works works: http://www.gissad.net/ )

The law code/Kram sruk (1615), the province was called "Srok Nokor".

Thai/Tai never called "their" country "Siem" សៀម. "Siam "as the official name of the country was only from the periods of 1851-1868, and 1946-1947, respectively. They had called it Muang Thai or Muang Tai.

The etymology of Siem/ សៀម is from Sanskrit śyāma ឝ្យាម which means dark, black or black, name of Siva's wife; in the ancient Hindu treatise Vishnu Purana, "Syama" refered to the name of a mountain to the Northwest of Gulf of Thailand. From pre-Angkor to Angkor periods - 1400s, according to inscriptions, the Khmer wrote/said "Syāṃ (ស្យាំ)" or "Syaṃ (ស្យំ)". From 1400s-present, we write/say "សៀម/Siem".

Regards
Bora Touch

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

now that's an elegant exposition on the origin of a name we have taken for granted. During Sangkum days there was also a Siem Reap in Kandal (?) province. do you know anything about it?

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mr Bora.
Warm Regards

Anonymous said...

Thank you for taking the time to do this valuable history. I want to add something that I just learned reasonly from my grandfather that the word Thai or Tai derived from Khmer word 'tey' with a strong t sound. The word tey in Khmer means former slave or slave that being freed by completing the term limit. Khmer has several type of slaves: konjears, konjears dach tlai, kyom kae, etc. Some of the slave types, no matter what they do, they cannot free themselves from bondage. However, some of the slave can indeed free themselves by completing the term or by buying themselves out. Once this type of slave being freed they are called 'tey' or former slave. This is where the world Thai came from and it means free. For example, Thailand means the land of the free. I havent done any research into this. This is just an oral history told by my 93 yr old grandfather.

Khmer Las Vegas.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. This was indeed a productive knowledge. Would you into BangKok Post, and post it on the site.

Anonymous said...

these f@&"?rs even renamed things like "pad thai," "muy thai," and "thai basil!!!". what a bunch of falsed-pride, insecured m"$@#^'kers!!!

Anonymous said...

siem people are biased people, especially toward khmer. they always twisted khmer words around to make everything look like khmer and cambodia evolved around them, siem! thank you touch bora for always take time to do thorough research and correct foreign distortion of khmer history, etc by showing the world the facts and origin of it all. god bless.

Anonymous said...

So! what's the F@$# make yourself proud and be better from today and into the future!! That what is count!

Anonymous said...

siem thugs always altered khmer words to make the ignorant world think that cambodia evolves around them or something. siem was a tribe in the khmer empire that later gained their independence from the khmer empire to become their own nation short after the death of khmer mighty king jayavarman vii. since then, siem altered khmer places' names to trick the world that khmer born out of siem when in actuality, it was siem who was bornt out from khmer influences, khmer empire, etc, etc, you know! i'm not surprised a bit when it comes to siem thugs twisted khmer words to make it sound in siem accent. remember, khmer language has no tone, while siem words do, you know! i think mr. touch bora should write a book about siem distortion of khmer words, etc, really. the world needs to learn about khmer for real, stop learn about khmer from khmer enemy, the siem tribe of the khmer empire, ok! i told you, i have nothing good to say about siem thugs, i'm not fond of them, you know!

Anonymous said...

Thailand are good at turn manipulation. They think they know Khmer better than Khmer.

Anonymous said...

whatever siem want to say about it, khmer will always called them siem along with thai in our khmer language, you know! get used to it, khmer word for thai is siem, you know, just like they called khmer "khamen" or whatever, we called them "siem", ok!

Anonymous said...

old khmer spelled it "syam", today cambodia spelled it "siem." it still is siem to khmer, you know!

Anonymous said...

i know siem tried to claim every ting in the world in cambodia to be theirs: they called siem mango, siem rice, siem dance, siem fish, siem cat, siem dog, etc, everyday named for siem. i'm sick and tired of it! it's khmer's, not siem, ok! don't be so ignorant, ok!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Lok Bora...love you always.

Australia

Anonymous said...

This is the best information on the word Siem. Now I have more weapon to stab the Siem with. Lol.

Anonymous said...

Not bad!



Khmer in Cabramatta, Sydney