‘Yuon’ in Khmer-Russian Dictionary

Click on each page to zoom in

Thursday, February 25, 2010
Op-Ed by Khmer Borann

The readers of KI-Media may ask why there is too much discussion about the word ‘yuon’. In my opinion I think that this is because some anti-Khmer elements are still ignoring the truth of the word ‘yuon’. To shed more light on the truth of the word ‘yuon’, I would like to present to KI-Media readers the meaning of ‘yuon’ in Khmer-Russian Dictionary which was compiled by U. A. Gorgonyev, edited by Long Siem, and published by the Russian Language Publishing House in 1984.

On page 553, right column and row 12 of the dictionary, there is the entry as follow:
យួន yuәn 1. cущ. вьетнáмец ; 2. прил. вьетнáмский
The entry means that យួន yuәn 1. n. Vietnamese ; 2. adj. Vietnamese.

As can be seen on the Khmer-Russian dictionary, the Khmer word ‘yuon’ has the Russian equivalent of вьетнáмец (Vietnamets) and вьетнáмский (Vietnamsky). There is no any explanation that the word yuon has pejorative or racist connotation in this Khmer-Russian Dictionary.

It is noticed that the Khmer-Russian Dictionary was first published in 1975 and re-published in 1984 the year during which the Vietnamese troop was still occupying Cambodia. Everybody knows that the former Soviet Unions was the close ally of Vietnam and if the word yuon has racist connotation to Vietnam, why the author of the Khmer-Russian Dictionary has not mentioned about this? This means that the word yuon have neutral meaning that’s why the author did not give any mention on this word. Also, it should be noticed that in the Khmer-Russian Dictionary, the mention has been given in the bracket to any Khmer word that contains pejorative meaning. But, again, there is no any mention on pejorative meaning for the word yuon in the Khmer-Russian Dictionary.

Khmer Borann
Phnom Penh