Tracing the origin of the name Saigon city

Truong Vinh Ky was the first to say: "In my opinion, it seems that the name (Saigon) was given by the Cambodians to this area (around Cay Mai Pagoda), and then later used to name the City. I have not yet found the true origin of that name."

The above quoted sentence was printed in 1885, but this was a speech by Truong Vinh Ky "given at Thong Ngon School" quite a while before, because Thong Ngon School had been dissolved since 1872. Truong Vinh Ky was the director of this school from 1866 to 1868.

We can assume that Truong Vinh Ky had not yet found the true origin of the name Saigon at that time. But when publishing the book "Small Textbook of Geography of Cochinchina" in 1875, Truong Vinh Ky published a comparative list of 187 Vietnamese - Cambodian place names in Cochinchina, including 57 town names, such as Saigon is Prei Nokor, Ben Nghe is Kompong Krabei, Can Gio is Srock Kanco, Go Vap is Kompăp, Can Giuoc is Kantuoc, Can Duoc is Anơok, Soc Trang is Srok Khăn, Can Lo is Srock Canlòh, Ben Tre is Prek Rusei... This is the first comparative list of Vietnamese - Cambodian place names to appear. Up to now, foreign researchers still consider this list to be the most correct.

The 1788 map has the line “R. de Saigon” [Saigon River]

PHOTO: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF FRANCE

Malleret found an excerpt from the handwritten chronicle at the Phnom Penh court, which was translated as follows: "In the Buddhist year 2167, or 1623 AD, an envoy from the Nam king brought a letter of authority to the Cambodian king Preas Cheychesda, expressing his wish to borrow the Cambodian lands of Prei Nokor and Kas Krobey to establish a customs office. After consulting with the court, Preas Cheychesda agreed to the Nam king's request and sent him a letter of authority stating his approval of the request. Therefore, the Nam king sent a trade official to station at Prei Nokor and Kas Krobey, and from there proceeded to collect the trade tax."

Prei Nokor was Saigon and Kas Krobey was Ben Nghe later. Cheychesda (also known as Chey Chettha II) quickly complied with the King of Nam because Cheychesda wanted to find a counterforce from Lord Nguyen to fight against the invasion plot of Siam which was gnawing away at most of the Cambodian territory in the West. That is not to mention the practical reason: perhaps Vietnamese migrants had spontaneously come to reclaim land and establish settlements throughout the Prei Nokor and Kas Krobey areas. But these are stories that go beyond the topic of place names...

If Ben Nghe is a place name translated, because Krobey (or Krabei) means calf, then Saigon is a place name transliterated. But from Prei Nokor to Saigon does not sound very pleasant. People have explained that process like this: First, Aymonier only translated Prei Nokor as king's forest. Later, Tandart thought that Nokor, according to Sanskrit, came from Nagaram (it should be read correctly as Nagaram). Nagaram means town, street or citadel. So Prei Nagaram is a market town in the forest. Then Parmentier also wrote: "Angkor, a variation of the word Nagara meaning city, and changed shape again in Vat Nokor". In 1974, Piat affirmed: Saigon is a new form of Khmer Brai Nagar.

In the humble opinion of the author of this article: If Brai Nagar is read "abbreviated" to fit the monosyllabic form of the Vietnamese, it becomes Rai N'gar or Rai Gar or Rai Gor, so from Rai Gor to Rai Gon is not too far apart, and sounds quite pleasant to the ear. Rai Gon (in the original handwritten version, it is probably Rài Gon) is the earliest Latin transcription of the City's name (1747) that we were lucky to find as cited in the above paragraph. Then from Rài Gon to Sài Gòn is only a short step; perhaps; from the beginning, there were both forms of transcription, but after a while, Rài Gon fell while Sài Gòn has survived until now...

In short, perhaps the hypothesis that the name Saigon was taken from the sounds of Khmer languages ​​is the most believable. But when there is a phonetic change to create a "monophone" name, adding accents, to speak to Vietnamese people, but in the real environment, sai is "cúi" or "dùng" (cotton tree), then this is just a convenient coincidence that makes the name Saigon take shape faster. However, the phonetic change hypothesis is the main one. (to be continued)

(Excerpt from Miscellaneous Notes on Vietnamese History and Geography by the late scholar Nguyen Dinh Dau published by Tre Publishing House)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/truy-tim-nguon-goc-ten-thanh-pho-sai-gon-185241001211523941.htm