Sài Gòn
Vietnamese
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/%E6%9F%B4%E6%A3%8D_in_Ph%E1%BB%A7_bi%C3%AAn_t%E1%BA%A1p_l%E1%BB%A5c.jpg/220px-%E6%9F%B4%E6%A3%8D_in_Ph%E1%BB%A7_bi%C3%AAn_t%E1%BA%A1p_l%E1%BB%A5c.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/SaiGonGiaDinhChuNom.jpg/220px-SaiGonGiaDinhChuNom.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/S%C3%A0i_G%C3%B2n_%E5%98%89%E5%AE%9A%E9%80%9A%E5%BF%97.png/220px-S%C3%A0i_G%C3%B2n_%E5%98%89%E5%AE%9A%E9%80%9A%E5%BF%97.png)
Etymology
[edit]Uncertain.
The original toponym behind Sài Gòn, was attested earliest as 柴棍, with two phonograms whose Sino-Vietnamese readings are sài and côn respectively, in Lê Quý Đôn's Phủ biên tạp lục (撫邊雜錄 "Miscellaneous Chronicles of the Pacified Frontier", c. 1776), wherein Lê relates that, in 1674, Cambodian prince Ang Nan was installed as uparaja in 柴棍 (Sài Gòn) by Vietnamese forces.
柴棍 also appears later in Trịnh Hoài Đức's Gia Định thành thông chí (嘉定城通志 "Comprehensive Records about the Gia Định Citadel", c. 1820), Nam quốc địa dư giáo khoa thư (南國地輿教科書 "Textbook on the Geography of the Southern Country", 1908), etc.
Adrien Launay's Histoire de la Mission de Cochinchine (1688−1823), "Documents Historiques II: 1728 - 1771" (1924: 190) cites 1747 documents containing the toponyms: provincia Rai-gon, Rai-gon thong (for *Sài Gòn thượng "Upper Saigon"), & Rai-gon-ha (for *Sài Gòn hạ "Lower Saigon").
It is probably a transcription of Khmer ព្រៃនគរ (prɨy nɔkɔɔ), or Khmer ព្រៃគរ (preykôr).
The proposal that Sài Gòn is from non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 堤岸 (“embankment”, SV: đê ngạn) (e.g. by Francis Garnier[1] and Vương Hồng Sển,[2] etc.) has been critiqued as folk-etymological, as: (1) Garnier states that the Chinese settlement Tai-ngon or Tin-gan (i.e. 堤岸 Đê Ngạn ~ Đề Ngạn) – the Chinese name for Chợ Lớn – was found in 1778, yet the underlying toponym had possibly been known to Vietnamese as early as 1674, transcribed as 柴棍, then preserved in Phủ biên tạp lục (c. 1776); (2) 堤岸 has variant form 提岸, thus suggesting that both were transcriptions of a local toponym and thus are cognates to, not originals of, Sài Gòn.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [saːj˨˩ ɣɔn˨˩]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [ʂaːj˦˩ ɣɔŋ˦˩] ~ [saːj˦˩ ɣɔŋ˦˩]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [ʂaːj˨˩ ɣɔŋ˨˩] ~ [saːj˨˩ ɣɔŋ˨˩]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file) Audio (Saigon): (file)
Proper noun
[edit]- (historical) Saigon
- (informal, poetic) Ho Chi Minh City
- A river in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung in southeastern Cambodia and empties into the Nhà Bè River, which in its turn empties into the East Sea northeast of the Mekong Delta.
- (informal) District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
- A train station in Ward 3, Ho Chi Minh City
Synonyms
[edit]- (Saigon): Gia Định (historical), Sài Thành, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
- (Ho Chi Minh City): Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- English: Saigon
- Chinese: 西貢/西贡 (Xīgòng)[3]
- → French: Saïgon
- → German: Saigon
- Japanese: サイゴン (Saigon)
- Khmer: សៃហ្គន (saygɔɔn)
- Portuguese: Saigão
References
[edit]- ^ Garnier, Francis (1866) "Cholen" in Annuaire de la Cochinchine Francaise pour l’année 1866. pp. 83 - 84. quoted in Vương Hồng Sển (1960) Sài Gòn Năm Xưa, "Phần 2 - 1 - 3 Theo dấu người Tàu, năm 1680 đến miền Nam, năm 1778 lập Đề Ngạn." pdf, p. 16 of 125
- ^ Vương Hồng Sển (1960) Sài Gòn Năm Xưa, "Phần 4 - 1" & "Phần 4 - 2" pdf, p. 34-35 of 125
- ^ Vương Hồng Sển (1960) Sài Gòn Năm Xưa, "Phần 2 - 1 - 3 Theo dấu người Tàu, năm 1680 đến miền Nam, năm 1778 lập Đề Ngạn." pdf, p. 19 of 125.
- Vietnamese terms with unknown etymologies
- Vietnamese terms borrowed from Khmer
- Vietnamese terms derived from Khmer
- Vietnamese terms derived from Chinese
- Vietnamese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Vietnamese terms with audio links
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese proper nouns
- Vietnamese terms with historical senses
- Vietnamese informal terms
- Vietnamese poetic terms
- vi:Rivers in Vietnam
- vi:Places in Vietnam
- vi:Cities in Vietnam