Saga Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Welcome to the City of Angels. (No,it's not Los Angeles =_= ) BANGKOK,BANGKOH OR .... What? Today I recalled the capital of Thailand,Bangkok. And since I was at middle school,I knew that the city has as a name meaning "The City of Angels". So,I wondered, how come people gave this meaning? Is Bang - City and Kok- Angels? Then I thought,what if it was a sub-name. So,here we go,ladies and gentlemen,in fact the real name isn't even Bangkok. Paranoid King,a must for modernization or a cult of idiocy? Doing researches and going back in the 1300's and 1400's I found myself with the tempting urge to grab the names dictionary and find myself a more difficult name,just because. Idiotic,right? Basically,we are not far from what happened to the Bangkok city name. Let's go back to the bright and melodic 1782 of Thailand's past. Its birth was due to the fall of Krung Sri Ayuthaya,somewhere around the middle of 18th century. So far,I didn't really get why such a divine name was put when the birth of the capital was from a fall. But,you know,there is always this little thought in humans about the bird of Life - exactly,Phoenix. But our case is far from it,King Rama I put officially found capital in the register in 1782. The name has changed four times in the past. When Yodfa Chulaloke comes to the rule position of Thailand,he changes the location and the name of our dear Bangkok. But no,even then the name is different from what we foreigners know. No Thai would call his land 'Bangkok',some of them don't even know that it's called this way. But what you might find for surprising now is that the official name holds the Guinness record for longest name in the world. Krungthep Maha Nakorn Amorn Ratanakosindra Mahindrayudhya, Mahadilokpop Noparatana Rajthani Burirom Udom Rajnivet Mahastan Amorn Pimarn Avatarn Satit Sakkatuttiya Vishnukarm Prasit English meaning: "The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam." The King received a title "The Great". Some ego stroke,I can sense it. But,it's not time to pry noses in the Past,right? Let's talk about the Present. How 'Bangkok' appeared as a name? Although the original name has its short form,"Krung Thep",all around the world, people keep teaching,learning and studying it wrongly. Bangkok was a simple nickname that people believe came from China. Actually,the right etymology of the name can't be offered. Bangkok,Bangkoh,with many different meanings and nicknames,such as 'Village of the wild plum' or even 'Venice of the East'.Yeah,you read right. Not really surprising though,a century ago,Krung Thep had many canals just like Venice. People started seeing it as the twin of old Italy. However, interesting though is how around the 1400's Americans charts had the name of the capital as Bangkok. From there,the big,HUGE, confusion started. Instead of using the then named Thailand's capital,they used the nickname,or so believed,born from a Chinese mind. As for myself,I think I'd try to learn the real name of Thailand's capital. I should admit,it sucks to have your capital's name checked out and put some nickname that you might be not aware of. It's like bullying at school. Bullies smack the hilarious nicknames on the fragile kids' faces and live life,humming. I disapprove this,so from now on,I call it Krung Thep. Saga© Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morinaga's Girl Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I have to admit that the first (and only) thing that came to my mind when seeing the title was Los Angeles and I don't doubt, because I didn't know that Bangkok was known as The City of Angels. I was even more surprised when I saw that Bangkok isn't even the actual name of the city O___O And I still wonder, how could they even recall the whole name? Very interesting article, thank you Saga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
현애 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 It's Bangkok lol I have been there at 2004 for traveling ofc im go there when there have Water festival there is so fun and we playing with to much water and got wet because of water also we are playing like this lol all road is wet because of water lol [ATTACH=CONFIG]11694[/ATTACH] 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saga Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Well, I rather use the real name. The brief version is not so hard, Krung Thep (: Bet it was cool. ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiakaiyuki Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Krung Thep. Right, Got it. Krung Thep Love Story. :/ Can I ask how thats writen (and pronounced) in Thai? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saga Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Ahahahaha,what a question. ;D Well,it's written this way ---> กรุงเทพ As for the pronuncation, Kru-part is like the cru- in 'cruel'. Add 'ng' as a nasal sound. Like the end in the English 'ing'. => Krung Thep is easier,just long 'e' sound. Mind you, 'e' like in 'bEst'. So,read it, as if you are seeing a Japanese word now -> Tee(p). Hope I helped,lol. >_>" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRIDGET Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 I'm waiting for Summer festivals..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animegirl Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 My! What a long name! I didn't know that Bangkok is not Bangkok in fact, but Krung Thep I'll call it this way from now on 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1978 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 How I miss this post ^^ ^^ Welcome to my country ^^ Chinese New Year Festival 2013 It'll be upcoming in my town next month ^^ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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