ORIGIN OF THE WORD "FARANG"

A wide-spread belief in Thailand is that the word "farang" (Caucasian)
is derived from the French word "francais". This derivation is implausible
on phonetic and historical grounds. It is in fact a popular misconception.
It is true, however, that these words have the same ultimate source.

The word is attested in various forms in languages in Europe, Africa,
the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It is clear that the
word orginated as "Frank" in Europe and spread eastwards along Muslim
trade routes.

Thai most likely borrowed the word from influential Muslim Persian or
Indian traders in the 17th century or even earlier. The Persian word was
"farangg". The term probably was used to refer to early Portuguese
traders and subsequently to all Europeans (ie., non-Muslims).

It is possible that the Thai word "farangset" ("French") is a blend
of the word "farang" and the French word "francais", ie., "farangset" is
actually derived from "farang", not vice versa. Certainly, the word
"farang" existed prior to, and independently of, "farangset".

Jimmy Harris. 1986. "The Persian connection: Four loanwords in
Siamese." Pasaa Vol.XVI, No.1 (June 1986). Bangkok: Chulalongkorn
University Language Institute.

Jimmy Harris' work on Thai phonetics and dialectology is well known
in Thai linguistics. At the time of writing this paper he was teaching
in Saudi Arabia. The text is reproduced in full, excluding some notes.

"1. Introduction

        There is excellent documented evidence from the 17th century
that a small Persian trading colony was already well established
in Siam.
[ Note 1: The important record of an official Persian delegation
to Siam during the reign of Sha Sulaiman 1 (1666-1694) has recently been
translated into English as *The Ship of Sulaiman*, by John O'Kane,
London: Routledge & Kegan, 1972. ]

These Persian traders were so influential that some of them,
by winning the favor of the king, became high officials in the
government of the kingdom.
[ Note 2: the descendants of some of the original Persian traders
- members of the Bunnag, Siphen and Singhaseni families
- have continued to be in positions close to the throne into
the twentieth century. ]

Additional evidence from the same source leads us to believe that
Persian traders probably arrived in Siam as early as the 16th century.
A Persian connection could have, in fact, taken place much earlier.
We know, for example, that Persian trading communities were in India as
early as the 8th century and that beginning in the 13th century Muslim
rulers governed India for more than six hundred years. By the 16th
century, during the Mughal (Persian for Mongol) Empire of India
(1526-1761), the official language of India was Persian and over half
of the educated men in Indian government service were from Persia.

Persians and other Muslims have always considered trading an
honorable profession; consequently, Persian commerce was a bigger
business than industry or agriculture. Therefore, it is not surprising
that when Vasco da Gama reached the city of Calicut, India in May 1498
he discovered that the Muslims there had a monopoly on trade with
other countries.

We may never know the exact date when the first Persian traders
arrived in Thailand or the native language of the speakers who
introduced these specific Persian words into Siamese. It is possible
that some of these Persian words were introduced into Siamese by Indian
traders whose second language was Persian. One thing we do know however
is that there are Persian loanwords in Siamese and they were borrowed
in, at the latest, the 16th or 17th century. The following are four
of those loanwords.

2. The Franks

Originally the Franks were one of a group of Germanic tribes. These
Germanic Peoples were the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Alamanni, Bavarians,
Franks and Langobardi. In the 3rd and 4th centuries the Angles, Saxons
and Jutes moved across the channel into the British Isles; the
Alamanni, Bavarians and Langobardi moved into Southeastern Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, an Northern Italy and the Franks moved into
France and the Netherlands and established themselves along the
Rhine River. In the 9th century this Frankish kingdom split into the
Western Frankish kingdom which is approximately the area of present
day France and the Eastern Frankish kingdom in what is now
Germany. The word *Frank* could have been borrowed by the Muslims as
early as A.D.732 when the Franks defeated a Muslim army at Tours,
France. More likely however, the word *Frank* was probably borrowed
at the time of the Crusades (1096-1291). the first Crusade was largely
made up of Franks so the Muslims may have thought that all European
Christians were Franks. *Frank* thus became the Persian word for a
European Christian. Throughout the Muslim world to this day the word
*Frank* or a derivation of it still has the bad connotation of a
Christian infidel.

France is derived from the Germanic word for the Franks. The Old
High German word for these people was "Franko" and the Old French
name for them was "Franc". The old form of this word is still around
today in words like Francophile, Franco-Swiss, etc. It seems the
original German meaning was something like "free from bondage or
restraint". This meaning is also still around today in, for example,
the English phrase "to speak frankly" (to speak without restraint).

The Siamese words [ Thai script ] /khaeaek/ means "guest or visitor"
and when said alone it usually stands for an "Indian" (from India).
Another usage is as a cover term for Muslim peoples as in
/khaeaek malaajuu/, /khaeaek india/, /khaeaek thaj/. /khaeaek sa?u?/,
etc. Until very recently the words also covered Africans and other
black people but during the Vietnam War there was a large influx of
American negro servicemen into the country and ever since then a
common word for black people has been [ Thai script ] /nikroo/ "negro".
I have no reason to doubt that the word /khaeaek/ was the common
word to denote Persians, Indians and other Muslim traders when the
first European came to Siam and since the Siamese had no word for these
non-Muslim Europeans they borrowed the Persian word [ Persian script ]
farangg "Frank". *Frank* was not the only common Persian word for any
European Christian at the time but all Muslim traders in Siam would have
called any Christian Portuguese, Englishman or Dutchman by this term.
It is obviously the source of the Siamese word [ Thai script ] /farang/
"Occidental, European".

[ Thai script ] is also the Siamese word for the "guava". Since this
shrub or small tree originated in South America and was probably first
brought to Siam by the Portuguese it is understandable why the Siamese
called it the "Frank's tree" [ Thai script ] /ton farang/.

3. Rose

The Siamese word for "rose" is [ Thai script ] /dork kulaap/.
/kulaap/ is definitely of Persian origin. The original Persian word
is [ Persian script ] golaab and means "rosewater". Persian golaab
is a compound word made up of gol "rose" and 'aab "water". This
Persian word was borrowed into Urdu as gulaab to mean both "rose"
and "rosewater". Thus a speaker of an Indian language could have
been the direct source of this word into Siamese but there is no
doubt that the word is of Persian origin.

4. Grape

The Siamese word for "grape" is [ Thai script ] /angun/ is also
of Persian origin. The Persian word is [ Persian script ] anguur.
This Persian word was borrowed with the same pronunciation and meaning
as the original.

5. Cabbage

Both the Siamese words for "cabbage" [ Thai script ] /kalam
plii/ and "cauliflower" [ Thai script ] /kalam dork/ contain the
Persian borrowed word kalam which means "cabbage". The Persian word
for cauliflower is [ Persian script ] gole kalam literally "the
flower of the cabbage" which is the exact meaning of the Siamese
equivalent [ Thai script ] /kalam dork/."

Mr. Gwyn Williams
Department of Linguistics
Faculty of Liberal Arts
Thammasat University
March 26, 1994
More Detail AT: ftp://ftp.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/SCTinfo/language/the-word-farang-1.txt
ftp://ftp.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/SCTinfo/language/the-word-farang-2.txt