gk10002000 Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 I was always curious about the origin of the name Sukhumvit for the road since over the years there have been many jokes about the sound of the name and the word suck. So I looked on the internet and found some interesting background information. The road is named after the man: Phra Bisal Sukhumvit By all accounts he was a smart man and hard working. Interesting reading 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melvinmelvin Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phra_Bisal_Sukhumvit 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooked Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Interesting. That leads on to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Thai_Movement , of which Sukhumvit was a member. Thai interest in the science of the origin of place names is near zero, I'm sure there are many interesting stories behind many names. https://www.eki.ee/knab/valik/gzth.pdf gives a few explanations of common place names but is unsatisfactory. In Switzerland there isn't a single place name on a map that hasn't been researched. Immigration police asked me out of intellectual curiosity, what the name of our village meant. Nobody seems to know or care, there's a lot of "that's just the way it is" in Thailand, not that I mind. The name probably means "S**t hole in the middle of nowhere" 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunBENQ Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Some in Pattaya won't be aware that they live at the eelswamp (Nong Pla Lai) 2 hours ago, cooked said: Nobody seems to know or care, there's a lot of "that's just the way it is" in Thailand, not that I mind. The village names are often quite trivial. "Nong" as above (swamp, marsh, mire...) is very frequent combined with other words like Nong Prue (sleepy swamp, not sure about this ). We live in the villa of the abundant paddy(?). About 20 of same name in Thailand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dotpoom Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 "he was a smart man and hard working. Interesting reading" I am from Europe and only got to watch American TV after coming to Thailand. One thing I couldn't help notice (specially during this political climate) is that there are no "working" people in that country....They are Always referred to as...the "Hard working" people. Sorry, I know off topic...but was just reminded of it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time Traveller Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 I thought it was named after all the sleaze....Sukhumwit being thaiglish for suck and spit ? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRoadrunner Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Some place names are .... er, unfortunate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thurien Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 5 hours ago, KhunBENQ said: Some in Pattaya won't be aware that they live at the eelswamp (Nong Pla Lai) The village names are often quite trivial. "Nong" as above (swamp, marsh, mire...) is very frequent combined with other words like Nong Prue (sleepy swamp, not sure about this ). We live in the villa of the abundant paddy(?). About 20 of same name in Thailand. right; same as Suvarnabhumi now ("Golden Land") which was Nong Ngu Hao before ("cobra pit swamp") 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trentham Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 The story about the River Hee is an interesting one. Because it touches on royalty I won't tell it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevemercer Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 I always assumed (incorrectly) it was a corruption of the English/French word 'circumference' as in a ring road going around a city or similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomfiddler Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 James Sukhumvit was the first actor who played the part of the very first James Bond movie, so after they named the London street after Bond it seemed like the only natural thing to do. Honestly ! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captpkapoor Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Most (though not all) Thai names owe their origins to Sanskrit (which is the mother of most Indian languages, somewhat akin to Latin), and the lower version for common folk, Prakrit. "Sukh" means happiness, a state of well-being. "Vithi" in Sanskrit is a road. A lot of the Sanskrit pronunciation gets slightly corrupted here, due to the Chinese influence on the Thai tongue; thus "sadhu" becomes "sathu", "dev" becomes "deb", and a myriad other examples. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djayz Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 How about this one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timendres Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 There is actually a sign (if it is still there) here in Bangkok on Sukhumvit giving a brief explanation of the history of Sukhumvit road. I think it is near Asok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chou Anou Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 3 hours ago, timendres said: There is actually a sign (if it is still there) here in Bangkok on Sukhumvit giving a brief explanation of the history of Sukhumvit road. I think it is near Asok. Yes, it's just past Asoke (as you're heading east toward soi 18) on the southeast corner, near the Skytrain stairs, if memory serves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreasyFingers Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Good to hear from people that think about place names. My Thai is useless but we have many villages here that are Huai... or Thong.... Any explanation of what the words mean would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaksimMislavsky Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 On 9/14/2019 at 5:56 AM, cooked said: Thai interest in the science of the origin of place names is near zero, I'm sure there are many interesting stories behind many names. https://www.eki.ee/knab/valik/gzth.pdf gives a few explanations of common place names but is unsatisfactory. In Switzerland there isn't a single place name on a map that hasn't been researched. Immigration police asked me out of intellectual curiosity, what the name of our village meant. Nobody seems to know or care, there's a lot of "that's just the way it is" in Thailand, not that I mind. Well, actually great many geo names in Thailand bear a clear meaning (often Sanskrit/Pali derived, as noted by another poster above, or explicitly descriptive like "Unmilled Rice" (Khaosarn) or "White Lotus" (Buakhao)) which is obvious right away to most at least basically literate Thai people. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaksimMislavsky Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 11 hours ago, GreasyFingers said: Good to hear from people that think about place names. My Thai is useless but we have many villages here that are Huai... or Thong.... Any explanation of what the words mean would be appreciated. Huai = Creek or stream Thong most likely = Gold (can also be flag or banner) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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