Why Sakhon Nakhon and not Nakhon Sakhon?

Oct 1, 2005
201
2
0
Nakhon Nayok.... Nakon Ratchasima.... Nakhon Pathom...... Nakhon Phanom..... Nakhon Si Thammarat....

Then all of a sudden you get Sakhon Nakhon. Why is that? Why not Nakhon Sakhon? There is no point in asking anyone from Sakhon Nakhon. No one seems to know.
 
Jul 18, 2007
162
0
0
danwhite wrote: Nakhon Nayok.... Nakon Ratchasima.... Nakhon Pathom...... Nakhon Phanom..... Nakhon Si Thammarat....

Then all of a sudden you get Sakhon Nakhon. Why is that? Why not Nakhon Sakhon? There is no point in asking anyone from Sakhon Nakhon. No one seems to know.
The word Sakon originates from the Sanskrit word sakala (Devanagari: सकल) meaning entire, whole, or total, and the word Nakhon from Sanskrit nagara (Devanagari: नगर) meaning town or city. Hence the name of the province literally means City of cities.

The above from Wikipedia. I did not find "Sakhon" to exist separately in any of my reference books, nor can I recall ever having heard that word. Seems to be rooted in another era...

S.
 
Oct 1, 2005
201
2
0
I'm just wondering about the word reversal from the norm.

If you ask Thai people you get into a sort of Pyhthonesque "My name is some too much", kind of conversation.

I guess its just one of those things.... Probably no reason.
 
Aug 29, 2007
27
0
0
It's similar to why you get Thon Buri, Saraburi, Suparn Buri, etc etc etc and then Buri Ram. Buri, and Nakhorn, and Thani, and Meuang, and a few others, mean town or city. Sakhon Nakhon is closer to how it'd usually be said in english - Sakhon City, but occasionally it's reversed - City of London, City of New Orleans, City of Ratchasima, we just usually leave the "City of" part off
 

BJ

0
Aug 27, 2008
95
0
6
Just a thought about this from a not so educated person in Thai or English.
BUT dont we say City of New York and also New York City?
So why is it any different to say City of Ratchasima or Sakhon City.
Just a simple question, from a simple person.

Oh and while we're at it are there any Thai people who can help me with
Pyhthonesque :)

Bj
 
Aug 29, 2007
27
0
0
Yeah, in some cases you can say it either way, but in english the "city" part isn't usually part of the normal name - we say New York City to distinguish it from New York State, but it's usually referred to as just New York, whereas in Thailand the city part is part of the actual name of the place. A better analogy would be the various words for town, usually borrowed from other languages, that are tagged onto english place names, such as -burg(h), -ville and -ton (town). They become part of the name. In english they're usually tagged onto the end, but in other european languages they can appear at the start in some cases or at the end in others - just like in Thailand.
 
Oct 1, 2005
201
2
0
Buriram..... It had not occurred to me that it's similar as in Buri Ram rather than Ram Buri....... Same thing.
 
Oct 1, 2005
201
2
0
Actually NDSinBKK might have hit it. If Sakon is descriptive qualitative as in 'whole' or 'complete' rather than geographical as in 'city of' so to speak, that might explain it.
 
Aug 29, 2007
27
0
0
Buri Ram (Thai: บุรีรัมย์ - "City of Happiness")

So that's why I live there.
 
Oct 1, 2005
201
2
0
Again.... Qualititative rather than geographic perhaps..... language wise... Although I am guessing.

You hang out in that bar on the crossroads up from the station past Speed nightclub?..... If so you might have seen me nodding off into my lager at some point one Autumn.