Subject: L.5) The word "farang"
From: Gwyn Williams
Date: 29 Mar 1994 04:24:21 +1000
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".
The following is an edited collection of discussions on the origin of the Thai word "farang". PART 1 includes the initial discussion on soc.culture.thai (PART 1). I forwarded the topic to LINGUIST LIST for information on the word in other languages (PART 2).
[Editor's note: Both articles are available for anonymous FTP as files
ftp://ftp.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/sctinfo/language/the-word-farang-1.txt
and
ftp://ftp.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/sctinfo/language/the-word-farang-2.txt from ftp.nectec.or.th
from directory /soc.culture.thai/SCTinfo/languages.]
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