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48-902: Mueang was originally a term in the Tai languages for a town having a defensive wall and a ruler with at least the Thai noble rank of khun ( ขุน ), together with its dependent villages. The mandala model of political organisation organised states in collective hierarchy such that smaller mueang were subordinate to more powerful neighboring ones, which in turn were subordinate to a central king or other leader. The more powerful mueang (generally designated as chiang , wiang , nakhon or krung – with Bangkok as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon ) occasionally tried to liberate themselves from their suzerain and could enjoy periods of relative independence. Mueang large and small often shifted allegiance , and frequently paid tribute to more than one powerful neighbor –

96-526: A monophyletic group. Gedney (1989) considers Central and Southwestern Tai to form a subgroup, of which Northern Tai is a sister. The top-level branching is in agreement with Haudricourt (1956). Luo Yongxian (1997) classifies the Tai languages as follows, introducing a fourth branch called Northwestern Tai that includes Ahom , Shan , Dehong Dai, and Khamti . All branches are considered to be coordinate to each other. Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2009) classifies

144-682: A word-initial unaspirated voiceless sound for Tai , which in any event might sound artificial or arcane to outsiders. According to Michel Ferlus , the ethnonyms Tai/Thai (or Tay/Thay) would have evolved from the etymon *k(ə)ri: 'human being' through the following chain: kəri: > kəli: > kədi:/kədaj ( -l- > -d- shift in tense sesquisyllables and probable diphthongization of -i: > -aj ). This in turn changed to di:/daj (presyllabic truncation and probable diphthongization -i: > -aj ). And then to *daj (Proto-Southwestern Tai) > tʰaj (in Siamese and Lao) or > taj (in

192-632: A Tai language. For some, Thai should instead be considered a member of the Lao language family. One or more Ancient Chinese characters for 'Lao' may be cited in support of this alternative appellation. Some scholars, including Benedict (1975), have used Thai to refer to a wider ( Tai ) grouping and one sees designations like proto-Thai and Austro-Thai in earlier works. In the institutional context in Thailand, and occasionally elsewhere, sometimes Tai (and its corresponding Thai-script spelling, without

240-629: A branch of the Kra–Dai language family . The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand ; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos ; Myanmar 's Shan language ; and Zhuang , a major language in the Southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region , spoken by the Zhuang people ( 壯 ),

288-460: A few. More recently many postcolonial countries revert to their own nomenclature for toponyms that have been named by colonial powers. Place names provide the most useful geographical reference system in the world. Consistency and accuracy are essential in referring to a place to prevent confusion in everyday business and recreation. A toponymist, through well-established local principles and procedures developed in cooperation and consultation with

336-467: A final -y symbol) is used to indicate varieties in the language family not spoken in Thailand or spoken there only as the result of recent immigration. In this usage, Thai would not then be considered a Tai language. On the other hand, Gedney , Li and others have preferred to call the standard language of Thailand Siamese rather than Thai , perhaps to reduce potential Thai/Tai confusion, especially among English speakers not comfortable with making

384-399: A person's death for the use of a commemorative name. In the same vein, writers Pinchevski and Torgovnik (2002) consider the naming of streets as a political act in which holders of the legitimate monopoly to name aspire to engrave their ideological views in the social space. Similarly, the revisionist practice of renaming streets , as both the celebration of triumph and the repudiation of

432-565: Is a process that can include restoring place names by Indigenous communities themselves. Frictions sometimes arise between countries because of toponymy, as illustrated by the Macedonia naming dispute in which Greece has claimed the name Macedonia , the Sea of Japan naming dispute between Japan and Korea , as well as the Persian Gulf naming dispute . On 20 September 1996 a note on

480-519: Is colloquially known as Muang Lao , but for Lao people , the word conveys more than mere administrative district. The usage is of special historic interest for the Lao; in particular for their traditional socio-political and administrative organisation, and the formation of their early (power) states , described by later scholars as Mandala (Southeast Asian political model) . Provinces of Laos are now subdivided into what are commonly translated as districts of Laos , with some retaining Muang as part of

528-578: Is not directly attested by any surviving texts, but has been reconstructed using the comparative method . This term has Proto-Tai-tone A1 . All A1 words are rising tone in modern Thai and Lao, following rules determined for tone origin . Accordingly, the term is: Different linguistic tones give different meanings; scholarship has not established a link between this term and any of the terms which differ in tone. Mueang conveys many meanings, all having to do with administrative, social, political and religious orientation on wet-rice cultivation. The origin of

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576-520: Is probably derived from an older language, such as Pelasgian , which was unknown to those who explained its origin. In his Names on the Globe , George R. Stewart theorizes that Hellespont originally meant something like 'narrow Pontus' or 'entrance to Pontus', Pontus being an ancient name for the region around the Black Sea , and by extension, for the sea itself. Especially in the 19th century,

624-421: Is the study of toponyms ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names ), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of any geographical feature , and full scope of the term also includes proper names of all cosmographical features. In a more specific sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while

672-627: The United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names acknowledged that while common, the practice of naming geographical places after living persons (toponymic commemoration) could be problematic. Therefore, the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names recommends that it be avoided and that national authorities should set their own guidelines as to the time required after

720-531: The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), applies the science of toponymy to establish officially recognized geographical names. A toponymist relies not only on maps and local histories, but interviews with local residents to determine names with established local usage. The exact application of a toponym, its specific language, its pronunciation, and its origins and meaning are all important facts to be recorded during name surveys. Scholars have found that toponyms provide valuable insight into

768-519: The Yuan as imperial officials, in an arrangement generally known as the Tusi ("Native Chieftain") system. Ming and Qing -era dynasties gradually replaced native chieftains with non-native Chinese government officials. In the 19th century, Thailand's Chakri dynasty and Burma's colonial and subsequent military rulers did much the same with their lesser mueang, but, while the petty kingdoms are gone,

816-413: The Zhuang linguist Wei Qingwen using reconstructed Old Chinese for the characters discovered that the resulting vocabulary showed strong resemblance to modern Zhuang . Later, Zhengzhang Shangfang (1991) followed Wei's insight but used Thai orthography for comparison, since this orthography dates from the 13th century and preserves archaisms vis-à-vis the modern pronunciation. Haudricourt emphasizes

864-625: The Lower Yangtze valleys. Ancient Chinese texts refer to non-Sinitic languages spoken across this substantial region and their speakers as " Yue " . Although those languages are extinct, traces of their existence could be found in unearthed inscriptional materials, ancient Chinese historical texts and non-Han substrata in various Southern Chinese dialects. Thai, as the most-spoken language in the Tai-Kadai language family , has been used extensively in historical-comparative linguistics to identify

912-1027: The Q (Southwestern), N (Northern), B (Ningming), and C (Chongzuo) subgroups (Pittayaporn 2009:300–301). Furthermore, the following shifts occurred at various nodes leading up to node Q. Jerold A. Edmondson 's (2013) computational phylogenetic analysis of the Tai languages is shown below. Tay and Nung are both shown to be coherent branches under Central Tai . Northern Tai and Southwestern Tai are also shown to be coherent branches. Proto-Tai has been reconstructed in 1977 by Li Fang-Kuei and by Pittayawat Pittayaporn in 2009. Proto-Southwestern Tai has also been reconstructed in 1977 by Li Fang-Kuei and by Nanna L. Jonsson in 1991. Others have taken up specific area reconstructions, such as David Strecker's 1984 work regarding "Proto-Tai Personal Pronouns." Strecker's proposed system of personal pronouns in Proto-Tai involves "three numbers, three persons, an inclusive/exclusive distinction and an animate/non-animate distinction in

960-475: The Tai languages based on clusters of shared innovations (which, individually, may be associated with more than one branch) (Pittayaporn 2009:298). In Pittayaporn's preliminary classification system of the Tai languages, Central Tai is considered to be paraphyletic and is split up into multiple branches, with the Zhuang varieties of Chongzuo in southwestern Guangxi (especially in the Zuo River valley at

1008-748: The Vietnamese, kɛɛu , derived from the name of Jiaozhi in Vietnam, and that the indigenous Bai Yue were given family names by their northern rulers during the Northern and Southern dynasties , while the Thai didn't have family names into the 19th century, Jerold A. Edmondson of the University of Texas at Arlington posited that the split between Zhuang (a Central Tai language ) and the Southwestern Tai languages happened no earlier than

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1056-413: The age of exploration, a lot of toponyms got a different name because of national pride. Thus the famous German cartographer Petermann thought that the naming of newly discovered physical features was one of the privileges of a map-editor, especially as he was fed up with forever encountering toponyms like 'Victoria', 'Wellington', 'Smith', 'Jones', etc. He writes: "While constructing the new map to specify

1104-412: The basis for their etiological legends. The process of folk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, for example, the toponym of Hellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named after Helle , daughter of Athamas , who drowned there as she crossed it with her brother Phrixus on a flying golden ram. The name, however,

1152-567: The border to Vietnam) having the most internal diversity. The Southwestern Tai and Northern Tai branches remain intact as in Li Fang-Kuei 's 1977 classification system, and several of the Southern Zhuang languages allocated ISO codes are considered to be paraphyletic . The classification is as follows. Standard Zhuang is based on the dialect of Shuangqiao (双桥), Wuming District . The following phonological shifts occurred in

1200-703: The detailed topographical portrayal and after consulting with and authorization of messr. Theodor von Heuglin and count Karl Graf von Waldburg-Zeil I have entered 118 names in the map: partly they are the names derived from celebrities of arctic explorations and discoveries, arctic travellers anyway as well as excellent friends, patrons, and participants of different nationalities in the newest northpolar expeditions, partly eminent German travellers in Africa, Australia, America ...". Toponyms may have different names through time, due to changes and developments in languages, political developments and border adjustments to name but

1248-550: The discipline researching such names is referred to as toponymics or toponomastics . Toponymy is a branch of onomastics , the study of proper names of all kinds. A person who studies toponymy is called toponymist . The term toponymy comes from Ancient Greek : τόπος / tópos , 'place', and ὄνομα / onoma , 'name'. The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning "place name") first appearing in English in 1876. Since then, toponym has come to replace

1296-458: The establishment of an independent Greek state, Turkish, Slavic and Italian place names were Hellenized, as an effort of "toponymic cleansing." This nationalization of place names can also manifest itself in a postcolonial context. In Canada, there have been initiatives in recent years " to restore traditional names to reflect the Indigenous culture wherever possible ". Indigenous mapping

1344-485: The founding of Jiaozhi in 112 BCE but no later than the 5th–6th century AD. Based on layers of Chinese loanwords in Proto-Southwestern Tai and other historical evidence, Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2014) suggests that the dispersal of Southwestern Tai must have begun sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. The Tai languages descend from proto-Tai-Kadai , which has been hypothesized to originate in

1392-469: The historical geography of a particular region. In 1954, F. M. Powicke said of place-name study that it "uses, enriches and tests the discoveries of archaeology and history and the rules of the philologists ." Toponyms not only illustrate ethnic settlement patterns, but they can also help identify discrete periods of immigration. Toponymists are responsible for the active preservation of their region's culture through its toponymy. They typically ensure

1440-525: The internet reflected a query by a Canadian surfer, who said as follows: 'One producer of maps labeled the water body "Persian Gulf" on a 1977 map of Iran, and then "Arabian Gulf", also in 1977, in a map which focused on the Gulf States . I would gather that this is an indication of the "politics of maps", but I would be interested to know if this was done to avoid upsetting users of the Iran map and users of

1488-595: The largest minority ethnic group in China, with a population of 15.55 million, living mainly in Guangxi , the rest scattered across Yunnan , Guangdong , Guizhou and Hunan provinces. Cognates with the name Tai ( Thai, Dai , etc.) are used by speakers of many Tai languages. The term Tai is now well-established as the generic name in English. In his book The Tai-Kadai Languages , Anthony Diller claims that Lao scholars he has met are not pleased with Lao being regarded as

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1536-462: The map showing Arab Gulf States'. This symbolizes a further aspect of the topic, namely the spilling over of the problem from the purely political to the economic sphere. A geographic names board is an official body established by a government to decide on official names for geographical areas and features. Most countries have such a body, which is commonly (but not always) known under this name. Also, in some countries (especially those organised on

1584-465: The meaning of "town language," specifically in contrast to those of the many hill tribe peoples in the surrounding mountainous areas. Tai languages The Tai , Zhuang–Tai , or Daic languages ( Ahom :𑜁𑜪𑜨 𑜄𑜩 or 𑜁𑜨𑜉𑜫 𑜄𑜩 kwáam tái  ; Shan : ၵႂၢမ်းတႆး ; Thai : ภาษาไท or ภาษาไต , transliteration : p̣hās̛̄āthay or p̣hās̛̄ātay , RTGS :  phasa thai or phasa tai; Lao : ພາສາໄຕ , Phasa Tai ) are

1632-651: The most powerful of the period being Ming China . Following Kublai Khan 's defeat of the Dali Kingdom of the Bai people in 1253 and its establishment as a tutelary state, new mueang were founded widely throughout the Shan States and adjoining regions – though the common description of this as a "mass migration" is disputed. Following historical Chinese practice, tribal leaders principally in Yunnan were recognized by

1680-403: The name of some places. Sung Noen District is noted for having been the site of two ancient cities: Mueang Sema and Khorakhapura. Pali púra became Sanskrit puri , hence Thai บุรี, บูรี , (buri) all connoting the same as Thai mueang : city with defensive wall. "Khorakhapura" was nicknamed "Nakhon Raj," which as a portmanteau with Sema, became Nakhon Ratchasima. Though dropped from

1728-535: The name of this mueang, Sanskrit buri persists in the names of others. Müang Fai is a term reconstructed from Proto-Tai , the common ancestor of all Tai languages . In the Guangxi - Guizhou of Southern China region, the term described what was then a unique type of irrigation engineering for wet-rice cultivation . Müang meaning 'irrigation channel, ditch, canal' and Fai , 'dike, weir, dam.' together referred to gravitational irrigation systems for directing water from streams and rivers. The Proto-Tai language

1776-535: The name: Thailand is colloquially known as Mueang Thai . After the Thesaphiban reforms of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab , city-states under Siam were organized into monthon ( มณฑล , Thai translation of mandala ), which was changed to changwat ( จังหวัด ) in 1916. Mueang still can be found as the term for the capital districts of the provinces ( amphoe mueang ), as well as for a municipal status equivalent to town ( thesaban mueang ). In standard Thai,

1824-521: The old regime is another issue of toponymy. Also, in the context of Slavic nationalism , the name of Saint Petersburg was changed to the more Slavic sounding Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, then to Leningrad following the death of Vladimir Lenin and back to Saint-Peterburg in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union . After 1830, in the wake of the Greek War of Independence and

1872-486: The ongoing development of a geographical names database and associated publications, for recording and disseminating authoritative hard-copy and digital toponymic data. This data may be disseminated in a wide variety of formats, including hard-copy topographic maps as well as digital formats such as geographic information systems , Google Maps , or thesauri like the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names . In 2002,

1920-578: The origins of language(s) spoken in the ancient region of South China. One of the very few direct records of non-Sinitic speech in pre-Qin and Han times having been preserved so far is the " Song of the Yue Boatman " (Yueren Ge 越人歌), which was transcribed phonetically in Chinese characters in 528 BC, and found in the 善说 Shanshuo chapter of the Shuoyuan 说苑 or 'Garden of Persuasions'. In the early 1980s

1968-512: The other Southwestern and Central Tai languages by Li Fangkuei). Michel Ferlus ' work is based on some simple rules of phonetic change observable in the Sinosphere and studied for the most part by William H. Baxter (1992). The Central Tai languages are called Zhuang in China and Tay and Nung in Vietnam. Citing the fact that both the Zhuang and Thai peoples have the same exonym for

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2016-512: The place names remain. Place names in Southwestern Tai languages In Khmer, "moeang" (មឿង) is a word borrowed from the Thai language meaning "small city" or "small town." Usually used as a place name for villages. The placename "mueang" is written in Chinese characters as 勐, 孟 ; měng , which is equivalent to Tai Nüa : ᥛᥫᥒᥰ and Tai Lü : ᦵᦙᦲᧂ , both of which are spoken in China . Laos

2064-534: The same watershed area that insured a high degree of cooperation to create and maintain irrigation systems ( müang-faai ) – which probably was the primary reason for founding mueang . Kham Mueang ( Thai : คำเมือง ) is the modern spoken form of the old Northern Thai language that was the language of the kingdom of Lan Na (Million Fields). Central Thai may call northern Thai people and their language Thai Yuan . They call their language Kham Mueang in which Kham means language or word; mueang ; town, hence

2112-900: The specificity of Dioi (Zhuang) and proposes to make a two-way distinction between the following two sets. The original language names used in Haudricourt's (1956) are provided first; alternative names are given in parentheses. Characteristics of the Dioi group pointed out by Haudricourt are Li Fang-Kuei divided Tai into three sister branches. Li's Northern group corresponds to Haudricourt's Dioi group, while his Central and Southwestern groups correspond to Haudricourt's Tai proper. The three last languages in Haudricourt's list of 'Tai proper' languages are Tho (Tày) , Longzhou , and Nung , which Li classifies as 'Central Tai'. This classification scheme has long been accepted as standard in comparative Tai linguistics. However, Central Tai does not appear to be

2160-441: The term place-name in professional discourse among geographers . Toponyms can be divided in two principal groups: Various types of geographical toponyms (geonyms) include, in alphabetical order: Various types of cosmographical toponyms (cosmonyms) include: Probably the first toponymists were the storytellers and poets who explained the origin of specific place names as part of their tales; sometimes place-names served as

2208-596: The term for the country of Thailand is ประเทศไทย, rtgs: Prathet Thai. Mueang still forms part of the placenames of a few places, notably Don Mueang District , home to Don Mueang International Airport ; and in the Royal Thai General System of Transcription Mueang Phatthaya ( เมืองพัทยา ) for the self-governing municipality of Pattaya . Nakhon ( นคร ) as meaning "city" has been modified to thesaban nakhon ( เทศบาลนคร ), usually translated as " city municipality ". It still forms part of

2256-439: The third person non-singular." Below is comparative table of Tai languages. Many Southwestern Tai languages are written using Brahmi-derived alphabets . Zhuang languages are traditionally written with Chinese characters called Sawndip , and now officially written with a romanized alphabet, though the traditional writing system is still in use to this day. Toponymy Toponymy , toponymics , or toponomastics

2304-730: The word mueang yet remains obscure. In October 2007, The National Library of Laos , in collaboration with the Berlin State Library and the University of Passau , started a project to produce the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts. Papers presented at the Literary Heritage of Laos Conference, held in Vientiane in 2005, have also been made available. Many of the mss. illuminate the administrative, social, political, and religious demands put on communities in

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