Geographic name in Hokkien

[SL De]

I hope the Hokkien speaking people, can reuse these "native Hokkien geographic name" in your oral language and the spoken language. Which give us the comfortable feeling in conversation and thinking. And hope the friends of forum can post some other geographic names in Hokkien which you heard from your parent, grandparent, friends and etc.

Geographic name in Hokkien, Mandarin and English list:

lu-song ?嗡?--hui-lu-bin 菲律?--- Philippines
bin-li-la 岷里?---ma-ni-la ?尼拉---Manila
lap-bau ?卯---da-wuo ?沃---Davao
sap-bu 霎?---su-wu 宿?---Cebu
pa-lo-oan 巴[竹/老]??--ba-la-wang 巴拉望---palawan

sit-lat ??力---ma-lai-si-ya ??砦??---Malaysia
sit-lat-pho ??力埠---sin-jia-puo 新加坡---Singapore
pin-ling-su ??榔?Z---bin-lang-yi ??榔?Z---Pennang

an-lam 安南---be-ye 北越---North Vietnam
chiam-po 占婆---nam-ye 南越---South Vietnam

hoan-ping 番爿---in-du-ni-si-ya 印度尼西??---Indonesia
ka-lau-pa 加留吧---ye-jia-da 耶加?---Jakarta

siam-lo 暹?---tai-guo 泰??--Thailand

ko-ku-le 高句?---gau-shi gau-li 高氏 高?---a state established by
the "nation of ko-ku-le" before the "Tong dynasty 唐朝".

ko-le 高?---1. wang-shi gau-li 王氏 高?, 2. chau-sien 朝?---1. a state established by
a person, called Ong-kien 王建" after the "Tong dynasty. 2. North Korea

sin-lo 新?---han-guo ???--South Korea

ue-kok ?z??--le-ben 曰本---Japan

liu-kiu 琉球---chong-seng 冲?---Okinawa Prefecture
tiong-san 中山---chong-sen-dau 冲??u---Okinawa

an-ping 安平---tai-nan 台南---Tainan
tai-ka-la 大佳?---tai-bei 台北---Taipei
taN-kau 打狗---gau-siong 高雄---Kaohsiung
chui-tng-kha 水??---xi-zhi 汐止---?
kue-lang ??--ji-long 基隆---Keelung
chu-lo ??---jia-yi 嘉?---Chiayi

[Andrew Yong]

Very interesting. I recall reading somewhere that in Chinese there are various names for the main immigrant areas - e.g. sit-lat for malaya, something like 'golden gate' for san francisco etc.

[hong]

I don't agree about this .Any fangyan is just like putonghua.All are xiandaihanyu We have to change the country name from time to time.Only the sound is not the same.Anyway,you can say it the way your like as long as people around understand you.I certainly don't like the word dama for malaysia because we are a small country with small population.Only Indonesian can called dayin

[Sim]

My mother's parents, who were born in Amoy always referred to Malaya/Malaysia as "lam iu~" (nan yang).

I seem to remember that in my youth two major Chinese language newspapers were had "nan yang" in their title (perhaps something like "Nan Yang Siang Pao" and "Nan Yang Jit Pao"?).

From the meaning of the characters, I suppose the term might have had wider significance, and perhaps referred to the whole of S.E.Asia, but I think my grandparents used it to mean Malaya/Malaysia.

Sim.

[%sig%]

[hong]

yes,it means south east asia but not malaya alone. We have to know when those people travel to Nanyang ,they are not even sure where there are going.My grandfather didn't know when the hell is malaysia and never read a map before.

[hong]

sit lat proverbhttp://211.156.231.188/czfq/t20041110_3951.htm

[Niuc]

Hi all

Thanks a lot SL De for this wonderful info, many of them were unknown to me. I never knew that Singapore was called 實力埠 sit8-lat8-(po`7?), I only knew it as 新加坡 sin1-ka1-pho1.

Sim, nice to see you here again

I think 南洋 lam5-iu*5 (Southern Ocean) refers to Malaysia and Singapore, even Indonesia, but not sure about all SE Asia. Nanyang is also the name of a university here in Singapore.

呂宋 ly7-song3 is Luzon island, may be generalized to mean the Philippines.
占婆 ciam1-po5 should be Champa
番爿 huan1-pin5 in our usage refers not only to Indonesia but including other part of SE Asia.
加留吧 ka1-lau5-pa1 was derived from Sunda Kelapa the old name of Jakarta. Kelapa = coconut in Indonesian. We usually call Jakarta 吧城 pa1-sia*5, derived from Batavia, its Dutch name.

[%sig%]

[Sim]

Hi Niuc,

>> Sim, nice to see you here again

Thanks. Nice to be back. I've been very busy lately, but will be posting more in the future.

I've just finished another round of (oral history) interviews with my parents, so quite a number of new questions have come up.

I'm going to start a new topic on poems and songs. My father and uncle came up with "Suat Bue Kua" (Suat Bue's Song), apparently a song where there are twelve verses, each verse covering some aspect of Suat Bue's life in the first, second, third etc month of the year.

Unfortunately, my father could only remember part of the first verse, and my uncle could remember the 3rd verse, concerning "cheng beng". It seems like a great song to me.

Anyway, will still have to do some work before I can post the song.

Cheers,
Sim.

[%sig%]

[Niuc]

Hi Sim

Looking forward to reading your posting about the song. Have a nice weekend

[%sig%]

[Tang Loon Kong]

Hi

I also cam across some funny geographic names in Hokkien.

Nanjing which is called Lam Knia.
Beijing which is called Bak Knia.

Shangdung which is called Snua Dang. This when I heard, I laughed uncontrollably which normaly I do not.

Tang Loon Kong
Peng Xnia e lang di Siong Hai, Diongkok