Siam or Thailand: what's in a name?

Thai language section, ask your language questions here.

What do you think?

Thailand
11
50%
Siam
11
50%
 
Total votes: 22

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Randy Cornhole
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Post by Randy Cornhole »

I have given a brief synopsis on Thai flags through the ages on my new blog 'Thai Delights' (link at the bottom of my post) Unfortunatly for some strange reason that I have not yet sorted it only works in Firefox and IE7...

For the record my missus prefers Thailand over Siam.
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johnnyk
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Post by johnnyk »

Randy Cornhole wrote:I have given a brief synopsis on Thai flags through the ages on my new blog 'Thai Delights' (link at the bottom of my post) Unfortunatly for some strange reason that I have not yet sorted it only works in Firefox and IE7...

For the record my missus prefers Thailand over Siam.
Checked out your blog and bookmarked it, Randy!
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Post by HHTel »

The meaning of Thailand is simply 'Free Land'.

Mueang means land or country one of the many meanings of the word 'thai' is free.

I thought it was general knowledge. It was explained to me many years ago.

Simple!
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buksida
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Post by buksida »

Hasn't been very free since September 2006 :wink:
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KelpieKiss
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Post by KelpieKiss »

Is this it?

Image
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johnnyk
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Post by johnnyk »

KelpieKiss wrote:Is this it?

Image
That's the one! :cheers:
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sandman67
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Post by sandman67 »

HHtel gotta agree although I was told by a palace guide that SIAM means "Land of the Free" too.....

I just get a kick out of living somewhere called the Land of the Free no matter where it is.....

and it certainly aint where we came from :mrgreen:

Personally I love SIAM because it sounds about more "exotic". It has a touch of the Indiana Jones / Rowley Birkin QC about it.......
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redzonerocker
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Post by redzonerocker »

i voted for thailand for the same reason as randy, siam just conjures up visions of yul brynner! :?
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Post by HHTel »

Yeh, I agree with the mental images of Yul Brynner. However, it shows the average age of us old fogies. I mentioned Yul Brynner to my son and daughter, 24 and 27 years old, and their response was "Who?"

How time flies!
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maybe this is the reason

Post by chalvy »

Just had a yarn with my missus about the meaning of "Thailand" compared to "Siam". She pointed out that the word thai is similar but not the same to tai ( not sure how its spelt, but in thai script there is one glyph missing so thats what i came up with), which means FREE.
Apparently Rama V set all the slaves in thailand free during his rule and the feeling was very great amongst the people. As anyone in Thailand knows Rama V is THE giant amongst the kings and the decision to free the slaves made a huge impact amongst the masses.
She seems to think that this contributed to the name change as it was simmering away to recognise this feat for many decades. She also thinks these two words --- ไท (tai??) and ไทย (thai), are very closely related and essentially mean the same thing, hence- ไทยแลน (thailand).
Didn't read the original post so maybe i'm going over old ground.
cheers
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