Cát Hải

Vietnamese

Etymology

Blend of Cát Bà +‎ hải. Cát Bà is the largest island of the district.

• According to folk etymology, Cát Bà is a "misread" of các bà (“ladies”). During the Trần Dynasty, the women here took care of the logistics for the men to fight during the war. This is very unlikely, since this place is in Northern Vietnam, where there the coda /t/-/k/ merger never happened, unlike placenames like Cát Lái (which is probably indeed các lái (“traders”)) in Southern Vietnam, where this merger did actually occur.
• Compared to the nearby island named Cát Ông (các ông (“men”)). Possibly modelled after the false "etymology" above.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kaːt̚˧˦ haːj˧˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kaːk̚˦˧˥ haːj˧˨]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kaːk̚˦˥ haːj˨˩˦]

Proper noun

Cát Hải • (葛海)

1. Cát Hải (an island district in Hải Phòng, Vietnam), includes the Cát Bà archipelago and the Long Châu archipelago