Sài Gòn

See also: Saigon, Saigón, Saïgon, and Sai Gon

Vietnamese

Etymology

Uncertain.

The original toponym behind Sài Gòn, was attested earliest as 柴棍, with two phonograms whose Sino-Vietnamese readings are sài and côn respectively, in Lê Quý Đôn's Phủ biên tạp lục (撫邊雜錄 "Miscellaneous Chronicles of the Pacified Frontier", c. 1776), wherein Lê relates that, in 1674, Cambodian prince Ang Sor was installed as king over 高綿 (Cao Miên) and his brother Ang Nan as vice-king in 柴棍 (Sài Gòn) by Vietnamese forces.

柴棍 also appears later in Trịnh Hoài Đức's Gia Định thành thông chí (嘉定城通志 "Comprehensive Records about the Gia Định Citadel", c. 1820), Nam quốc địa dư giáo khoa thư (南國地輿教科書 "Textbook on the Geography of the Southern Country", 1908), etc.

Adrien Launay cites 1747 documents containing the toponyms: provincia Rai-gon (for Sài Gòn "Saigon"), Rai-gon thong (for *Sài Gòn thượng "Upper Saigon"), & Rai-gon-ha (for *Sài Gòn hạ "Lower Saigon").

It is probably a transcription of Khmer ព្រៃនគរ (prɨy nɔkɔɔ), or Khmer ព្រៃគរ (preykôr).

The proposal that Sài Gòn is from non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 堤岸 (“embankment”, SV: đê ngạn) (e.g. by Francis Garnier, Vương Hồng Sển, Cheng Zhenghong, etc.) has been critiqued as folk-etymological (e.g. by An Chi, 2016), as:

• (1) Garnier states that the Chinese settlement Tai-ngon or Tin-gan (i.e. 堤岸 Đê Ngạn ~ Đề Ngạn) – the Chinese name for Chợ Lớn – was found in 1778, yet the underlying toponym had possibly been known to Vietnamese as early as 1674, transcribed as 柴棍, then preserved in Phủ biên tạp lục (c. 1776);
• (2) 堤岸 has variant form 提岸, thus suggesting that both are not originals of but instead come from Sài Gòn.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [saːj˨˩ ɣɔn˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂaːj˦˩ ɣɔŋ˦˩] ~ [saːj˦˩ ɣɔŋ˦˩]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʂaːj˨˩ ɣɔŋ˨˩] ~ [saːj˨˩ ɣɔŋ˨˩]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

• Audio (Saigon):

  (file)

Proper noun

Sài Gòn • (柴棍)

1. (historical) Saigon
2. (informal, poetic) Ho Chi Minh City
3. (sông ～) A river in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung in southeastern Cambodia and empties into the Nhà Bè River, which in its turn empties into the South China Sea northeast of the Mekong Delta.
4. (informal) District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Synonyms

• (Saigon): Gia Định (historical), Sài Thành, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
• (Ho Chi Minh City): Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

Derived terms

• Sài Gòn–Gia Định

Descendants

• → Cantonese: 堤岸 (Tai⁴ ngon⁶), 西貢 / 西贡 (Sai¹ gung³)
• → English: Saigon
• → French: Saïgon
• → German: Saigon
• → Japanese: サイゴン (Saigon)
• → Khmer: សៃហ្គន (saygɔɔn)
• → Portuguese: Saigão

Gallery

• 
  Saigon 柴棍 written in Đại Việt địa dư toàn biên 大越地輿全編 (1900)
• 
  Saigon 柴棍 written in Thanh Nghệ Tĩnh tân văn 清乂靜新聞 (1934)
• 
  Sài Gòn 柴棍 written in Phủ biên tạp lục 撫邊雜錄 (1776), a geography text written by Lê Quý Đôn. (From right to left, the second column [characters 3-4] marked by the line.)
• 
  Sài Gòn 柴棍 in Gia Định thông chí 嘉定通志 (1820), (Characters 4-5 marked by an orange line in the middle column.)
• 
  Saigon is written here as 柴棍 along with other Southern Vietnamese cities. (On the left of the page, first row after "城庯三") in Nam quốc địa dư giáo khoa thư 南國地輿教科書 (1908)
• 
  Saigon 柴棍 written in Việt sử diễn nghĩa tứ tự ca 越史演義四字歌.