Sông Hồng

Vietnamese

Etymology

sông (“river”) +‎ hồng (“red”), calque of French fleuve Rouge. The Sinicized Hồng Hà was also calqued from the same source.

The native/colloquial name (tên Nôm) of the river was sông Cái, literally "great/big river"; this word was transliterated by the French as Song-Koï and Song-Coï. The literary name(s) (tên chữ) of the river was 珥水 (Nhị/Nhĩ thuỷ) (textual evidence) and 珥河 (Nhị/Nhĩ hà); both the readings nhĩ and nhị for the first character were in use, although nhị seems to be more common.

Since 紅河 (Hồng Hà) was adopted late (during the colonial period), it is not clear if it ever sufficiently replaced 珥水 (Nhị/Nhĩ thuỷ) and 珥河 (Nhị/Nhĩ hà) as the administrative tên chữ. Some of the earlier works attesting the spread of sông Hồng (Hà/Giang) as the vernacular name of the river including Nam Hải dị nhân liệt truyện (1909) and Việt Nam sử lược (1920). With the spread of sông Hồng, both the native tên Nôm sông Cái and the administrative-literary tên chữ 珥水 (Nhị/Nhĩ thuỷ)/珥河 (Nhị/Nhĩ hà) were rendered obsolete.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [səwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˦˩] ~ [səwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˦˩]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˨˩] ~ [səwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˨˩]

Proper noun

Sông Hồng

Red River (a river in northern Vietnam and Yunnan, southern China)

Synonyms

sông Thao, sông Cái, Nhị Hà, Nhĩ Hà

Derived terms

đồng bằng Sông Hồng