太平

chữ Hán form of Thái Bình.
(sông ~) A river in northern Vietnam.

chữ Hán form of Thái Bình.
A river in northern Vietnam.


sông

dòng (classifier)
con (classifier)
滝 (CJK)
瀧 (CJK)
𪷹 (CJK)

LL-Q9199 (vie)-Jessica Nguyen (Pamputt)-sông.wav

From Proto-Vietic *k-roːŋ (“river”), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *ruŋ ~ ruuŋ ~ ruəŋ (“river”). Cognate with Muong không (“river”), Bahnar krong (“river”), Pacoh cruang (“country; area, river valley”), Mon ကြုၚ် (krɜŋ, “small river, creek”).
Doublet of giang. Related to Chinese 江 (OC *kˤroŋ) (B-S) (SV: giang) and Acehnese kruëng.

cog

river (large stream which drains a landmass)


Sài Gòn

→ 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

[saːj˨˩ ɣɔn˨˩]

[ʂaːj˦˩ ɣɔŋ˦˩]

[saːj˦˩ ɣɔŋ˦˩]

[ʂaːj˨˩ ɣɔŋ˨˩]

[saːj˨˩ ɣɔŋ˨˩]

LL-Q9199 (vie)-Penn Zero MSSJ-Sài Gòn.wav

Ang Nan
Chey Chettha IV
Chợ Lớn
Citadel of Saigon
Francis Garnier
Lê Quý Đôn
Phủ biên tạp lục
Post-Angkor period
vi:Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

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 nɔɔnɔkɔɔ), 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.

bor

Khmer ព្រៃនគរ (prɨy nɔɔnɔkɔɔ)

der

SV: <i class="Latn mention" lang="vi">đê ngạn</i>

vi-etym-sino

(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.


Sông Hồng

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˨˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˦˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˦˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˨˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ həwŋ͡m˨˩]

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.

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


Ơ-phrát

[ʔəː˧˧ fɹaːt̚˧˦]

[ʔəː˧˧ fɹaːk̚˦˧˥]

[ʔəː˧˧ fɹaːk̚˦˥]


Ti-grơ

[ti˧˧ ɣɹəː˧˧]

[tɪj˧˧ ɣɹəː˧˧]

[tɪj˧˧ ɣɹəː˧˧]


Mĩ Tho

[mi˦ˀ˥ tʰɔ˧˧]

[mɪj˧˨ tʰɔ˧˧]

[mɪj˨˩˦ tʰɔ˧˧]

From Khmer ស្រុក (srok, “inhabited area”) + មេ (mee, “girl”) + ស (sɑɑ, “white”), literally "land of white girls". The first element was somehow dropped.

(sông ～) the Mỹ Tho River (a river in Vietnam)


Thái Bình

→ English: Thái Bình

[tʰaːj˧˦ ʔɓïŋ˨˩]

[tʰaːj˨˩˦ ʔɓɨn˦˩]

[tʰaːj˦˥ ʔɓɨn˨˩]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 太平 (“great peace”). Doublet of Thới Bình.


sông Cửu Long

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ kɨw˧˨ lawŋ͡m˧˧]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ kɨw˧˨ lɔŋ˧˧]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ kɨw˨˩˦ lawŋ͡m˧˧]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ kɨw˨˩˦ lawŋ͡m˧˧]

sông (“river”) + Cửu Long (九龍, “nine dragons”), literally “River of the Nine Dragons”, referring to the nine main distributaries of the Mekong in its lower reaches before it enters the sea.
An alternative theory holds that Cửu Long 九龍 (MC kjuwX ljowng) is essentially a disyllabified, Sino-Vietnamese phono-semantic matching of Proto-Vietic *k-roːŋ (“river”), whence Modern Vietnamese sông. Although this practice is widely attested (compare Dóng vs. Phù Đổng, Giầu vs. Phù Lưu, Trèm vs. Từ Liêm), the geographical remoteness from the Vietnamese heartland (Northern and North Central Vietnam) and the rather recent settlement history of Vietnamese speakers in the region may cast some doubt on the theory.

psm

The collective name for the distributaries of the Mekong River in Vietnam's territory.


xuôi

về xuôi

to go back to the lowlands where one came from


sông Hàn

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ haːn˨˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ haːŋ˦˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ haːŋ˦˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ haːŋ˨˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ haːŋ˨˩]

sông (“river”) + Cửa Hàn (“one of the old names of Đà Nẵng”). In the past, Hàn was written in chữ Hán as 瀚 (SV: hãn).
The eggcorn sense comes from confusion between Hán (漢, the character used for China/Han or the Han River in Korea) and Hàn (韓, the character used for the nation of (South) Korea).

com

the Hàn River (a river in Danang, Vietnam)


sông Hương

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ hɨəŋ˧˧]

the Perfume River (a river in Hue, Thừa Thiên Huế, Vietnam)


sông Đà

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗaː˨˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗaː˦˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗaː˦˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗaː˨˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗaː˨˩]

the Black River (a river in Vietnam, China)


tả ngạn

[taː˧˩ ŋaːn˧˨ʔ]

[taː˧˨ ŋaːŋ˨˩ʔ]

[taː˨˩˦ ŋaːŋ˨˩˨]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 左岸, composed of 左 (“left”) and 岸 (“bank”).

vi-etym-sino

the left bank (river bank to the left when facing downstream)


Thu Bồn

[tʰu˧˧ ʔɓon˨˩]

[tʰʊw˧˧ ʔɓoŋ˦˩]

[tʰʊw˧˧ ʔɓoŋ˨˩]

lưu vực Thu Bồn

(sông ～) A river in Quảng Nam province, Vietnam.


hữu ngạn

[hiw˦ˀ˥ ŋaːn˧˨ʔ]

[hɨw˧˨ ŋaːŋ˨˩ʔ]

[hɨw˨˩˦ ŋaːŋ˨˩˨]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 右岸, composed of 右 (“right”) and 岸 (“bank”).

the right bank (river bank to the right when facing downstream)


Bạch Đằng

[ʔɓajk̟̚˧˨ʔ ʔɗaŋ˨˩]

[ʔɓat̚˨˩ʔ ʔɗaŋ˦˩]

[ʔɓat̚˨˩˨ ʔɗaŋ˨˩]

(sông ～) A river in Quảng Ninh and Hải Phòng provinces, Vietnam.


sông Cái

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ kaːj˧˦]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ kaːj˨˩˦]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ kaːj˨˩˦]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ kaːj˦˥]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ kaːj˦˥]

sông (“river”) + cái (“mother”), literally "mother river", or, sông (“river”) + cái (“great, main”), means "Great River"; both interpretations might be correct, because both meanings are from the same etymology. This word was transliterated by the French as Song-Koï and Song-Coï.
This was the original name of the Red River, but later used to refer to many other rivers of Vietnam. May be related to other Vietnamese river names such as Cái Lớn, Cái Bé, Cái Mép, Cái Vùng, Cái Tàu and Cái Cối.
For some semantic parallels, compare Coptic ⲡⲉⲓⲉⲣⲟ (peiero), ⲫ̀ⲓⲁⲣⲟ (ph̀iaro, “the Nile”), Spanish Río Grande, Korean 한강(漢江) (han'gang, “Han river”) (where 漢 is a phonogram used to write the native Korean morpheme for "big", see Middle Korean 하다〮 (hàtá)).

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

A river in Quảng Nam province, Vietnam; main tributary of the Vu Gia River.

A river in Ninh Hoà, Khánh Hoà province, Vietnam

Cái River (a river in Nha Trang, Khánh Hoà province, Vietnam)


Đuống

(sông ~) A river in northern Vietnam, a distributary of the Red River and tributary of the Thái Bình River.


Cửu Long

[kɨw˧˨ lɔŋ˧˧]

[kɨw˨˩˦ lawŋ͡m˧˧]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 九龍. Literally, “nine dragons”.

the name of the Mekong and its distributaries flowing SE through Vietnam


sông Lô

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ lo˧˧]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ low˧˧]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ low˧˧]

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


sông Đồng Nai

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗəwŋ͡m˨˩ naːj˧˧]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗəwŋ͡m˦˩ naːj˧˧]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗəwŋ͡m˦˩ naːj˧˧]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗəwŋ͡m˨˩ naːj˧˧]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɗəwŋ͡m˨˩ naːj˧˧]

Đồng Nai River (a river in southern Vietnam)


sông Tiền

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ tiən˨˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ tiəŋ˦˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ tiəŋ˦˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ tiəŋ˨˩]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ tiəŋ˨˩]

Tiền River (a distributary of the Mekong River)


sông Hậu

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ həw˧˨ʔ]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ həw˨˩ʔ]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ həw˨˩ʔ]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ həw˨˩˨]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ həw˨˩˨]

sông (“river”) + hậu (“behind; rear; back”). Piecewise doublet of Hậu Giang.

com

Bassac River (a distributary of the Tonlé Sap and Mekong River)


Truồi

(sông ～) A river in Thừa Thiên Huế, Vietnam.


sông Chảy

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ t͡ɕaj˧˩]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ t͡ɕaj˧˨]

[səwŋ͡m˧˧ t͡ɕaj˧˨]

[ʂəwŋ͡m˧˧ ca(ː)j˨˩˦]

sông (“river”) + chảy (“to flow”).
A tên chữ (“literary name”) of this river was 㵢江 (now common read in Sino-Vietnamese as Lôi giang), where the first element is a phonogram for the verb trôi (“to float”).

Chảy River (a river in northern Vietnam)


Vu Gia

→ English: Vu Gia

[vʊw˧˧ jaː˧˧]

[vʊw˧˧ jaː˧˧]

[jʊw˧˧ jaː˧˧]

(sông ～) A river in Đại Lộc district, Quảng Nam province, Vietnam.


Yên

(sông ～) A river in Quảng Nam province and Da Nang, Vietnam.

(sông ～) A river in Thanh Hoá province, Vietnam.


Thạch Bồ

[tʰajk̟̚˧˨ʔ ʔɓo˨˩]

[tʰat̚˨˩ʔ ʔɓow˦˩]

[tʰat̚˨˩˨ ʔɓow˨˩]

(sông ～) Yên river (a river in Quảng Nam province and Da Nang, Vietnam).


Cẩm Lệ

[kəm˧˩ le˧˨ʔ]

[kəm˨˩˦ lej˨˩˨]

Originally the name of a fruit that was sold there: either a black-skinned bitter melon or a type of lychee. A folk etymology traces the name to the tears (Vietnamese: lệ) shed for a girl named Cẩm.

Near-synonym: sông Cầu Đỏ

(sông ～) A river in Da Nang, Vietnam, especially the part of that river that is entirely inside Cẩm Lệ district.


Cầu Đỏ

[kəw˨˩ ʔɗɔ˧˩]

[kəw˦˩ ʔɗɔ˧˨]

[kəw˨˩ ʔɗɔ˨˩˦]

cầu + đỏ, literally “red bridge”, from the name of one of the bridges spanning the river. This bridge used to be red, but is now white.

Near-synonym: sông Cẩm Lệ

(sông ～) A river in Da Nang, Vietnam, especially the part of that river that flows on the boundary between Hoà Vang district and Cẩm Lệ district.


Cà Lồ

head

Cà Lồ • (歌盧)

vi-proper noun

Cà Lồ • (歌盧)

(sông ～) A river in northern Vietnam, tributary of the Cầu River and former distributary of the Red River.


Tô Lịch

[to˧˧ lïk̟̚˧˨ʔ]

[tow˧˧ lɨt̚˨˩ʔ]

[tow˧˧ lɨt̚˨˩˨]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 蘇瀝. This is apparently a name of a Han Chinese bureaucrat who governed what is now Hanoi during the Second Era of Northern Domination (c. 4th century), later enshrined and worshiped by locals as a thành hoàng.


Luộc

(sông ～) A river in northern Vietnam, a tributary of the Thái Bình River.


Nhùng

(sông ～) A river in Quảng Trị, Vietnam, a tributary of the Vĩnh Định River.


Ngàn Sâu

[ŋaːn˨˩ səw˧˧]

[ŋaːŋ˦˩ ʂəw˧˧]

[ŋaːŋ˦˩ səw˧˧]

[ŋaːŋ˨˩ ʂəw˧˧]

[ŋaːŋ˨˩ səw˧˧]

(sông ～) A river in North Central Vietnam, a tributary of the La River.


Gianh

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 爭 (“to contest; to dispute”, SV: tranh). Doublet of giành.
The name probably alludes to the fact that, historically, this river formed a natural boundary between two Vietnamese warring states: Đàng Ngoài, led by the Trịnh lords, and Đàng Trong, led by the Nguyễn lords.

der

SV: <i class="Latn mention" lang="vi">tranh</i>

vi-etym-sino

(sông ～) A river in Quảng Bình, Vietnam.


Thạch Hãn

[tʰajk̟̚˧˨ʔ haːn˦ˀ˥]

[tʰat̚˨˩ʔ haːŋ˧˨]

[tʰat̚˨˩˨ haːŋ˨˩˦]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 石 (“stone”) and 瀚 (“vast”)


Nhật Lệ

[ɲət̚˧˨ʔ le˧˨ʔ]

[ɲək̚˨˩ʔ lej˨˩ʔ]

[ɲək̚˨˩˨ lej˨˩˨]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 日 (“sun”) and 麗 (“magnificent”).
Lý Tùng Hiếu (2014) attempts to connect this term to Eastern Cham Jriy.


Trà Khúc

[t͡ɕaː˨˩ xʊwk͡p̚˧˦]

[ʈaː˦˩ kʰʊwk͡p̚˦˧˥]

[ʈaː˦˩ xʊwk͡p̚˦˧˥]

[ʈaː˨˩ kʰʊwk͡p̚˦˥]

[ʈaː˨˩ xʊwk͡p̚˦˥]

(sông ～) A river in Quảng Ngãi, Vietnam.


Bồng Miêu

[ʔɓəwŋ͡m˨˩ miəw˧˧]

[ʔɓəwŋ͡m˦˩ miw˧˧]

[ʔɓəwŋ͡m˨˩ miw˧˧]

From Chamic, literally, “field of gold”. Compare Proto-Chamic *amah (“gold”).