Re: CHAT: silly names

D. Tse wrote:
-->Then again, there's the official name for Bangkok, capital of Thailand
which
>is a bit dubious:
>
>krungthephphranamhanakhon bowonratanakosin mahintharayuthaya
>mahadilokphiphobnovpharad radchataniburirom udomsantisug>

Why dubious?  Probably on a par with the official name of Los Angeles:  La
Ciudad de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles, or some such.   IIRC "krung
theph" appears on some maps as the native name of Bangkok (where did that
come from??); a lot of this is probably Thai-ized Sanskrit-- mah(a)-
'great', lok 'world' (bowon may be a synonym, on the basis of Javanese/Skt.
buwono-- the Sultan of Yogyakarta is known as Pakubuwono "Nail of the
world");  radcha 'king' (raja), buri 'city, fortress'; ayuthaya was an early
king of Siam, sometimes spelled Ayodhya.  (wish I knew more Thai)