Farang

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Farang (Thai: ฝรั่ง) is the generic Thai word for a foreigner of European ancestry. While generally farang is a neutral word, it can be used in a mocking manner, or even as an insult depending on the context. For instance, the expression farang ta nam khao ( listen (help·info); Thai: ฝรั่งตาน้ำข้าว - which literally means "farang with a rice-milk-colored iris") would be considered an insult. It is common in Thai to just say "farang" to point out the presence of one, without making a whole sentence. People of African descent have been occasionally referred to as farang dam Thai: ฝรั่งดำ (black farang).^[1]

Farang and food

Farang is also the Thai word for the guava fruit, which of course can lead to "farang eating farang" (Thai: ฝรั่งกินฝรั่ง) jokes from Thai people when foreigners are seen eating a guava in Thailand. This is because the guava was brought to then Siam by Portuguese traders over 400 years ago. The tree was thus called the farang fruit. Farang khi nok (Thai: ฝรั่งขี้นก) is a particular variety of guava, feijoa. Stingy or unruly foreigners may also be called Farang khi nok. This is usually taken to mean "bird-shit farang", as khi means waste and nok means (wild) bird; but, while khi nok may mean guano, it is also a species of fish, Diagramma pictum, a species of grunts Haemulidae.^[2]

Varieties of food/produce which were introduced by Europeans are often called 'farang' varieties. Hence, potatoes are man farang (Thai: มันฝรั่ง), whereas man (Thai: มัน) alone can be any variety tuber; culantro is called phak chi farang (Thai: ผักชีฝรั่ง, literally farang cilantro/coriander); and chewing gum is mak farang (Thai: หมากฝรั่ง). Mak (Thai: หมาก) is Thai for betel, which many rural Thais chew for the euphoria it gives. When chewing gum was introduced, it was labeled mak farang, from association with a "chew".

In the Isan Lao dialect, the guava is called mak sida (Thai: มักสีดา) or bak sida (Thai: บักสีดา); the latter may also refer to a farang.^[3]

Origins and related words

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A popular theory of the word's origin derives it from farangset, the Thai pronunciation of français, the French word for 'French' or 'Frenchman'. France was one of the first European nations to establish cultural ties with Thailand in the 17th century, so to Thais at that time, 'white man' and 'Frenchman' were synonymous. However, the Portuguese, Dutch and others arrived long before the French, which makes that origin unlikely. A few others have suggested that in the Ayutthaya period, land was given to the Portuguese merchants to conduct their businesses at their "Ban Farang" (Guava Village).^{[citation needed]}

Another common etymology, which explains why many other Southern Asian and Southeast Asian languages use the word, has to do with the French but in a more indirect way, saying that it derives from the earlier Persian word farangi, 'foreigners'. This in turn comes from the word Frank via the Arabic word firinjia, which was used refer to the Franks, a West Germanic tribe that became the biggest political power in Western Europe during the early Middle Ages and from which France derives its name.

By another account the word comes through Arabic ("Afrandj"), and there are quite a few articles about this. One of the most detailed treatments of the subject is by Rashid al-din Fazl Allâh^[4].

Farang is closely related to the Khmer word barang.

In Tamil, the word that refers to Europeans (most specifically to the British) is parangiar, presumably because Tamil does not have the "F" sound. Many South Asian and Southeast Asian languages, including Hindi-Urdu also use this word to denote foreigners. In Malaysia however, the term "mat salleh" or "orang putih (white person)" is commonly used to denote foreigners of Caucasian descent whereas many of the Southeast Asian Chinese who speak the Min Nan language, use the term ang mo, meaning red hair.

Farang in Pop Culture

Weezer frontman and song writer Rivers Cuomo adorns a sticker of Farang on his maroon Gibson SG and can often be seen used at live performances.

See also

• List of slang terms for white people in non-Western countries
• Barang
• Farangi
• Firang
• Franks: Legacy
• Luk kreung

References

1. ^ "Farang ฝรั่ง". Bangkok Diaries. 12 June 2008. http://www.bangkokdiaries.com/2008/06/12/farang/. Retrieved 28 December 2009. "Farang is most commonly used to describe white Westerners although black people from the US or UK (or other Western countries) may also be referred to as farang or farang dam (black farang)." 
2. ^ ThaiSoftware Dictionary Version 5.5 by ThaiSoftware Enterprise Co., Lrd. www.thaisoftware.co.th www.thaisoft.com
3. ^ "Isaan Dialect". SiamSmile. Page last updated Dec 2009. http://siamsmile.webs.com/isaan/isaan.html. Retrieved 28 December 2009. "SEE-DA สีดา BAK-SEE-DA บักสีดา or MAHK-SEE-DA หมากสีดา. Guava fruit; Foreigner (white, Western.) BAK is ISAAN for mister; SEE-DA สีดา, BAK-SEE-DA and MAHK-SEE-DA are Isaan for the Guava fruit." 
4. ^ Karl Jahn (ed.) Histoire Universelle de Rasid al-Din Fadl Allah Abul=Khair: I. Histoire des Francs (Texte Persan avec traduction et annotations), Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1951. (Source: M. Ashtiany)

External links

• German language bi-monthly magazine, published by: Der FARANG, 576/25 Moo 5, Photisarn Rd. Chonburi 20150, Pattaya, Thailand
• The Thai word "Farang", its variations in other languages, and its Arabic origin

• Corness, Dr. Iain (2009). Farang. Dunboyne: Maverick House Publishers. ISBN 978-1-905379-42-2.