The name of the Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly known as Kampuchea, ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា Preăh Réachéa Nachâk Kâmpŭchea, derives from Sanskrit Kambujadeśa "land of the Kambuja".
In Chinese historical accounts the land was not known by this name but as Chenla.
The Indic name Kambuja or Kamvuja is attested epigraphically in Indochina. A story recorded in the Baksei Chamkrong inscription, dated AD 947, says that word Kambuja derives from the name of Svayambhuva Kambu, a learned prince from Arya-desa who reached the Indochina peninsula, married a nymph named Mera and founded the Kambuja or Kamboja dynasty in Southeast Asia.[1][2][3].
An alternative view is that the ethonym "Kamboja", originally applying to a tribe living to the north-west of India, took on a general meaning "casteless" and was then applied by Hindu settlers to local populations in South East Asia.[4]
See also
- Kamboja (name)
- Migration of Kambojas
- Indianized kingdoms
References
- ^ Elliot Tepper, Southeast Asian Exodus: From Tradition to Resettlement, 1980, p 36
- ^ George T. McWhorter, Burroughs Dictionary: An Alphabetical List of Proper Names, Words, Phrases, 1987, p 200
- ^ George Coedes, Inscriptions du Cambodge, II, pp. 10, 155
- ^ Thion, Serge "On some Cambodian Words" Thai-Yunnan Project Newsletter No. 20. Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. [1]
External links
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