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Farang

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This article is about the Persian word. For the village in Iran, seeFarang, Iran."Farangi" redirects here. For the 1964 Pakistani film, seeFarangi (film)."Folangji" redirects here. For the gun also known as "folangji" in Ming China, seeBreech-loading swivel gun."Falang" redirects here. Not to be confused withFalange,barang,orparang.
Depiction offarangas a stone guard atWat PhoinBangkok;circa 1824–1851

Farang(Persian:فرنگ) is aPersianword that originally referred to theFranks(the majorGermanic people) andlater came to refertoWestern or Latin Europeansin general. The word is borrowed from Old Frenchfrancor Latinfrancus,which are also the source of Modern EnglishFrance, French.

The Western European and Islamic worlds came into prolonged contact with each other during thecrusadesand the establishment of theCrusader states.Many crusaders spoke (Old) French and were from the territory of modern France; while others came from other regions, such as modern Italy or England. In any case, the period predated the idea of thenation statein Europe.Frankor its equivalent term were used by bothMedieval Greeksand Muslims to refer to any crusader or Latin Christian. From the 12th century onwards, it was the standard term for Western Christians in the Muslim world.

Through Muslim trading networks, the Persian termfarangand related words such asFrangistan(Persian:فرنگستان) were spread to languages ofSouth AsiaandSoutheast Asia.

Name

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ThePersianwordfarang(فرنگ) orfarangī(فرنگی), refers toFranks,the majorGermanictribe rulingWestern Europe.Frangistan(Persian:فرنگستان) was a term used by Muslims andPersiansin particular, during theMiddle Agesand later periods, to refer toWestern or Latin Europe.According toRashid od-Din Fazl ol-Lāh-e Hamadāni,ArabicwordAfranjcomes from thePersianfarang.[1]This seems unlikely though, considering that the Arabic 'al-Faranj' or 'Afranj' has been attested since the 9th century, in the works ofal-JahizandYa'qubi,a century before 'Farang' was first used in an anonymous late 10th century Persian geography book,[2]suggesting that the Persian 'Farang' is a loan from Arabic. By the 11th century, Arabic texts were increasingly using the term 'Faransa' or 'al-Faransiyah', already attested in the work of Said al-Andalusi in the mid 11th century.

In the languages ofEthiopiaandEritrea,faranjorferenjin most contexts still means distant foreigner (generally used to describeEuropeans or European descendant/white people), in certain contexts within the Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora, the termfaranjorferenjhas taken on a slightly alternative meaning that closely resembles the termWesterner or Westernized peopleeven though it still mostly applies toEuropean descendants/White People,it can be applied toAfrican Americansand otherWesternized People of Color.During the MuslimMughal Empirewhen the Europeans arrived inSouth Asia,thePersianword Farang was used to refer to foreigners of European descent. The words also added to local languages such asHindi/Urduasfirangi(Devanāgarī:फिरंगी and Urdu فرنگی) andBengaliasfiringi(ফিরিঙ্গি). The word was pronouncedparanki(പറങ്കി) inMalayalam,parangiarinTamil,andMalayasferenggi[citation needed].From there the term spread into China asfolangji( Farangi ), which was used to refer to the Portuguese and theirbreech-loading swivel gunswhen they first arrived in China.

Other uses

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South Asia

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InBangladeshandWest Bengal,the modern meaning offiringi(ফিরিঙ্গি) refers toAnglo-Bengalisor Bengalis with European ancestry. Mostfiringis tend to beBengali Christians.Descendants offiringis who married local Bengali women may also be referred to asKalo Firingis (Black firingis) orMatio Firingis(Earth-coloured firingis).[3]Following thePortuguese settlement in Chittagong,the Portuguese fort and naval base came to be known as Firingi Bandar or the Foreigner's Port. There are also places such as Firingi Bazaar which exist in older parts ofDhakaand Chittagong. The descendants of these Portuguese traders inChittagongcontinue to be referred to asFiringis.[4]The Indianbiographical filmAntony Firingeewas very popular in the mid-20th century and was based onAnthony Firingee– a Bengali folk singer of Portuguese origin. There is alsoa riverin theSundarbanscalled Firingi River.

InTeluguphirangi(ఫిరంగి) means cannon, due to cannons being an import.

In theMaldivesfaranjiwas the term used to refer to foreigners of European origin, especially theFrench.Until recently the lane next to the Bastion in the northern shore ofMaléwas called Faranji Kalō Gōlhi.[5]

Southeast Asia

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TheRoyal Institute Dictionary 2011,the official dictionary of Thai words, defines the word as "aperson of white race".[6]The term is also blended into everyday terms meaning "of/from the white race" such as:man farang(Thai:มันฝรั่ง;"farangyam") meaningpotato,no mai farang(Thai:หน่อไม้ฝรั่ง;"farangshoot") meaningasparagus,andachan farang(Thai:อาจารย์ฝรั่ง;"farangprofessor ") which is the nickname of the influential figure in Thai art history, Italian art professorSilpa Bhirasri.[6]

Edmund Roberts,US envoy in 1833, defined the term as "Frank(or European) ".[7]Black peopleare calledfarang dam(Thai:ฝรั่งดำ;'black farang') to distinguish them from whites. This began during theVietnam War,when theUnited States militarymaintained bases in Thailand. The practice continues in present-day Bangkok.[8]

Farangis also theThaiword for theguavafruit, introduced byPortuguese tradersover 400 years ago.[9]

Farang khi nok(Thai:ฝรั่งขี้นก,lit. 'bird-droppings Farang'), also used inLao,is slang commonly used as an insult to a person of white race, equivalent towhite trash,askhimeansfecesandnokmeans bird, referring to the white color of bird-droppings.[10]

Varieties of food/produce that were introduced by Europeans are often calledfarangvarieties. Hence,potatoesareman farang(Thai:มันฝรั่ง), whereasman(Thai:มัน) alone can be anytuber;culantrois calledphak chi farang(Thai:ผักชีฝรั่ง,literally farang cilantro/coriander); and chewing gum ismak farang(Thai:หมากฝรั่ง).Mak(Thai:หมาก) is Thai forarecanut;chewingmaktogether withbetel leaves(baiphlu)was a Thai custom.

In theIsanLao dialect, the guava is calledmak sida(Thai:หมากสีดา),makbeing a prefix for fruit names. Thusbak sida(Thai:บักสีดา),bakbeing a prefix when calling males, refersjokinglyto a Westerner, by analogy to the Thai language wherefarangcan mean both guava and Westerner.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^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)
  2. ^Dabashi, Hamid (16 January 2020).Reversing the Colonial Gaze: Persian Travelers Abroad.Cambridge University Press. p. 68.ISBN9781108488129.The earliest source in which the word farang appears in Persian is actually by the anonymous author ofHudud al-'Alam/Boundaries of the Worldfrom the tenth century, and even before in Arabic in the works of Al-Jahiz (776–869), as in the expression "King of Farang" or the region of "Farang."
  3. ^Hasan Osmany, Shireen."Chittagong City".Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh.Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  4. ^Bangladesh Channel Services."Explore the wonders of Chittagong in Bangladesh".Retrieved11 July2015.
  5. ^"Royal House of Hilaaly-Huraa".Archived fromthe originalon 2021-02-11.Retrieved2015-12-13.
  6. ^abพจนานุกรม ฉบับราชบัณฑิตยสถาน พ.ศ. 2542[Royal Institute Dictionary 1999] (in Thai).Royal Institute of Thailand.2007. Archived fromthe originalon 2009-03-03.Retrieved2014-04-05.ฝรั่ง ๑ [ฝะหฺรั่ง] น. ชนชาติผิวขาว; คําประกอบชื่อสิ่งของบางอย่างที่มาจากต่างประเทศซึ่งมีลักษณะคล้ายของไทย เช่น ขนมฝรั่ง ละมุดฝรั่ง มันฝรั่ง ตะขบฝรั่ง ผักบุ้งฝรั่ง แตรฝรั่ง.
  7. ^Roberts, Edmund (1837) [First published in 1837]. "Chapter XIX 1833 Officers of Government".Embassy to the Eastern courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat: in the U. S. sloop-of-war Peacock... during the years 1832-3-4(Digital ed.). Harper & brothers.RetrievedMarch 29,2012.Connected with this department is that of the Farang-khromma-tha, "Frank (or European) commercial board
  8. ^Diana Ozemebhoy, Eromosele (26 May 2015)."Being Black in Thailand: We're Treated Better Than Africans, and Boy Do We Hate It".The Root.pp. 1–2. Archived fromthe originalon 29 May 2015.Retrieved26 May2015.
  9. ^"ฝรั่ง คืออะไร แปลภาษา แปลว่า หมายถึง (พจนานุกรมไทย-ไทย อ.เปลื้อง ณ นคร)".dictionary.sanook.Retrieved2018-12-15.
  10. ^"ฝรั่งขี้นก คืออะไร แปลภาษา แปลว่า หมายถึง (พจนานุกรมไทย-ไทย ราชบัณฑิตยสถาน)".dictionary.sanook.Retrieved2018-12-15.
  11. ^"Isaan Dialect".SiamSmile. Dec 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 16 March 2010.Retrieved28 December2009.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.

Further reading

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  • Corness, Dr Iain (2009).Farang.Dunboyne: Maverick House Publishers.ISBN978-1-905379-42-2.
  • Marcinkowski, Dr Christoph (2005).From Isfahan to Ayutthaya: Contacts between Iran and Siam in the 17th Century. With a foreword by Professor Ehsan Yarshater, Columbia University, New York.Singapore: Pustaka Nasional.ISBN9971-77-491-7.
  • Kitiarsa, P. (2011). An ambiguous intimacy: Farang as Siamese occidentalism. In R. V. Harrison & P. A. Jackson (Eds.), The ambiguous allure of the West: Traces of the colonial in Thailand (pp. 57–74). Hong Kong Univ. Press; Silkworm Books.
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