Phnom Penh 1904. Credit: WikiCommons

Alfred Raquez
May 2019

Whenever the venerable monk goes abroad in a coach, everyone squats as he passes along the street. This is a sign of veneration in Cambodia.

The native courthouse is nearby. A hearing is coming to an end. Both parties in a civil case are still sitting on their mats, and the three native judges are at their table. The president of the court shakes us by the hand and leads us on a visit of the remand jail. It is a kind of police station, with camp beds. There are four or five prisoners in each section. Although only on remand, they are in irons on one foot. The fairly light chain is left free during the day. But at night, one end is attached to a ring set into the ground or the wall.

We wake to the clang of metal. In the street, men are doing corvée. They are bound at the ankles by iron shackles linked by a fairly loose chain that will not hamper their movements excessively. A rope tied around their waist allows them to lift the chain in the middle and thus walk without too much difficulty. These are Cambodian convicts. There is only one kind of punishment: jail, for terms of varying lengths.

Here is a splendid spread of offal, which a boy fans continuously to keep the flies at bay. The offerings are displayed in large bowls; everything is very clean and as carefully ordered as on the best offal stands in our own Halles Centrales. Barbers work side by side with money changers, who count ligatures of sapeques*, and mobile food vendors around whom squatting coolies enjoy jellies and spicy stews.

Phnom Penh has two etymologies. Some claim that it means “full mountain”, while others argue instead, and with greater likelihood, that it recalls a wealthy widow named Penh who had this phnom, or artificial mount, erected and surmounted by a pyramid to atone for the sins committed by her husband. In his admirably exhaustive work on Cambodia, Mr Moura reports being shown a tenth-century text in which it is mentioned that this phnom was erected in the year of Pra Put Sacrach 1529 (985 or 986 AD).

full https://mekongreview.com/phnom-penh/

Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2019 11:45 am Phnom Penh has two etymologies. Some claim that it means “full mountain”, while others argue instead, and with greater likelihood, that it recalls a wealthy widow named Penh who had this phnom, or artificial mount, erected and surmounted by a pyramid to atone for the sins committed by her husband.

Phnom Penh does literally mean “full mountain.”

Some people have names which are also words with meanings. In English, you have Rose, for example. Legend has it, it was named after lady Penh.

I have heard, the Phnom was, what is known today as Wat Phnom. It seems it was before it had a Wat on it.

Many Cambodians have never heard the story of lady Penh, which does not prove or disprove it.

There are also different variations of the story.

If someone else has heard a different legend, that is OK. It happened so long ago, none of us were here to see it.