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Posted this on another forum a couple of years back, but seems to have been deleted.


Banteay Meanchey = "Fortress of Victory"

Battambang = "Loss of Staff"

Kampong Cham = "Port of the Chams"

Kampong Chhnang = "Port of Pottery"

Kampong Saom = "Agreeable Port"

Kampong Speu = "Port of the Starfruit"

Kampong Thom = "Grand Port"

Kampot = "Tetraodontidae" (Blowfish)

Kandal = "Central"

Kep = "Saddle of the Horse"

Koh Kong = "Kŏng Island"

Kratié = "Powder Cosmetic"

Mondulkiri = "Mountain of the Mandala". [Maṇḍala (मण्डल) a Sanskrit word meaning "circle".]

Oddar Meanchey = "Victorious Northwest"

Pailin = "Otters playing"

Phnom Penh = "Penh's Hill"

Preah Vihear = "Sacred Sanctuary"

Prey Veng = "Grand forest" or "Long forest"

Pursat = "Drifting Bodhi"

Ratanakiri = "Mountain Gems"

Siem Reap = "Defeat of Siam"

Stung Treng = "River of Reeds"

Svay Rieng = "Aligned Mangoes"

Ta Khmao = "Black Grandfather"

Takéo = "Crystal grandfather"

Tbong Khmum = "Amber"



[Disclaimer: The above is all from Wikipedia. Wikipedia is on the internet. So it must be true!]

You forgot Tboung khmoum!
Means honey precious stone or honey gem (khmoum being honey). I dont think it refers to a specific gem, I but I have no clue as I really know nothing about gems.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:You forgot Tboung khmoum!
Means honey precious stone or honey gem (khmoum being honey). I dont think it refers to a specific gem, I but I have no clue as I really know nothing about gems.

Ha Ha. I don't think that existed when I made the list. Anyway, list updated.


Tbong Khmum, ខេត្តត្បូងឃ្មុំ
The province's name consists of two words in Khmer, tboung (gem, precious jewel) and khmum (bee), which together mean "amber". (Wikipedia)

I've just asked a khmer friend and apparently Tboung also refers to the top part of a bee hive (where it's attached to a tree branch, for example). It's often called "kbal khmoum" (head of a bee hive, sombok khmoum being beehive), but in everyday khmer they also call it Tboung. Might be related as well. I've been told here it doesn't actually refer to a gem/amber colour (gems in kampong cham?!), but rather to the head of a beehive. Maybe wiki is wrong... Might be time to go see a linguist/historian from the ministry of geography, haha. LTO, you busy next week?

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: Maybe wiki is wrong...

Well, they are inconsistent! Throughout the article the spelling changes from Tboung to Tbong, and back and forth.

404 Not Known

That might be a joke, but I often heard Cambodians commenting that the name is built on the word "kro" (poor) and "ches" (to know, to have knowledge).
And so they would say not to look down on the poor because they also have knowledge of their own.

Yeah, pretty sure that's a joke...

The Lemon Dictionary entry for "Kratie / ក្រចេះ" states: "a kind of tree having an aromatic heartwood which is crushed to make a perfumed powder."

So I guess that's just the name of the tree.

Domdek = smashing (specialized) steel
Mondulkiri = Mountain place