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Mueang (Ahom:𑜉𑜢𑜤𑜂𑜫;Thai:เมืองmɯ̄ang,pronounced[mɯaŋ˧]listenⓘ),Muang (Lao:ເມືອງmɯ́ang,pronounced[mɯaŋ˦]),Möng (Tai Nuea: ᥛᥫᥒᥰmöeng;Shan:မိူင်းmóeng,pronounced[məŋ˦]),Meng (Chinese:猛 or 勐) orMường (Vietnamese) were pre-modern semi-independentcity-states orprincipalities inmainland Southeast Asia, adjacent regions ofNortheast India andSouthern China, including what is nowThailand,Laos,Burma,Cambodia, parts of northernVietnam, southernYunnan, westernGuangxi andAssam.
Mueang was originally a term in theTai languages for atown having adefensive wall and a ruler with at least the Thai noble rank ofkhun (ขุน), together with its dependent villages.[1][2][3]Themandala model of political organisation organised states in collective hierarchy such that smaller mueang were subordinate to more powerful neighboring ones, which in turn were subordinate to a central king or other leader. The more powerful mueang (generally designated aschiang,wiang,nakhon, orkrung – withBangkok asKrung Thep MahaNakhon) occasionally tried to liberate themselves from theirsuzerain and could enjoy periods of relative independence. Mueang large and small often shiftedallegiance, and frequently paidtribute to more than one powerful neighbor – the most powerful of the period beingMing China.
FollowingKublai Khan's defeat of theDali Kingdom of theBai people in 1253 and its establishment as a tutelary state, new mueang were founded widely throughout theShan States and adjoining regions – though the common description of this as a "mass migration" is disputed.[4] Following historical Chinese practice, tribal leaders principally in Yunnan were recognized by theYuan as imperial officials, in an arrangement generally known as theTusi ("Native Chieftain") system.Ming andQing-era dynasties gradually replaced native chieftains with non-native Chinese government officials.
In the 19th century, Thailand'sChakri dynasty andBurma's colonial andsubsequent military rulers did much the same with their lesser mueang, but, while thepetty kingdoms are gone, the place names remain.
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Place names inSouthwestern Tai languages
In Khmer, "moeang" (មឿង) is a word borrowed from the Thai language meaning "small city" or "small town."[5] Usually used as a place name for villages.
The placename "mueang" is written inChinese characters as勐, 孟;měng, which is equivalent toTai Nüa:ᥛᥫᥒᥰ andTai Lü:ᦵᦙᦲᧂ, both of which are spoken inChina.
| Script in English | Name inTai Nuea | Name inTai Lue | Script in Chinese | Common used name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muang Mao[6] | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ[7] | 勐卯 | Ruili | |
| Muang Khon[6] | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥑᥩᥢᥴ[7] | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦃᦸᧃ[8] | 勐焕 | Mangshi |
| Muang Wan[6] | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥝᥢᥰ[7] | 勐宛 | Longchuan | |
| Muang Ti[6] | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥖᥤᥰ[7] | 勐底 | Lianghe | |
| Muang La[6] | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥣᥲ[7] | 勐腊 | Yingjiang | |
| Meng La | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦟᦱ | 勐拉 | Simao | |
| Meng La | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦟᦱᧉ | 勐腊 | Mengla | |
| Meng Hai | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥞᥣᥭᥰ[7] | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦣᦻ[8] | 勐海 | Menghai |
| Meng Lem | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥥᥛᥰ[7] | 孟连 | Menglian | |
| Meng Keng | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥐᥪᥒ[7] | 勐耿 | Gengma | |
| Meng Long | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥨᥒ[9]: 221 | Longling | ||
| Meng Meng | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥫᥒᥰ[7] | 勐勐 | Shuangjiang | |
| Meng Lam | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥣᥛᥰ[7] | 勐朗 | Lancang | |
| Meng Thong | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥗᥨᥒᥴ[7] | 勐统 | Changning | |
| Meng Tsung | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥓᥧᥒᥰ[7] | Yuanjiang | ||
| Meng Then | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥗᥦᥢᥴ[7] | Fengqing | ||
| Meng Men | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥦᥢᥰ[7] | 勐缅 | Tengchong orLincang | |
| Mongsee[10] | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥔᥥᥴ[7] | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦵᦉ[8] | Kunming | |
| Meng Ha | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥑᥣᥰ[7] | Kejie Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Ha | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥑᥣᥴ[7] | Wandian Dai Ethnic Township [zh] | ||
| Meng Khe | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥑᥫᥰ[7] | Lujiang Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Yueng | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥒᥤᥛᥰ[7] | 勐允 | Shangyun Town [zh] | |
| Meng Tse | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥓᥥ[7] | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦵᦵᦋᧈ | 勐遮 | Mengzhe Town [zh] |
| Meng Hsa | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥔᥣᥴ[7] | 勐撒 | Mengsa Town [zh] | |
| Meng Yang | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥕᥣᥒᥰ[7] | 勐养 | Mengyang Town [zh] | |
| Meng Tung | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥖᥧᥛᥰ[7] | 勐董 | Mengdong | |
| Meng Ten | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥖᥦᥢᥰ[7] | 勐典 | Mengdian (a place inYingjiang County) | |
| Meng Ting | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥖᥤᥒ[7] | 孟定 | Mengding Town [zh] | |
| Meng Lim | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥤᥛᥴ[7] | Huangcao-Ba (黄草坝, a place inLongling County) | ||
| Meng Long | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥨᥒ[7] | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦷᦟᧂ[8] | 勐龙 | Menglong Town [zh] |
| Meng Loong | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥩᥒᥴ[7] | 勐弄 | Mengnong Township [zh] | |
| Meng Mo | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥨᥝᥱ[7] | 勐磨 | Jiucheng Township | |
| Meng Ham | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥞᥛᥰ[7] | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦣᧄ[8] | 勐罕 | Menghan Town [zh] |
| Meng Heu | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥞᥥᥝᥰ[11] | 勐秀 | Mengxiu Township | |
| Meng Ka | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥐᥣ | 勐戛 | Mengga | |
| Meng Yue | 勐约 | Mengyue Township [zh] | ||
| Meng Peng | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦘᦳᧂ | 勐捧 | Mengpeng Town [zh] | |
| Meng Dui | 勐堆 | Mengdui Township [zh] | ||
| Meng Ku | 勐库 | Mengku Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Yoong | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥕᥩᥒᥰ[12] | 勐永 | MengYong Town [zh] | |
| Meng Keng | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥐᥦᥒᥰ[12] | 勐简 | Mengjian Township [zh] | |
| Meng Seng | ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥔᥫᥒᥴ[12] | 勐省 | Mengsheng | |
| Meng Jiao | 勐角 | Mengjiao Dai, Yi and Lahu People Township | ||
| Meng Nuo | 勐糯 | Mengnuo Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Xian | 勐先 | Mengxian Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Nong | 孟弄 | Mengnong Yi Ethnic Township [zh] | ||
| Meng Ban | 勐班 | Mengban Township | ||
| Meng Da | 勐大 | Mengda Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Lie | 勐烈 | Menglie Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Ma | 勐马 | Mengma Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Suo | 勐梭 | Mengsuo Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Ka | 勐卡 | Mengka Town [zh] | ||
| Meng La | 勐拉 | Mengla Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Qiao | 勐桥 | Mengqiao Township [zh] | ||
| Meng Wang | 勐旺 | Mengwang Township, Jinghong [zh] | ||
| Meng Hun | 勐混 | Menghun Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Man | 勐满 | Mengman Town [zh] | ||
| Meng A | 勐阿 | Meng'a Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Song | 勐宋 | Mengsong Township [zh] | ||
| Meng Wang | 勐往 | Mengwang Township, Menghai [zh] | ||
| Meng Lun | 勐仑 | Menglun Town [zh] | ||
| Meng Ban | 勐伴 | Mengban Town [zh] |
Laos is colloquially known asMuang Lao, but forLao people, the word conveys more than mere administrative district. The usage is of special historic interest for the Lao; in particular for their traditional socio-political and administrative organisation, and the formation of their early(power) states,[13] described by later scholars asMandala (Southeast Asian political model).Provinces of Laos are now subdivided into what are commonly translated asdistricts of Laos, with some retaining Muang as part of the name:
Thailand is colloquially known asMueang Thai. After theThesaphiban reforms of PrinceDamrong Rajanubhab, city-states underSiam were organized intomonthon (มณฑล, Thai translation ofmandala), which was changed tochangwat (จังหวัด) in 1916.[15]Mueang still can be found as the term for the capital districts of the provinces (amphoe mueang), as well as for a municipal status equivalent to town (thesaban mueang). In standard Thai, the term for the country of Thailand is ประเทศไทย, rtgs: Prathet Thai.
Mueang still forms part of theplacenames of a few places, notablyDon Mueang District, home toDon Mueang International Airport; and in theRoyal Thai General System of TranscriptionMueang Phatthaya (เมืองพัทยา) for theself-governing municipality ofPattaya.
Nakhon (นคร) as meaning "city" has been modified tothesaban nakhon (เทศบาลนคร), usually translated as "citymunicipality". It still forms part of the name of some places.
Sung Noen District is noted for having been the site of two ancient cities: Mueang Sema and Khorakhapura.Palipúra becameSanskritpuri, henceThaiบุรี, บูรี,[16] (buri) all connoting the same as Thaimueang: city with defensive wall.[17] "Khorakhapura" was nicknamed "Nakhon Raj," which as aportmanteau with Sema, became Nakhon Ratchasima.[18] Though dropped from the name of this mueang, Sanskritburi persists in the names of others.
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Müang Fai is a termreconstructed fromProto-Tai, the common ancestor of allTai languages. In theGuangxi-Guizhou of Southern China region, the term described what was then a unique type of irrigation engineering forwet-rice cultivation.Müang meaning 'irrigation channel, ditch, canal' andFai, 'dike, weir, dam.' together referred to gravitational irrigation systems for directing water from streams and rivers.[19]The Proto-Tai language is not directly attested by any surviving texts, but has been reconstructed using thecomparative method. This term hasProto-Tai-tone A1. All A1 words are rising tone in modern Thai and Lao, following rules determined fortone origin. Accordingly, the term is:
Differentlinguistic tones give different meanings; scholarship has not established a link between this term and any of the terms which differ in tone.
Mueang conveys many meanings, all having to do with administrative, social, political and religious orientation on wet-rice cultivation. The origin of the wordmueang yet remains obscure. In October 2007, TheNational Library of Laos, in collaboration with theBerlin State Library and theUniversity of Passau, started a project to produce the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts. Papers presented at the Literary Heritage of Laos Conference, held inVientiane in 2005, have also been made available. Many of the mss. illuminate the administrative, social, political, and religious demands put on communities in the same watershed area that insured a high degree of cooperation to create and maintain irrigation systems (müang-faai) – which probably was the primary reason for foundingmueang.[22]
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Kham Mueang (Thai:คำเมือง) is the modern spoken form of the oldNorthern Thai language that was the language of the kingdom ofLan Na (Million Fields).Central Thai may callnorthern Thai people and their languageThai Yuan. They call their languageKham Mueang in whichKham means language or word;mueang; town, hence the meaning of "town language," specifically in contrast to those of the manyhill tribe peoples in the surrounding mountainous areas.[23]
khun : ruler of a fortified town and its surrounding villages, together called a mu'ang. In older sources the prefix ph'o ("father") is sometimes used as well.
Examples of the first aresöaṅ, the name of Ram Khamhaeng's mother, andmöaṅ. Khun Phasit said that these terms should in fact be read as /söŋ/ and /möŋ/....
...Lord Sam Chon, the ruler of Müang Chot, came to attack Müang Tak....
The use of the wordmüang is of special historic interest for the Lao; in particular for their traditional socio-political and administrative organisation, and the formation of their early (power) states.
บุรี; บูรี /บุ-รี; บู-รี/ Pali: ปุร [นาม] เมือง
8278 púra noun. fortress, town, gynaeceum
Nakhon Ratchasima was originally two separate cities namely Khorakhapura (also called Nakhon Raj) and Sema.... The present city of Nakhon Ratchasima, whose name is a portmanteau of Nakhon Raj and Sema, was established by King Narai (1656-88) as the eastern frontier of his kingdom centered on Ayutthaya.
Abstract. By integrating linguistic information and physical geographic features in aGIS environment, this paper maps the spatial variation of terms connected with wet-rice farming of Tai minority groups in southern China and shows that the primary candidate of origin for proto-Tai is in the region of Guangxi-Guizhou, not Yunnan or the middle Yangtze River region as others have proposed....
However, being wet-rice growing societies, Taibaan could not have sustained themselves in isolation, but were dependent to a high degree on water irrigation that demands cooperation of severalbaan communities being situated in one and the same watershed area. The organisation of cooperation of a number ofbaan in irrigation works, historically, probably was the primary reason for foundingmüang, that is a group of severalbaan managing one common irrigation system (müang-faai), and generally worshipping the same territorial guardian spirit (phii müang) and ancestral spirits.
The reason why they called this language 'Kammuang' is because they used this language in the towns where they lived together, which were surrounded by mountainous areas where there were many hill tribe people.
The dictionary definition ofmueang at Wiktionary