Barang
Encyclopedia
For the Filipino term, see Barang (Philippine mythology)
Barang (Philippine mythology)
Barang is a Cebuano term taken to mean all forms of malign magic or sorcery. In Tagalog, the word is used to refer to small insects and beetles, especially the fungus beetle. At least one source identifies the specific species of this beetle as Alphitobius laevigatus...

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Barang (បារាំង) is a Khmer word meaning French. It is often mispronounced like ba-réng. The correct pronunciation is bâ-râng, but pâ-râng is also acceptable. It is thought to be corruption of the word France but this may be a misconception. The term is obviously related to the Thai term farang
Farang
Farang , also spelled falang, is the generic Thai word for a Westerner. A general term for foreigners is khon tang prathet . There is no expressly negative or positive implication in the word itself. However when it is used along with other words, it can bring a negative meaning depending on...

 which has a similar meaning. In the Malay language
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

, barang means "thing".

The origin of this word is debatable as there are several possibilities. One is that it came from Arabic (faranj) via Malay traders. Another is that it came straight from the French. Since Khmer does not have a letter that represents the Latin F
F
F is the sixth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The origin of ⟨f⟩ is the Semitic letter vâv that represented a sound like or . Graphically, it originally probably depicted either a hook or a club...

, it is pronounced with a B
B
B is the second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds , most commonly a voiced bilabial plosive.-History:...

 sound. As with many Khmer words of foreign origin, ns often change to an ng sound. Such as Aleurmâng (អាឡឺម៉ង់) (German) which comes from the French word Allemand
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...

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In the Khmer language, the term barang has also come to mean a foreigner, particularly one of European ancestry. It is not a demeaning word, but some Khmer speakers might use it in a bad context. The term is becoming more popular now among travelers. It is even used by some expatriates living in Cambodia themselves.

Khmer is the official language of Cambodia which was once a French protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...

 called Cambodge
Colonial Cambodia
In 1863, Cambodia under king Norodom became a protectorate of France. In October 1887, the French announced the formation of the Union Indochinoise , which at that time comprised Cambodia, already an autonomous French possession, and the three regions of Vietnam...

 in French. The French had many influences on the Khmer language, such as the pronunciation of Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

. Many technical terms used today in Khmer are of French origin. Barang is also used as a suffix in some Khmer words such as môn barang (មាន់បារាំង) which is transliterally French chicken, but refers to a turkey. Another word is kh'teum barang (ខ្ទឹមបារាំង) which is transliterally French allium
Allium
Allium is a monocot genus of flowering plants, informally referred to as the onion genus. The generic name Allium is the Latin word for garlic....

 and means an onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

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"Barangsaes" (បារាំងសែស) is another Khmer term that shows its relation with the word Français, but it is rarely used.
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