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[Xangsamhua]

A Thailand Trivia competition on another site asks the origin of the word ซอย (n. lane).
I've always assumed it was an indigenous Thai word, but does it come from another language?
Someone suggested it was derived from the Arabic word "souk", which refers to a narrow street or passageway, but "a Thai language teacher" said this was not correct.
Does anyone on this learned forum know the origin of this everyday word?

[poanoi]

Probably originate from China, but not sure.
I don't know of any word originate from arabs, but a sh!tload from India

Edited by poanoi, 2012-02-02 21:58:56.

[NewlyMintedThai]

The word in Mandarin for the same thing is xiàng, or hsiàng (巷).  Not sure if there's a link, though.

[zzaa09]

poanoi, on 2012-02-02 21:57:54, said:

Probably originate from China, but not sure.
I don't know of any word originate from arabs, but a sh!tload from India

I believe there are etymology connections from the old Persian and Semitic worlds as well.
Yet, there are onging and struggling arguments in this directive.

[Xangsamhua]

After seeing the discussion on this and another forum, my intuition (and Occam's Razor) leads me to suggest that ซอย and its smaller version ตรอก are indigenous Siamese/Thai words, and that the suggestion on the other forum that ซอย has its source in another language doesn't hold water (not sufficient evidence).

Thank you to members who've tried to help.  Apparently the original questioner on the other forum asked if ซอย had its origins in French(!!), and then the credibility of the "authority" designated to answer was questioned.  (She said it was an indigenous Thai word.)

Sorry if I've wasted people's time on this (I wasted my own).  I would think the overwhelming majority of the most frequently used Thai common nouns have their origins in Lao and Thai.  The most frequently borrowed words I think relate to technology, philosophy, religion, governance, the courts (royal and judicial) and proper nouns, and the main source would be the Indic languages, Sanskrit (via Cambodia) and Pali (via the early Theravada Buddhist missions from Sri Lanka).  Am I right?

[harrry]

My understanding was it is the same as the thai word for strips or cut into long slices as in noodles.  The soi is a cut.

[onionluke]

NewlyMintedThai, on 2012-02-02 23:52:29, said:

The word in Mandarin for the same thing is xiàng, or hsiàng (巷).  Not sure if there's a link, though.

The Cantonese name for street is gai , if that is any help .

[Xangsamhua]

harrry, on 2012-02-04 09:34:32, said:

My understanding was it is the same as the thai word for strips or cut into long slices as in noodles.  The soi is a cut.

Interesting.  Certainly possible. A path that cuts through the village or bush to the canal?  I think many sois in Bangkok did lead to canals, didn't they?

[soundman]

harrry, on 2012-02-04 09:34:32, said:

My understanding was it is the same as the thai word for strips or cut into long slices as in noodles.  The soi is a cut.

Cutting up logs into timber, for example, uses the word soi.