Talk:Mekong

The correct name origin of the Mekong river.

The Mekong gets its English name from Khmer: មេគង្គ Mékôngk.[1] មេ /mee/me/ means mother[2] and គង្គ /kʊəŋkeaʔ/Kong/ means Ganga.[3] The literal meaning of “Mekong” is “Mother Ganga”. Kong is a borrowing into Khmer language of the Sanskrit word “Ganga”. The Mekong is named after Hindu Godess Ganga, the name sake of the river Ganges. 2601:601:1B80:8040:4F77:9D09:6CAD:B0D6 (talk) 09:52, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

Source? I see this has been a bit of a running battle back and forth with adding this in, but currently unsourced. 80.193.211.174 (talk) 14:30, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

University of Wisconsin Sealang.net SouthEast Asian language project dictionary is the source. 2601:601:1B80:8040:45D:8E32:44BD:7B (talk) 22:12, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

http://www.sealang.net/library/

SEAlang is a collaborative effort between CRCL and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS). 2601:601:1B80:8040:A301:CFA6:A5DA:8EB5 (talk) 15:17, 3 December 2023 (UTC)

How can it give information about a word's etymology? And there are also Thai and Lao definitions on the same site you provided. (TH) (LA) 183.88.33.147 (talk) 16:41, 3 December 2023 (UTC)

The Thai and Lao romanized spelling is Maekhong. Thai and Lao get the name from Khmer language.

The Khmers romanized spelling is exactly the same spelling as English name spelling. The MeKong rivers is named by ancient Khmer hindu brahmins.

Thai and Lao were never Hindu Brhamins. Why would they name the river after Hindu goddess Ganga ? 174.164.30.163 (talk) 23:21, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

Water Dam on Mekong river.

Is there any sources that can confirm that between Huay Xai, Laos and Luang Prabang, Laos a dam is being build over Mekong river. The China-Thailand railway bridge was build over Mekong river in Laos quite near one personally saw as concrete huge structure being build on ones right side when coming down stream from upper Mekong river Huay Xai, Laos. (2023 December.) There are many backpackers on this route and cruise boats. One lost most of the one's photos from this pilgrimage half "misterisly". Mighty river. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Editorq35 (talk • contribs) 20:34, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

Etymology of the Mekong River

The name Mekong is derived from the Khmer-Sanskrit compound Me-Kongkea(Khmer: មេគង្គា), literally translating to "Mother Ganga." This name reflects a "Sacred Geography" established during the Indianization of Southeast Asia, specifically during the period of Shailendra (Javanese) influence over Water Chenlaand the subsequent Khmer Empire.

Linguistic Origins

The etymology is composed of two distinct linguistic layers:

• Me (មេ): An Austroasiatic (Khmer) root meaning "Mother," "Chief," or "Head." In Khmer nomenclature, it is used to designate the primary or most significant member of a category (e.g., Me-phum for village head).
• Kongkea (គង្គា): A direct phonetic loan from the Sanskrit Ganga (गङ्गा), referring to the sacred Ganges River of India. In the Khmer language, the "G" sound from Sanskrit typically shifts to a "K" or "Kh" sound.

Over centuries of common usage, the formal Me-Kongkea was shortened to Me-Kôngk (មេគង្គ), which was later phoneticized by Western cartographers as Mekong and by Tai-Kadai speakers as Mae Nam Khong (แม่น้ำโขง) and (ແມ່ນ້ຳຂອງ.) ~2026-11316-61 (talk) 22:33, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

I have checked all sources you added, and they are all false citations. None of them supports these claims:

"The name Mekong is derived from the Khmer-Sanskrit compound Me-Kongkea(Khmer: មេគង្គា)" and "Over centuries of common usage, the formal Me-Kongkea was shortened to Me-Kôngk (មេគង្គ), which was later phoneticized by Western cartographers as Mekong and by Tai-Kadai speakers as Mae Nam Khong (แม่น้ำโขง) and (ແມ່ນ້ຳຂອງ.)"

In addition, the "mother Ganga" theory has already been listed in the current article as one possible etymology. We don't need another lengthy duplicate section. Esiymbro (talk) 09:12, 14 June 2026 (UTC)