A Proposition regarding the City Name "Phrip-phri" (Phetchaburi) Based on a Historical and Phonetic Perspective

Abstract

This article aims to study the use of the city names of "Phetchaburi" and "Phrip-phri" and the analysis of the city name "Phrip-phri" from a phonetic perspective, based on data collected from stone inscriptions, ancient Thai documents, and foreign documents. The results show that the name of today's Phetchaburi was initially written in the Khmer language as "Srichaiwatcharaburi" in B.E. 1734 during the reign of King Jayavarman VII of the Ancient Khmer Kingdom. Later, in the Sukhothai period, from B.E. 1835 onward, the name "Phetchaboori" was in use. The name "Phrip-phri" and other variations with similar pronunciations started to be found in documents written by foreigners who journeyed to Aydhya from B.E. 2054 onwards. These records followed the local people's pronunciation. Moreover, the results from the analysis based on phonetic theories reveal the probability of the process of sound assimilation and deletion. This could lead to and assumption that the city name "Phrip-phri" was a phonological derivation of "Phetchaburi", according to the characteristics of Thai people's pronunciation that opt for shortening words or syllables to facilitate pronunciation, a feature similarly found in other city names in the same period.