Naming requests

This thread is for name related requests, including translations.

I shall begin first. Here’s the related note request. Thanks in advance!

You’ve asked a seriously tough question. :stuck_out_tongue:

The Chinese wordings are read from right to left which is the old way of writing (at least for the south east asian Chinese)
and in traditional text (south east asian chinese no longer use, HK and taiwan still use it though).
The last 2 words means common burial ground, the first 2 words are hard for me to decipher too.

It seems to refer to a place in China and there’s an association with the same name both locally and in Singapore.
If it does indeed refer to that place in China, it refers to a city in Hainan today.
It’s an old name, pre 1950, when exactly it was changed I don’t know but lots of googling indicates at least by 1950 the name was already changed.

The romanized name of the place would be Qiong Zhou.

Huh… okay… I didn’t expect Right To Left (RTL) Chinese, written horizontally! I knew that it’s possible to write Chinese RTL, but vertically (up down, up down). The more I learned… It’s okay. Next time, I’ll try to take better picture.

Oh by the way… when I looked at that map, I saw that some places are named “Kampong” while others are named “Kampung”.
When Malay was written with the Arab alphabet, that difference could not be expressed. Does there some common style exist nowadays or will it differ from place to place?

The name change started long ago, it might be due to the speed at which the signs are updated that cause this problem.
Places I remember with names like baru, sri and some others I just can’t recall right now, I was surprised when I saw the new signs showing bahru, seri, etc.

@AkuAnakTimur The pic is fine, I’m not familiar with the traditional text, simply scribbled what I though it looked like and hoped my Note 4 is able to recognise it. Took a few tries and thankfully it worked. :laughing:

I kinda address this in my post https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=19683

Basically has to do with use of proper noun and regular noun. Most, if not all, kampong has been revised to kampung in the new spelling scheme. Whatever comes after Kampung ***, is usually a proper noun, using original spelling, for example Kampung Chabang. In new scheme, all ‘ch’ which represents ‘c’ has been changed to just ‘c’.

However, sometimes it is just a big confusion. Some admins (city, district ) changed everything to new spelling scheme, while some didn’t, and I haven’t found a source that listed which definitive name that is used officially. Spellings in road signs, building addresses, outdated signs, self-made signs, state provided signs, federal provided signs… everyone of them contributes to this confusion.

:roll_eyes:

As user:kucai and user:TA777 mentioned above,

Fun fact: some villages even omit “Kampong”/“Kampung”. Also, the former is the archaic, old-style spelling and the latter is the modern spelling; used in the Latin script.

For my contributions, “Kampong” would appear likely because that’s what the local people use on (unofficial) places signs by the street or addresses. Otherwise, it’s because I’m adding places from GEONet Names Server (GNS), recalling from my knowledge. Even GNS has significant mix up between “Kampong”/“Kampung”. I guess there’s no clear cut answers to that; while I’m trying my best to follow the practice to map what’s on the ground.


Whoa. Many thanks for your efforts and edits! :smiley:

Assalamualaikum.

Part of my correspondence with DBP director (Bahagian Dasar). Thankfully he is responsive.

Salam Encik Ahmad,

Terima kasih atas kiriman e-mel. Untuk nama tempat, pada dasarnya mengekalkan ejaan yang telah diwartakan sekian lama. Untuk nama tempat baharu atau yang belum diwartakan , kami mencadangkan agar ejaan baharu digunakan. DBP juga terlibat dalam mesyuarat pada peringkat JUPEM.

2. Kami mengalu-alukan kerjasama pasukan tuan dan DBP dalam hal ini. Hubungilah kami, kami bersedia membantu.

*Terima kasih dan salam.
*

Salam. Maklumat tambahan.

Kami memberikan pandangan yang sama kepada JUPEM (Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia) yang menubuhkan Jk Penamaan Geografi Peringkat Kebangsaan dan Jk Teknikal Penamaan Nama-nama Geografi bahawa ejaan nama tempat dikekalkan bagi tempat yang telah dinamakan sebelum tahun 1972 seperti Ayer Keroh dan seumpamanya. Bagi penamaan tempat yang baharu selepas sistem ejaan baharu 1972 diperkenalkan, hendaklah mengikut ejaan baharu. Bagi tempat seperti “Bagan Datoh” (dulu) yang dinamakan semula, kami minta mereka gunakan ejaan baharu BAGAN DATUK.

Terima kasih.

I guess this might set the rule for “Kg” abbreviations - if we’re not so sure, then opt for Kampung spelling. Unless visible place signs tell so. I’ll update the Wiki soon.

By the way, here’s the rough translated gist from user:kucai’s correspondence with the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, DBP or Institute of Language and Literature. It is the official government body responsible for co-ordinating the use of the Malay language and literature in Malaysia (nicked from the English Wikipedia).

Additional info: