The Place-names in Monland can be grouped in two classes. Mon literature refers to these two classes of place-names by Pali terms, Anwatthasanna (အႏြတၳသညာ) and Rulhisanna (႐ုဠွှသညာ). Anwatthasanna means "following its owner", and Rulhisanna means "aimless". Thus if the name " Lotus Lake", is given to a place where there is a lake with lotus flowers, it will Anwatthasanna, but if the name "Lotus Lake" is given to a village situated in a desert of sand, it will be "meaningless" and therefore Rulhisanna.
Many place-names in Monland are descriptive and have close associations with local geography or history. Thus the place name " Toungoo" means " the spur of a hill", and such names as " Tantabin" (the lone palm tree), " Nyaungbintha" (the pleasant banyan tree), "Taungtha" (pleasant hill) are descriptive of the local "geography", and a place name like "Yan-gon" (the end of strife) is descriptive of an incident in local history, namely the end of a war.
The Mon and Burmese as the people prefer all names to be descriptive, whether they are names of places or names of persons. for example, the name of the President of this Research Society means "conspicuous success", and my own name, "a man of peace". It is, therefore, not surprising that the Mon and Burmese always attempt to find the meaning behind each place name. In the case of Burmese place names, the meaning and the purport of each name are generally guessed, but in the case of Mon places names which have become Burmanised in course of time, wrong conjectures usually result.
These facts will be illustrated by my following study of some place names in Lower Burma. (To be continued)
by Professor E Maung, M.A.
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