Kangaroo

[qualtrough]

I have asked many Thais and Farangs why Kangaroos are called Jing-Jo in Thai and I have never received an answer. I know that some animals that are not native to the region are known by their name in a foreign language (e.g. Giraffe), and some by a descriptive name (Zebra-Ma Lay), but I have always wondered where Jing Jo comes from. Do the component words or syllables in JingJo mean an animal that hops I wonder? That would make sense as the Jing in Jing Reed and Jing Chok is spelled the same--I think. Don't have a dictionary handy to confirm as I type.

[snowleopard]

I have asked many Thais and Farangs why Kangaroos are called Jing-Jo in Thai and I have never received an answer. I know that some animals that are not native to the region are known by their name in a foreign language (e.g. Giraffe), and some by a descriptive name (Zebra-Ma Lay), but I have always wondered where Jing Jo comes from. Do the component words or syllables in JingJo mean an animal that hops I wonder? That would make sense as the Jing in Jing Reed and Jing Chok is spelled the same--I think. Don't have a dictionary handy to confirm as I type.

I have always wondered where Jing Jo comes from. Do the component words or syllables in JingJo mean an animal that hops I wonder? That would make sense as the Jing in Jing Reed and Jing Chok is spelled the same--I think

Hi there!

The "jing"(จิง) you'll find in "jing-joo=kangaroo" (จิงโจ้) is a different "jing" from the jing-word (จิ้ง) found in the following words:

1. "jing-reet" จิ้งหรีด=cricket

2."jing-laen" จิ้งเหลน=skink

3."jing-jock" จิ้งจก=lizard

4."jing-johk" จิ้งจอก=fox

The above examples with "jing" are spelt with "mai toh" while the "kangaroo's "jing" in "jing-joo"( จิงโจ้ )" isn't!

As for the word "joo" (โจ้) in "jing-joo" ( จิงโจ้ ), it can mean several things!

Among the meanings of "joo" are 1."play" and 2."eat,drink"!

Examples:

1.(PLAY) พวกเรารวมกลุ่มเพื่อจะโจ้กีฬากัน="poo-ak rao roo-am gloom peua ja joo gee-lah gun"=We gathered to play some sports together.

2. (EAT,DRINK) พวกเด็กๆโจ้ขนมหวานจนหมดเลย="poo-ak dek-dek joo khanom-wahn jon mod ley"=The kids ate up the whole dessert.

Hope these leads can give you some material evidence to be presented while pleading your case at the "Etymological Kangaroo Court"!

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

[snowleopard]

I have asked many Thais and Farangs why Kangaroos are called Jing-Jo in Thai and I have never received an answer. I know that some animals that are not native to the region are known by their name in a foreign language (e.g. Giraffe), and some by a descriptive name (Zebra-Ma Lay), but I have always wondered where Jing Jo comes from. Do the component words or syllables in JingJo mean an animal that hops I wonder? That would make sense as the Jing in Jing Reed and Jing Chok is spelled the same--I think. Don't have a dictionary handy to confirm as I type.

I have always wondered where Jing Jo comes from. Do the component words or syllables in JingJo mean an animal that hops I wonder? That would make sense as the Jing in Jing Reed and Jing Chok is spelled the same--I think

Hi there!

The "jing"(จิง) you'll find in "jing-joo=kangaroo" (จิงโจ้) is a different "jing" from the jing-word (จิ้ง) found in the following words:

1. "jing-reet" จิ้งหรีด=cricket

2."jing-laen" จิ้งเหลน=skink

3."jing-jock" จิ้งจก=lizard

4."jing-johk" จิ้งจอก=fox

The above examples with "jing" are spelt with "mai toh" while the "kangaroo's "jing" in "jing-joo"( จิงโจ้ )" isn't!

As for the word "joo" (โจ้) in "jing-joo" ( จิงโจ้ ), it can mean several things!

Among the meanings of "joo" are 1."play" and 2."eat,drink"!

Examples:

1.(PLAY) พวกเรารวมกลุ่มเพื่อจะโจ้กีฬากัน="poo-ak rao roo-am gloom peua ja joo gee-lah gun"=We gathered to play some sports together.

2. (EAT,DRINK) พวกเด็กๆโจ้ขนมหวานจนหมดเลย="poo-ak dek-dek joo khanom-wahn jon mod ley"=The kids ate up the whole dessert.

Hope these leads can give you some material evidence to be presented while pleading your case at the "Etymological Kangaroo Court"!

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

Hi again!

I didn't have time to write all the details in the last post because it was time for my jogging round through the rice paddies!

I think the "jing" (จิง),in "jing-joo"=kangaroo (จิงโจ้),means pouch and probably refers to a marsupial's pouch!

The Thai word "จิง=jing" is similar to these words;"กระเป๋า=gra-pow","ถุง=thoong",and "ถุงใส่ยาเส้น=thoong sai yah saen";but "jing" is not so commonly used.

They all mean things like pocket,purse,bag,pouch and such!

So if we combine the "jing-pouch" with the "joo=โจ้" which means "eat,drink",we would get something like "jing-joo"="drinker from the pouch"!

I think that "JING-JOO"might be a neat little epithet to describe other "placentals" from "Down-Under" too because they often keep their drinks cold in their"esky" and are then seen sipping vigorously from it while on the beach!

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

[qualtrough]

Thanks Snowleopard. Your explantion makes sense. I suspected it was descriptive somehow, and the combination of jing and jo with the meanings you describe sounds very plausible.

[bina]

joe or joey is a baby kangaroo, maybe the name punned nicely with the thai version?

[Jing-jo]

[

Hi there!

The "jing"(จิง) you'll find in "jing-joo=kangaroo" (จิงโจ้) is a different "jing" from the jing-word (จิ้ง) found in the following words:

1. "jing-reet" จิ้งหรีด=cricket

2."jing-laen" จิ้งเหลน=skink

3."jing-jock" จิ้งจก=lizard

4."jing-johk" จิ้งจอก=fox

The above examples with "jing" are spelt with "mai toh" while the "kangaroo's "jing" in "jing-joo"( จิงโจ้ )" isn't!

As for the word "joo" (โจ้) in "jing-joo" ( จิงโจ้ ), it can mean several things!

Among the meanings of "joo" are 1."play" and 2."eat,drink"!

Examples:

1.(PLAY) พวกเรารวมกลุ่มเพื่อจะโจ้กีฬากัน="poo-ak rao roo-am gloom peua ja joo gee-lah gun"=We gathered to play some sports together.

2. (EAT,DRINK) พวกเด็กๆโจ้ขนมหวานจนหมดเลย="poo-ak dek-dek joo khanom-wahn jon mod ley"=The kids ate up the whole dessert.

Hope these leads can give you some material evidence to be presented while pleading your case at the "Etymological Kangaroo Court"!

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

Hi again!

I didn't have time to write all the details in the last post because it was time for my jogging round through the rice paddies!

I think the "jing" (จิง),in "jing-joo"=kangaroo (จิงโจ้),means pouch and probably refers to a marsupial's pouch!

The Thai word "จิง=jing" is similar to these words;"กระเป๋า=gra-pow","ถุง=thoong",and "ถุงใส่ยาเส้น=thoong sai yah saen";but "jing" is not so commonly used.

They all mean things like pocket,purse,bag,pouch and such!

So if we combine the "jing-pouch" with the "joo=โจ้" which means "eat,drink",we would get something like "jing-joo"="drinker from the pouch"!

I think that "JING-JOO"might be a neat little epithet to describe other "placentals" from "Down-Under" too because they often keep their drinks cold in their"esky" and are then seen sipping vigorously from it while on the beach!

Cheers.

Snowleopard.

just in case any strewths or sheilas are reading this I had some logo's made for my golf and beach hats with my Thai nickname (Khun Jing-Jo)on it complete with a golfing Kangaroo they were done by the little woman who owns the hat shop on second road in Pattaya right on the apex of where it splits dont know what the road is that comes off 2nd road but it is right next next to a big open cafe eatery on the lhs you cant miss it it has a big blue sign above it advertising a hotel i think (someone on TV forum is bound to know the little shop?)

the design work was drawn in about 10 mins by the tatooist brother ( who left his home to come to the shop to design it for me) in a tatoo shop about 50 yds further along the main 2 nd road . they made the badges very quickly and didnt charge me too much over the odds for getting them done in a day they were absolutely snowed under with work but my brothers Thai gf helped out a lot i think plus being polite and smiling a lot whilst haggling gets a much better reception pictures below and the females all over loved it that I liked my thai nickname especially the caddies that gave me the name when they saw the hats

Didn't improve my golf any though haha!

[Rikker]

Okay, I've never considered the possible origins of จิงโจ้ before, but it's an intriguing question and after thinking about it and looking in a bunch of dictionaries and searching around online, here's my take:

It seems, to me, highly unlikely that Thai would come up with its own descriptive term for kangaroo, a foreign animal.

English and I think most other languages use a version of the aboriginal word gangurru, including Asian languages such as Khmer, Korean and Japanese. Chinese is one exception, which has 袋鼠, dài shǔ, literally meaning something like "pouch rat." Interestingly, Lao shares the Thai word, but the dictionary I have gives two spellings in two places, จิงโจ้ and จิ้งโจ้. Perhaps the จิ้ง and จิง we see in many other Thai animal names were once the same word.

The main reason that I don't buy that จิงโจ้ is an invented word for kangaroo is that จิงโจ้ has several other (now less common) meanings. These include a type of insect, a type of bird, a protective cover for a boat engine rotor, and a nickname for a female palace guard during the reign of Rama IV.

Part of the problem is that (among others), the Mary Haas and So Sethaputra Thai-English dictionaries only include the meaning "kangaroo," and don't give any of the other meanings, obscuring the fact that this word has probably been around in Thai for other things before it was applied to kangaroo (though I don't have direct evidence for that).

The insect is described in the dictionaries I checked (including RID and Dr. Wit) as having many long legs, and moves on the surface of the water. Probably similar to a water skeeter or whatever they're called in your neck of the woods.

My theory is that จิงโจ้ as a name for kangaroo is borrowed from the insect name, because of the long legs. If this insect also jumps, I'd be even more confident.

I could be wrong, and it could come from some other aspect--perhaps because it protects its young in a pouch, similar to the protection of a guard or the way the cover protects the boat engine rotor... I have no way of knowing which is the earliest meaning of the word, and none of the earliest dictionaries I have (Caswell 1846, Jones 1847, Bradley 1873) includes the word จิงโจ้ at all, or anything similar that I've noticed (in Jones, จิ้งหรีด is recorded as จังหรีด and จิ้งจก as จีงจก, for example). Of course, there was no standard alphabetization scheme back then, so maybe I'm just not finding it.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts. That it's native to Thai in other meanings (which I have no real clue as to the origin of), and only applied to kangaroo more recently.

Edited October 15, 2006 by Rikker