สบู่ is soap and pronounced sa bu. In sg it's called sap bun and from a malay word but malay language isn't old and malay borrowed many words so it doesn't seem likely that thai borrowed it from malay or vice versa so did it originate from somewhere else?

It's from Portugese sabão. The English word soap and the Portugese sabão are probably also related via the latin word sebum which means fat.

Edited November 8, 201312 yr by kriswillems

Correct. It came to Khmer from Portuguese as well. The Portuguese (oftentimes mercenaries and "adventurers," not officially the government) had a long and colorful involvement in the affairs of Southeast Asia (including Thailand and Cambodia) stretching back to at least the 15th Century...

It's from Portugese sabão. The English word soap and the Portugese sabão are probably also related via the latin word sebum which means fat.

Correct. It came to Khmer from Portuguese as well. The Portuguese (oftentimes mercenaries and "adventurers," not officially the government) had a long and colorful involvement in the affairs of Southeast Asia (including Thailand and Cambodia) stretching back to at least the 15th Century...

Interesting and it's funny how come i can never find this on the net. Like ppl will say the hokkien word is sap bun for soap and say it's a malay word and that's it but i always knew malay couldn't have created that word and spread it to thailand. If you check malaysia never had any powerful empires and they could not beat the siamese one.

what is the khmer word for soap?

What did the portugese do in south east asia fthat involved thailand and malaysia?

What did the portugese do in south east asia fthat involved thailand and malaysia?

Trade and fight. There were Portuguese mercenaries on both sides in the first of the Burmese-Siamese wars. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to come to Thailand in significant numbers, and are credited with the introduction of the guava (the 'Frankish' fruit).

The Portuguese ruled the Malay state of Malacca for 130 years.

It's from Portugese sabão. The English word soap and the Portugese sabão are probably also related via the latin word sebum which means fat.

The English word soap comes from the Old English sape which in turn came from the Proto-Germanic saipon meaning "a dripping thing".

The Portuguese word is from the Late Latin sapo meaning a coloured hair dressing. (It's first mentioned by Pliny.) Sapo in turn was borrowed from a Germanic language.

So no link to the Latin sebum.

It's from Portugese sabão. The English word soap and the Portugese sabão are probably also related via the latin word sebum which means fat.

The English word soap comes from the Old English sape which in turn came from the Proto-Germanic saipon meaning "a dripping thing".

The Portuguese word is from the Late Latin sapo meaning a coloured hair dressing. (It's first mentioned by Pliny.) Sapo in turn was borrowed from a Germanic language.

So no link to the Latin sebum.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=soap

At the end it says: cf. Latin sebum "tallow, suet, grease"

suggesting a possible link between these Germanic words and latin (which makes sense, knowing the first soap was made of animal fat).

Edited November 9, 201312 yr by kriswillems

It's from Portugese sabão. The English word soap and the Portugese sabão are probably also related via the latin word sebum which means fat.

The English word soap comes from the Old English sape which in turn came from the Proto-Germanic saipon meaning "a dripping thing".

The Portuguese word is from the Late Latin sapo meaning a coloured hair dressing. (It's first mentioned by Pliny.) Sapo in turn was borrowed from a Germanic language.

So no link to the Latin sebum.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=soap

At the end it says: cf. Latin sebum "tallow, suet, grease"

suggesting a possible link between these Germanic words and latin (which makes sense, knowing the first soap was made of animal fat).

I think you're misreading it. The common link with sebum is from the Proto-Indo-European *soi-bon-. The English word soap and the Portuguese sabão are not related via sebum, but they all perhaps share a common ancestor in PIE. The link you provide is unambiguous in asserting that Germanic is the common source of these two words.

Edited November 9, 201312 yr by AyG

Additionion to the last post:

From wikipedia about soap:

The Latin word sapo simply means "soap"; it was likely borrowed from an early Germanic language and is cognate with Latin sebum, "tallow", which appears in Pliny the Elder's account.

Edit: ok, Ayg, that's clear, soap (English), สบู่ (Thai), sabão (Potugese) and sapo and sebum (Latin) are probably related via their common ancestor, the Proto-Indo-European *soi-bon-. Thanks.

This is really a very old world-wide word

Edited November 9, 201312 yr by kriswillems

Maybe there were fewer old dirty bastards than we thought...

In passing, the Vietnamese word for 'soap' is 'xà phòng', which comes from the French 'savon', and thence through the etymologies discussed above.

Different colonial pressures,different result.