Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.13120

c10.13120

SARNAU, SORNAU, n.p. A name often given to Siam in the early part of the 16th century; from *Shahr-i-nao*, Pers. ‘New-city’; the name by which Yuthia or Ayodhya (see JUDEA), the capital founded on the Menam about 1350, seems to have become known to the traders of the Persian Gulf. Mr. Braddell (*J. Ind. Arch. v. 317*) has suggested that the name (*Sheher-al-nawi*, as he calls it) refers to the distinction spoken of by La Loubère between the Thai-Yai, an older people of the race, and the Thai-Noi, the people known to us as Siamese. But this is less probable.