Chroy Changva is the name of the point at the
confluence of the
Mekong and
Tonle Sap rivers. The word
chroy (written
jroy in the
Khmer script) is fairly straightforward and refers to a piece of land jutting out into the water, while
changva (written
caṅvā) is of uncertain origin. There are two words that are
homophones in Khmer: one, written
caṅvā like the place name, refers to the fish known as the
bleak, while the other, written
cravā, refers to an oar. Both derivations would be consistent with the fact that this district was historically supported by fishing activity. An alternate etymology, proposed by
François Martini, would be to derive "changva" from the word
jvā, a blanket term for
Chams,
Malays, and
Javanese, with an added nasal
infix. This would be consistent with the fact that the Chroy Changva district was historically inhabited primarily by members of these groups.
Saveros Pou suggested that similar examples of nasal infixes in Khmer, along with the presence of ethnic-group-derived place names like
Kampong Cham, gave the derivation from "jvā" some credibility. == Developments ==