Ayutthaya

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historic city in central Thailand that served as the capital of Siam for four centuries ; the kingdom founded there in the fourteenth century and centered on that city
2. An ancient Thai city in the Chao Phraya valley, famous for its ruined temples ; the historic Siamese kingdom that once flourished around that same capital
3. A former royal capital north of Bangkok whose ruins remain today ; the medieval Siamese realm that grew up with that city at its heart

Etymology: Ayutthaya is the name of a city in central Thailand that served as the country's capital for about four centuries, and its name is a borrowing of an Indian place name. Thai "อยุธยา" descends from Sanskrit "ayodhyā", the name of the city of Ayodhya in northern India, which is the birthplace of the hero Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The Sanskrit name means roughly "the unconquerable citadel", a title that suited a royal capital. The name travelled with the city's identity. Ayutthaya's kings took the name Ayodhya as a model, linking their kingdom to the Rama legend, and the Thai city's name and the Indian city's name are therefore the same word arriving by two routes. English has a doublet pair here: "Ayodhya" comes straight from the Sanskrit, while "Ayutthaya" carries the Thai form. A third variant, "Yodaya", also descends from the same source.