Correction: the last line in the first verse, “This is where I lay down my grand pillow,” is rather “Herein lies my grand pillow.” Let’s review some key words. In the title is samphah (សម្ផស្ស), which means touch, contact, sensation. As in many other cultures, Khmer organizes sensation into six categories, and these are smell (ឃានសម្ផស្ស), taste (ជិវ្ហាសម្ផស្ស), touch (កាយសម្ផស្ស), feeling (មនោសម្ផស្ស), hearing (សោតសម្ផស្ស) and sight (ចក្ខុសម្ផស្ស). Samphah also refers to a poem's rhyme and intonation. Next is borey (បុរី), derived from the Sanskrit Pura, which is city, country, province. And lastly, Tioulong, pronounced Jūḷung, is the name of an aristocratic family in Cambodia. The family Romanized their name Tioulong. Sisowath Nilroat wrote the lyrics, with help from Khieu Sokha. Nilroat married an elder aristocrat more than 40 years her senior when she was only 21 or 22 years old. This song is her story. And Borey Tioulong is referred to her husband.
Correction: the last line in the first verse, “This is where I lay down my grand pillow,” is rather “Herein lies my grand pillow.”
Let’s review some key words. In the title is samphah (សម្ផស្ស), which means touch, contact, sensation. As in many other cultures, Khmer organizes sensation into six categories, and these are smell (ឃានសម្ផស្ស), taste (ជិវ្ហាសម្ផស្ស), touch (កាយសម្ផស្ស), feeling (មនោសម្ផស្ស), hearing (សោតសម្ផស្ស) and sight (ចក្ខុសម្ផស្ស). Samphah also refers to a poem's rhyme and intonation.
Next is borey (បុរី), derived from the Sanskrit Pura, which is city, country, province. And lastly, Tioulong, pronounced Jūḷung, is the name of an aristocratic family in Cambodia. The family Romanized their name Tioulong.
Sisowath Nilroat wrote the lyrics, with help from Khieu Sokha. Nilroat married an elder aristocrat more than 40 years her senior when she was only 21 or 22 years old. This song is her story. And Borey Tioulong is referred to her husband.
When my dad was alive, he loved this song. So now when I hear it, I always think of him. Thank you.
I appreciate it Even master of English literature can't do this cus it very hard to translate Khmer to English. Thank u very bong
Thank your for your kind words!