Franks - Legacy

Legacy

The term Frank has been used by many of the Eastern Orthodox and Muslim neighbors of medieval Latin Christendom (and beyond in Asia) as a general synonym for a European from Western and Central Europe, areas that followed the Latin rites of Christianity under the authority of the Pope in Rome. Another term with similar use was 'Latins'.

Modern historians often refer to Christians following the Latin rites in the eastern Mediterranean as 'Franks' or 'Latins', regardless of their country of origin, whereas they use the words Rhomaios and Rûmi ('Roman') for Orthodox Christians. On a number of Greek islands, Catholics are still referred to as Φράγκοι (Frangoi) or 'Franks', for instance on Syros, where they are called Φραγκοσυριανός (Frangosyrianos). Latin Christians living in the Middle East (particularly in the Levant) are known as Franco-Levantines.

During the Mongol Empire in the 13-14th centuries, the Mongols used the term 'Franks' to designate Europeans. The term Frangistan ("Land of the Franks") was used by Muslims to refer to Christian Europe and was commonly used over centuries in the Ottoman Empire and Iran.

The Mediterranean Lingua Franca (or "Frankish language") was a pidgin first spoken by 11th century European Christians and Muslims in Mediterranean ports which remained in use until the 19th century.

Examples of derived words include:

• Frangos in Greek
• Frenk in Turkish
• al-Faranj, Afranj and Firinjīyah in Arabic
• Farangi in both Persian and Urdu
• Pfirangi in Sanskrit
• Feringhi or Firang in Hindi
• Phirangee in some other Indian languages
• Parangiar in Tamil
• Barang in Khmer
• Ferenggi in Malay
• Farang (ฝรั่ง) in Thai.

In the Thai usage the word can refer to any European person. When the presence of US soldiers during the Vietnam War placed Thai people in contact with African Americans, they (and people of African ancestry in general) came to called Farang dam ("Black Farang", ฝรั่งดำ).

Such words sometimes connote also things, plants or creatures intoduced by Europeans/Franks. For example in Khmer, môn barang, literally "French Chicken", refers to a turkey, and in Thai, "Farang" is the name both for Europeans and for the guava fruit, introduced by Portuguese traders over 400 years ago.

In contemporary Israel, the Yiddish word פרענק ('Frenk') has, by a curious etymological development, come to refer to Mizrahi Jews and carries a strong pejorative connotation.