Is this due to coincidence or is there a particular reason? Are they infact two unrelated of different origin words?

It's no coincidence: Rats are not native to the British Isles; they were introduced from the Continent. It's for this reason that the brown rat is also called the "Norway rat" in English. Francach in this case is a headless variant of luch Fhrancach "French/Frankish mouse".

Francach has also been used by the Irish as a synonym of "foreign" in the same manner as other derivatives of Frank such as Hindi farangi or Thai falang. For instance, phak chii falang "Frankish cilantro" is Thai for "parsley" and falang by itself can also mean "guava" (a fruit first introduced by the Portuguese).

(Message edited by Domhnaillín_Breac_na_dTruslóg on November 01, 2008)

In Thailand they say "R", in Lao they say "L". In Lao the natives can't actually say "R", it comes out as "L", so they say "tomollow" instead of "tomorrow". I dunno if Thai people can say "L" but I'll let ya now if I ever end up there :-D

Thai = farang
Lao = falang

They use the word falang here to refer to white people mainly, I don't think they use it for blacks. And of course it also means French, which is unfortunate for people who don't like being associated with the French.

Kawy vow pasa ang gít = I speak English
Kawy vow pasa falang = I speak French
Kawy ben kon ang gít = I'm English
Kawy ben kon falang = I'm French

It's a pity they didn't choose "francach" to refer to English people :-P

quote:

It's a pity they didn't choose "francach" to refer to English people :-P

Rats aren't that bad are they? :)

"a headless variant "

They have no heads?! Like Mike, the 'headless cock':

"Mike (The Headless Cock) (April 1945 - March 1947) was a Wyandotte cock that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off. Thought by many to be a hoax, its owner took it to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and had it examined, which confirmed that it was legitimate.

On Monday September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, USA, failed to completely decapitate the five-and-a-half month old bird named Mike, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact. Not quite sure what to do with his by now loose head, on the first night after the decapitation Mike slept with it under his wing; it was this touching tenacity to life and the now redundant organ that convinced Olsen to reprieve Mike from the cooking pot. Mr. Olsen continueed to care for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn.

In March 1947, Mike choked to death in the middle of the night. As the Olsens had inadvertently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow the day before, they were unable to save Mike. Post mortem, it was determined that the axe blade had missed the jugular vein and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was severed, most of his brain stem and one ear was left on his body."

http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/story.html


(Message edited by Bearn on November 02, 2008)

quote:

In Thailand they say "R", in Lao they say "L".

It's not that simple. Even in Thai, /r/ belongs mostly to higher registers. You hear it in broadcast media, but seldom from ordinary speakers in colloquial contexts, at least in my experience.

quote:

They use the word falang here to refer to white people mainly, I don't think they use it for blacks.

Can't speak to Lao, but in Thai falang dam "black falang" is used in this case.