The expression tho-tho
This short note by J.V. Mills traces the semantic development of the Chinese expression tho-kho (Mandarin t’u k’u, Cantonese t’o fu) from its original meaning of “store-room” or “cellar” to its local Malayan usage as a term for large commercial houses.
Mills documents how the Amoy Hokkien pronunciation tho-kho was extended to mean “shop” and, in Java, further developed to denote “settlement of traders,” “factory,” and even “citadel” (p. 137). In British Malaya, the development took a different course: from “store” the expression became “godown” and then “a firm with a godown,” eventually applying to any large commercial house, particularly European firms such as Robinson’s, Little’s, and Whiteaway’s (p. 137). The term also entered street nomenclature, with sections of Beach Street in Penang and Raffles Place in Singapore being called “tho kho street” by Hokkien and Cantonese speakers (p. 137). Mills notes that this extended meaning is of local Hokkien origin, widely used by both educated and illiterate Chinese in British Malaya, but unknown to new arrivals from China (p. 138).