History Of The Name Of Pasig

The “Lungsod ng Pasig” or City of Pasig is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila in the Philippines. It used to be the capital of the province of Rizal before Metro Manila was formed. Located along the eastern border of Metro Manila, Pasig City is bordered on the west by Quezon City and Mandaluyong City; to the north by Marikina City; to the south by Makati City, Pateros, and Taguig City; and to the east by the municipality of Cainta in the province of Rizal.

Pasig was founded in July 1573 with the inauguration of the mission-parish of Pasig. It received its first bell with the Our Lady of the Visitation as the patron saint of Pasig. But in 1587, Our Lady of Immaculate Conception replaced Our Lady of the Visitation as the patron saint of Pasig.
 
There are several probable origins of the name of Pasig.

The historian and educator Alejandro "Anding" Roces, quoted that the name Pasig, was derived from the spanish word "El Pasig", which was derived from the name of the 1st Governor General Miguel de Legaspi. However, anthropologists are saying the term Pasig is a Pali language term for river enbankments which was predominant in southeast Asian countries.

Another origin is from the romantic story of a pair of lovers — Virgilio, a Spanish mestizo, and Paz, a Filipina beauty — who spent their evenings together on the banks of the river. One moonlit night, they were in a banca. As fate would have it, the river currents turned treacherous and their banca capsized. Virgilio, who does not know how to swim, was carried away by the current. He desperately tried to keep afloat but to no avail. He kept shouting "Paz, sigue me!" (meaning "Paz, come with me"), until all he could utter was "Paz, sig...!" and finally sank into the river. Thus, the name Pasig.

Historians traced the town’s name to the word "mabagsik" meaning violent in action or force which aptly describes the river. It was said to be fierce because of its strong and swift currents which are capable of rolling trees from forested upland Montalban to Manila.It was pronounced "mapaksik" by the Chinese communities living along the esteros of Binondo. As time went on, "mapaksik" became "Pasik" then later on "Pasig". This was evident when last 2009, flash floods brought about by the typhoon named Ondoy struck the town of Pasig, among other cities like Marikina and other nearby cities and municipalities, and caused the lost of a lot lives and property.

Another belief was that it was derived from "dalampasigan" which means "baybay ng ilog", river's edge or bank in English.

The theory that was most convincing came from the late and former Director of the Institute of National Language, Dr. Jose Villa Panganiban. Panganiban was a linguist, a polyglot, and a professor. He said that "Pasig" is came from an old Sanskrit word "passis" referring to a "river flowing from one body of water to another," as in the case of the Pasig River, flowing from Laguna de Bay (pronounced Ba-i) to Manila Bay.

Sanskrit was one of the mother languages of the Philippines long before Magellan arrived and claimed us as property of Spain. In fact, many of our words find their roots in Sanskrit — such as, salita (word) or dalita (poor), or guro (teacher) or maharlika (of noble blood). And even our original writing system, called Alibata, was based on the Sanskrit form of writing.