Any suggestions as to alternate etymologies are welcome. Based on my understanding of the Thai language, and my studies of other languages, and what I can find online, here's where I think these 10 words may have come from:
สิงโต [siŋtɔ:] (n. lion), first element cognate to Hindi "सिंह" [siŋ] (lion), from Sanskrit [siṃha] (lion), cognate to Swahili "simba" (lion).
ตา [ta:] (n. eye), possibly shortened from Proto-Austronesian *mata (eye), as in Malay "mata" (eye) and Tagalog "mata" (eye), likely sharing a common origin with Proto-Austro-Asiatic *mat (eye), as in Vietnamese "mắt" (eye).
สาม [sa:m] (three), of Sinitic origin, cognate to Chinese "三" [sam] (three) and Japanese "三" [san] (three).
ดำ [da:m] (black), possible cognate to Proto-Vietic *tem (night) and Proto-Monic *tam (night).
นก [nuk] (n. bird), possibly shortened from Proto-Austronesian *manuk (chicken). Probably cognate to White Hmong "noog" [noŋ] (bird) as well.
สวัสดี [sàwàtdiː] (hello, goodbye), of Indo-European origin, from Sanskrit "स्वस्ति" [svasti] (well-being, luck), cognate to English "swastika" (Greek cross with arms bent at right angles, originally a good luck charm). Svasti = [su] (good) + [asti] (is), second element from Proto-Indo-European *es-ti (is), cognate to English "is" (is) and German "ist" (is).
โรง [rɔ:ŋ] (n. building, structure), borrowed from Old Khmer [roŋ] (shelter/room/hall), c.f. Khmer [raoŋ], from Proto-Austro-Asiatic *ro:ŋ (hall/house).
ข้าว [ka:w] (n. rice), cognate to Proto-Austro-Asiatic *kɔw (rice), cognate to Vietnamese "gạo" (rice). Direction of borrowing between the language families is uncertain, and probably took place many thousands of years ago.
ไฟ [fai] (electric), possibly of recent English origin, possibly cognate to English "fire" (fire), from Proto-Indo-European *paewr (fire). First element of Lao [fai-fa:] is clearly a cognate, and White Hmong "fai fab" [fai fa] was clearly borrowed from the Lao form.
แอปเปิล [ɛːpɤːl] (n. apple), of recent English origin, cognate to Malay "epal" (apple) and English "apple" (apple), from Proto-Indo-European *abel (apple).
เปล่า [plaɔ] (not, blank, empty, nil), possibly cognate to Lao "ບໍ່" [bɔː] (not).
2 comments:
Do you have any opinion to offer on which of these are loanwords and which are ancestral roots in proto-Thai?
I updated the post with a few opinions on the direction of borrowing.
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