tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905541471605961414.post4419065816113119324..comments2024-03-01T01:27:51.875+07:00Comments on Thai 101: Word of the Day: มะม่วง /ma'mûaŋ/Rikkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196282287835224940noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905541471605961414.post-86277707963828124662009-03-24T20:11:00.000+07:002009-03-24T20:11:00.000+07:00Yes, I don't have any reason to believe the two Kh...Yes, I don't have any reason to believe the two Khmer words are related. I was only thinking that เสวย in the name of the mango varieties (it's in several) could conceivably come from the Khmer word, and if so, perhaps เสวย phonologically influenced it, because that was a similar-sounding word that already existed in Thai, and vaguely semantically related (i.e. you eat mangoes). This kind of thing isn't uncommon (modeling new loanwords on existing words in the language). ស្វាយ has actually been borrowed into Thai as สวาย -- it's even listed in the Royal Institute Dictionary as a Khmer loan, but I don't think it's ever been widespread. There is a ตำบลสวาย in Surin, and a ตำบลโคกสวาย in Khorat, though.<BR/><BR/>So it's entirely possible that the เสวย in the mango names is not related to ស្វាយ at all. Hard to say.<BR/><BR/>But เสวย is undoubtedly from សោយ. <A HREF="http://sealang.net/oldkhmer/" REL="nofollow">Jenner</A> traces the Khmer back 1000 years.Rikkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196282287835224940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905541471605961414.post-314577349297159842009-03-24T19:50:00.000+07:002009-03-24T19:50:00.000+07:00You know, I also wondered how Thai got เสวย ("to e...You know, I also wondered how Thai got เสวย ("to eat: royal") out of the Khmer term (mind you, I'm not disputing the fact that they did), since the Khmer term is actually សោយ (which would be rendered in Thai phonetically as something like เสาย). Khmer ស្វាយ would be something more like สวาย phonetically in Thai...<BR/><BR/>And while it's possible, I guess (maybe the above is evidence) that the Thai word for "to eat: royal" is related to the Khmer word for mango, I'm pretty sure that the two Khmer words ("to eat" and "mango") bear no relation to each other; the Khmer word for mango is the same as the Vietnamese (xoai), which is usually a dead giveaway that the word in question is pure Mon-Khmer in origin (while royal words always come from Sanskrit).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com