I found another connection that is shared between multiple Southeast Asian languages: use of a word for 'spirit' or 'ghost' in the word for 'butterfly'.
In Thai the word for 'butterfly' is ผีเสื้อ /phǐi sɨ̂a/. The first syllable is the common Thai word for 'ghost'. The second word is the word for 'shirt', but I suspect that may be a coincidence, and the เสื้อ in ผีเสื้อ doesn't actually have to do with shirts. But I don't know for sure one way or the other.
In Mon, the word is /kəlok həlɛ̀a/, where /kəlok/ means 'Spirit, daemon', and /həlɛ̀a/ means 'Indian' (i.e. a native of India), from the Burmese ကုလား /kəlá/ (comparable in meaning to Thai แขก, although probably cognate with Thai กุลา). [Data from Harry Shorto's 1962 A Dictionary of Modern Spoken Mon.]
In Burmese, the word for 'butterfly' is လိပ်ပြာ /leiʔ pyà/. This is also the word for spirit (corresponding in meaning to Thai วิญญาณ 'spirit', not ผี 'ghost', but the ideas are connected). [Data from SEAlang. You can download Burmese fonts at that link.]
So again we see a case where although the words are completely different, a very similar semantic concept appears in these neighboring cultures. I checked in Khmer and a few other dictionaries, and I didn't notice this in any other Southeast Asian languages.
It's an interesting question to ponder: why the connection between butterflies and supernatural spirits? Any thoughts?
The last week or so I've been spending a lot of time with Harry Shorto's A Dictionary of Modern Spoken Mon (1962). With its companion volume, A Dictionary of the Mon Inscriptions (1971), it makes for some interesting reading.
Personally, I don't know a lot about Mon, but historically it has had a lot of influence on Thai, which mostly goes unrecognized. The Mon were in Southeast Asia more than two millennia before the arrival of the Tai (ancestors of the Thai, Lao, Shan, etc.) from an area of what is now southern China.
Yesterday I noticed a connection, but of a different kind. It's a semantic similarity between modern spoken Thai and modern spoken Mon.
In Mon, just as in Thai, the word for 'cashew' comes from the word for 'mango'. The Thai word for 'mango' is มะม่วง /mamûaŋ/ (from หมาก /màak/ + ม่วง /mûaŋ/); the Mon word is /krɜk/. Now, obviously there's no common origin between those two words.
The mango/cashew connection presumably derives from their similar shape. The cashew nut is native to Brazil, and was spread throughout the world by the Portuguese, who were among the earliest Europeans in Southeast Asia. The cashew took well to the tropical climes of South and Southeast Asia. Today, Vietnam is the largest producer of cashews in the world, with more than four times the annual output of Brazil; India produces more than double that of Brazil.
(Interesting side note: In areas of Thailand's south, the cashew is called กาหยู /kaayǔu/, which, like English 'cashew', comes from the Portuguese word acajú, and ultimately from the indigenous Tupi word acajuba.)
The standard Thai word for 'cashew' is มะม่วงหิมพานต์ /mamûaŋ hǐmmaphaan/ 'Himmaphan mango'. The Thai word หิมพานต์ /hǐmmaphaan/ is from Himavanta, the name of the forest in Hindu mythology which lies at the base of Mount Meru.
The Mon word for 'cashew' is /krɜk soiŋkhɜ̀/. The phonology obscures it a bit, but the second word is from Sanskrit /siṃhala/ (corresponding to Thai สิงหล /sǐŋhǒn/). It is the Mon word for Ceylon/Sinhala, which was partially ruled by the Portuguese in the 17th Century, before the Dutch moved in, and then the British, before modern independence under the name Sri Lanka.
So for Thais, a cashew is a 'Himavanta mango', while for Mon it's a 'Sinhala mango'. The Mon name presumably comes from the nut's place of origin from the Mon perspective. I'm not sure how the Thai word came to refer to a mythical forest in the Jataka tales. Does anyone else have any insight into that?
Regardless, it's an interesting semantic similarity. I wonder if there was any influence in one direction or the other.
