Bird Names in Kham Mueang: Nok Lae, Nok Chi Chaep, Nok Laeo

Some Kham Mueang bird names are easy to guess: nok chok is the sparrow (central Thai nok krachok). But many are nothing like central Thai: nok lae (น฿กฯแล, Kham Mueang reading nok lae) is the parrot, and nok laeo is the hawk. Quite a few birds are simply named after the sound they make.

This article gathers the Kham Mueang names for birds (nok, น฿กฯ) from the Moradok Lanna dictionary, with Lanna script and photos, grouped by where you are likely to meet them: around the house, in the rice fields and wetlands, in the forest, at night, and in legend.

Birds around the house and garden

These birds are seen every day around homes, gardens and temples. Many of their Kham Mueang names are close to central Thai, just without the consonant cluster or in a shorter form: nok krachok (sparrow) becomes nok chok, and nok krachip (tailorbird) becomes nok chip.

Birds of the rice fields and wetlands

These birds feed in paddies, ponds and streams. Many of their names come from their calls: nok kwak calls "kwak kwak", and nok khwak calls "khwaek khwaek" as it flies out to feed at night.

Forest birds and birds of prey

Many forest birds have Kham Mueang names very different from central Thai: the hornbill is nok kok, the woodpecker is nok ba hae, and the parrot is nok lae.

Night birds and beliefs

Most night birds in Kham Mueang begin with nok kao, the owls. The dictionary also records some old beliefs about a few of them.

The dictionary records that older people felt uneasy when they heard a nok saek call, seeing it as a sign of death, and that nok kao phi ka was believed to carry news of a phi pop or phi ka spirit: it would perch on the roof or a tree near the house the spirit was about to possess and call loudly. These beliefs are told here as the dictionary records them. On the natural side, the dictionary notes that the owlet is a bird of prey that catches rats and small animals for food.

Birds of legend and Lanna funerals

Kham Mueang also has names for birds of legend, and one of them can still be seen at ceremonies.

• Nok ka ra wik (น฿กฯการวีกฯ, Kham Mueang reading nok ka ra wik): the karawek, a bird of legend that lives in the Himavanta forest and flies above the clouds; its song is so sweet that every animal stops to listen.
• Nok hong (น฿กฯห฿ง์สฯฯ, read nok hong): the hamsa, a bird of legend of high lineage, the mount of the god Brahma.
• Nok hatsadiling (น฿กฯหัสีดฯลิง์คฯ, read nok hatsadiling): a huge bird of legend with the head of an elephant, trunk and tusks, and the body of a bird. The dictionary says Lanna people have used it on the funeral pyre structures of people of high rank and of senior monks from ancient times to today.

Summary

• Many Kham Mueang bird names are close to central Thai, such as nok chok (sparrow), nok chip (tailorbird) and nok yang (egret).
• Some are very different: nok lae (parrot), nok laeo (hawk), nok kok (hornbill), nok ba hae (woodpecker), nok ka kae (pigeon) and nok po hoei (koel).
• Many come from the bird's call: nok kwak, nok khwak, nok kon put, nok tae tawaet.
• Nok chok fa is the weaver, not a sparrow.
• Nok hatsadiling, the elephant-headed bird of legend, still appears on funeral pyres in Lanna funerals.

Look up more bird names in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), and read about another small creature in Kham Mueang in Kwang: Lanna Names for Rhinoceros Beetles.

More in the dictionary vocabulary series: Fish Names in Kham Mueang · Insects in Kham Mueang, or see the whole series at Dictionary vocabulary (in Thai).

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): นก · นกแล · นกจี๋แจ๊บ · นกแหลว · นกหั๋สดีลิงค์
• Bird photos: Wikimedia Commons, as credited under each photo.