Trees in Kham Mueang: Bamboo, Teak and the Bodhi Tree

In Kham Mueang, the word mai (ไม้, Kham Mueang reading mai) comes before the names of almost every tree, such as mai du, mai sak and mai huak, and also before the names of things made of wood, such as mai tao (a walking stick) and mai sao (a picking pole). This article collects the Kham Mueang names of trees from the Moradok Lanna dictionary, from bamboo and the big trees used to build houses to temple trees and the trees that mark a city.

The dictionary also notes that Lanna script calls its vowel signs "mai" too: the a vowel is mai ka, the aa vowel mai kaa. Anyone learning the Lanna script (tua mueang) will hear the word often, both as "tree" and as "vowel".

Bamboo: called only by its kind

The dictionary explains that mai phai (ไม้ไผ่, Kham Mueang reading mai phai, bamboo) covers many clump-forming plants with hollow, jointed stems, and that Lanna names each kind of bamboo only by the word that follows, dropping the word "phai". So phai sang becomes mai sang, and phai ruak becomes mai huak.

Bamboo also becomes many everyday things with their own names: mai sao (ไม้ส้าวฯ), a fruit-picking pole usually made of mai huak; mai salap (ไม้สลาปฯ), split bamboo for fences; mai duk kan (ไม้ดูกก้านฯ), split bamboo strips used as the frame for tying thatch or tueng leaves into roofing panels; and mai khae (ไม้แฅ่), a torch of dry split bamboo bundled together, used to look for frogs at night or to travel in the dark.

Big trees and hardwoods

Many of the big trees the dictionary describes as used for houses and household things have Kham Mueang names quite unlike central Thai: teng becomes mai ngae, rang becomes mai pao, and phluang becomes mai tueng.

Temple trees and city trees

Mai sali (ไม้ระฯสี, Kham Mueang reading mai sali) is the bodhi tree, the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi. At Songkran, Khon Mueang take mai kam sali (ไม้คําฯระฯสี), forked props of different sizes, to prop up a bodhi tree, as a way of extending their own life and luck (read more in Wan Phaya Wan).

The dictionary gives as its example mai mai mueang chiang mai (ไม้หมฯายฯเมิอฯงชยฯงไห่มฯ): the great yang na tree that King Kawila, the first ruler of the restored Chiang Mai, planted near the Inthakhin city pillar at Wat Chedi Luang, in the heart of the city (read about the Inthakhin pillar in Sai Khan Dok). The way-marking trees Chiang Mai people know best are the yang trees along both sides of the Chiang Mai–Lamphun road, which the dictionary records were first planted under Chao Inthawichayanon in 1882.

Flowering and ornamental trees

Many trees grown for their flowers have Kham Mueang names of their own. The easiest to remember is mai lom laeng (ไม้ล฿มฯแล้งฯ), the golden shower tree (ratchaphruek or khun), and mai samsa (ไม้สำสา), the rain tree (chamchuri or kampu), which the dictionary records as the provincial tree of Lamphun.

Read the Kham Mueang names of flowers in Lanna Flowers.

Trees for everyday life

Some trees are valued more for their sap or seeds than their wood, such as mai hak (ไม้รักฯ, the lacquer tree), whose clear, poisonous sap is used to prime or coat things and is called nam hak, and mai mue (ไม้หื้มฯ, thalok), whose seed oil is mixed with nam hak to make lacquerware and whose seed fluff is used as tinder.

Sayings that come from trees

• mai khon bo mi het (ไม้ขอฯรบมีเหัดฯ): said of a poor old person with no property, like a log with no mushrooms growing on it, so their children and grandchildren do not visit
• mai sao lam khum (ไม้ส้าวฯล้ำฅุ่ม): too much, too late, too old to learn

Summary

• Mai in Kham Mueang comes before the names of trees and of things made of wood, and is also the name for vowel signs in Lanna script.
• Khon Mueang call bamboo only by its kind: mai sang, mai bong, mai huak, mai lai, mai khao lam.
• Many big trees have their own Kham Mueang names: mai ngae (teng), mai pao (rang), mai tueng (phluang), mai puai (tabaek).
• Mai sali is the bodhi tree, and mai mai mueang chiang mai is the yang na tree King Kawila planted by the Inthakhin pillar.
• Mai lom laeng is the golden shower tree and mai samsa the rain tree.

Look up more tree names in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), read about fruit trees in Kham Mueang Fruit Names and Lanna Wild Fruits, or read on about Lanna tung banners and lacquerware.

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): ไม้ · ไม้ไผ่ · ไม้สะหลี · ไม้หมายเมือง · ไม้ยาง