Rice and Paddy Words in Kham Mueang

Rice in Kham Mueang (Northern Thai) is khao (เขั้า). The Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai) explains that Lanna people say the word for rice as khao with their own tone, halfway between the central Thai falling and high tones, a sound central Thai does not have: kin khao is "to eat a meal" and khao tom is rice soup. The rice field is na (นาฯ), and farming rice is yia na or sai na.

Rice runs through the whole Northern Thai year, so the language has many words for it. This article collects Kham Mueang words for rice and paddy life from the dictionary: kinds of rice, kinds of paddy, the growing rice plant, field work, the buffalo, the granary, the weir-and-canal system, and the rites for the spirit of the rice.

Kinds of rice

Northern Thai people mainly eat sticky rice, so steamed sticky rice has its own name, khao nueng. Ordinary non-sticky rice is khao chao. Rice is also named by where and when it grows, and by whether it has been milled.

Kinds of paddy

The word na branches into many words that tell you the season, the position of the field, and where its water comes from.

From ka to huang: the growing rice plant

A seedling in Kham Mueang is ka (ก้ลฯา). The dictionary defines it as a plant raised to be moved and planted elsewhere, and rice seedlings raised in a nursery bed for the paddy. When the rice heads, the ear is called huang.

A farmer's year: words for field work

Farming rice can be said in several ways: yia na, yia khao, yia tong yia na, and sai na, which the dictionary explains as the planting steps from ploughing and sowing to transplanting. Yia hai sai na, "to work fields and paddies", means farming in general.

This table lists the words in the order of the work, from the first ploughing to the rice going into the granary. For the Lanna months, read the Northern months.

Working together

Rice work is heavy, so there are words for sharing labour and sharing the harvest.

The buffalo and the paddy

Before tractors, the main power in the fields was the buffalo (khwai, ฅวฯายฯ) and the ox (for other animal names, read animal names in Kham Mueang). So Kham Mueang has its own words for harness and training.

Hong khwan khwai is held after the season. The dictionary explains that while ploughing, people may scold or beat a buffalo that does not do what they want, so farmers hold this rite to thank the buffalo, ask its forgiveness (kho su ma), and wish it health, many calves and no sickness. For soul-calling rites, read Hong Khwan.

Long khao: the granary

Threshed and cleaned rice goes up into the long khao (หลฯอฯงเขั้า), the rice granary. The dictionary says it can also be called yia.

Mueang fai: water for the paddies

Paddies in the Lanna valleys depend on the mueang fai system: the fai (ฝายฯ), a weir across a stream that raises the water, and the mueang, a dug canal that carries it to the fields. Villagers run it together, with their own leaders.

According to the belief recorded in the dictionary, when a new weir is finished the villagers invite the chief spirit of the area to live in the weir spirit house. At the end of the season they pool money for offerings, and the weir leader invites the spirit to receive them. For more on spirit words, read phi in Kham Mueang.

The spirit of the rice and rice rites

Lanna people believe rice has a spirit, khwan khao (ขัวฯรเขั้า), and a guardian the dictionary compares to Mae Phosop, the central Thai rice goddess: Ya Khwan Khao (ย่าขัวฯรเขั้า), a sacred presence in the rice plant and the grain that keeps the harvest plentiful.

Read more about the new-rice offering in Tan Khao Mai and about life-extension rites in Suep Chata.

From granary to table

Once rice reaches the kitchen, there is another set of words for meals and for rice in different states.

For pots and baskets for cooking rice, read Lanna kitchen words. For rice dishes, read Khong Kin Khon Mueang and Kin Lam Kin Lam.

Khao that is not rice

Be careful: some Kham Mueang words begin with khao but have nothing to do with rice.

Rice sayings

• Khao na pa tao (เขั้าหนฯาปลฯาเทั้าฯ): the dictionary glosses it as "fish in the water, rice in the fields", a land of plenty.
• Fai mai long khao: "the granary is on fire", so hungry it burns.
• Khao wit laeng (เขั้าหิวฯดแลงฯ): not enough rice for dinner.
• Khao bo tok tong (เขั้าบํต฿กฯท้อฯง): not eaten yet; no rice has reached the stomach.

Summary

• Rice is khao; steamed sticky rice is khao nueng, ordinary rice khao chao, black sticky rice khao kam.
• A seedling is ka, rice about to head is khao man, and the ear is huang.
• Field work runs from haek na and thai na through dam na, kiao khao, ti khao and wi khao to lak khao khuen long.
• The granary is long khao or yia, and the paddies are watered by the mueang fai system led by the kae fai.
• The rice spirit is khwan khao and its guardian Ya Khwan Khao. Khao sa li is not rice at all: it is corn.

Search more rice words in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), and read about the animals of the fields in animal names in Kham Mueang.

Sources

• The Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): khao · na · ka · long khao · fai · ya khwan khao
• All photos are from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each photo. They illustrate the words; some were taken outside Northern Thailand, and the caption says where.