Thai: A Grand Kham Mueang Word from the Vessantara

Thai (ไธ้, Kham Mueang reading thai) is one of the most graceful words in Lanna literature. Do not confuse it with "Thai" the nationality: this is a different word. The dictionary spells it with tho thong (the "flag" letter), which sounds exactly like tho thahan, so it is read thai. The dictionary defines it as a person of high rank, and it is also used as a description meaning graceful, lovely, grand.

The season of tang tham luang (ปาเวณีตั้งฯธัม์มฯหลฯวฯง), which is mostly held around the Yi Peng month, is coming up, when temples recite the Vessantara Jataka to their villages. If you listen to a Lanna recitation, listen for this word. This post introduces it with the example the dictionary gives.

This post is part of our series Kham Mueang Word of the Week, where we take one Lanna word and tell the story behind it. Every word comes from the Moradok Lanna dictionary.

What does thai mean?

The dictionary gives the word two roles.

One word holds both "a person of high standing" and "a graceful, lovable bearing", as if praising someone for being noble in rank and in manner at once.

Thai in the Maddi chapter: the dictionary's example

The dictionary quotes the Northern Vessantara Jataka, Soi Sangkon edition, the Maddi chapter. Princess Maddi comes back from the forest, where she has been gathering roots and fruit, and reaches the hermitage to find her two beloved children, Jali and Kanha, gone. She is so shocked that she faints. This is the story of Vessantara (ระฯพเวสสฯันดฯอฯร), whom the dictionary describes as the bodhisattva who perfected the virtue of giving in his last life before enlightenment.

Under the word ratchasi (ราชสีห์, read ratchasi, "royal lion"), the dictionary tells what happened just before: on her way back from gathering fruit, a royal lion, a tiger and a leopard lay across her path, so she reached the hermitage only at dusk. The old Thai painting at the top of this post shows a scene from the Maddi chapter, with large beasts standing in the way as well.

The passage the dictionary quotes (with some parts left out) begins, in our translation:

"...And Maddi, graceful kaen thai, weeps and searches all around, but she cannot see her two children..."

The Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), example under thai

In this sentence kaen thai praises Princess Maddi. The other words worth knowing are:

• si (ระฯศี, read si): the dictionary says beauty, prosperity, auspiciousness, and a word placed before names as a mark of honour
• pho (ผํอฯ, read pho): to look, to watch
• han (หันฯ, read han) means to see, and bo (บ, read bo) makes a verb negative, so bo han means "does not see"
• pi nong (พี่น้อฯง, read pi nong): elder and younger siblings, relatives; here it means the two children, who are brother and sister

Later in the same example, Vessantara finds Maddi unconscious and fears she is dead, so he lifts her onto his lap. The dictionary quotes that moment, in our translation:

"...'Is my Maddi truly dead, or not? How can this be?' The beloved lord, kaen thai, placed his hand over the princess's chest, and she still felt warm..."

The Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), example under thai

This time kaen thai is used of Vessantara himself ("the lord of hearts, graceful"). The same word praises both the princess and her husband.

Related words in the dictionary

If you want more Kham Mueang words for high rank or beauty, here are a few from the same dictionary.

Hearing thai at tang tham luang

The dictionary says that pa-weni tang tham luang is "the tradition of the Vessantara sermon", and that the Maddi chapter, source of the example above, is chapter 9 of the Vessantara Jataka. To learn which 13 chapters are recited, in what tune, and how temples are decorated as the Himmaphan forest, read our post Tang Tham Luang.

Summary

• Thai (ไธ้) is a noun meaning a person of high rank (tan thai, jao thai also said) and an adjective meaning graceful, lovely, grand (kaen thai also said)
• The dictionary's example comes from the Northern Vessantara Jataka, Soi Sangkon edition, Maddi chapter, praising both Maddi and Vessantara
• Other dictionary examples spell it with tho thahan, so it seems to be the same word (our observation)
• It is a word for reading and listening to literature, worth listening for at tang tham luang

Read the full entry at ไธ้ in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), or read on about the 13-chapter Vessantara recitation in Tang Tham Luang.

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): ไธ้ · ป๋าเวณีตั้งธรรมหลวง · พระเวสสันดร · ศรี · ปี้น้อง
• Image: an old Thai painting from the Maddi chapter, a scene from the Maddi chapter (Vessantara Jataka, Chapter 9 (Maddi)), in the collection of The Walters Art Museum, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)