Pali and Sanskrit Root Words in Thai คำกิตก์ในภาษาไทย

The following list has been adapted from the list presented in Ch. 10 of ภาษาไทยปริทัศน์ – คู่มือภาษาไทย สำหรับนักเรียน นักศึกษา และผู้สนใจ by เอื้อน เล่งเจริญ .

I have kept the roots written in the Thai script so that they can be recognised when seen in Thai words. The meanings have been loosely translated into English. The meanings are not comprehensive

Sanskrit and Pali influences in Thai are many. These influences may come in the form of affixes, concepts or words built from ‘root words’ (/that/) – ธาตุ which entered the language via Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer or other languages. A word that is build from such roots, is called ‘khamkit’ (คำกิตก์).

When looking at the following list, you may be curious as to what the ‘dot’ means below a letter. The Thai script is derived from the Indic scripts which have their origins in the Brahmi script and beyond. Traditionally, each consonant has an inherent vowel sound. Originally, this sound was the short /a/ sound as in /cut/. In the Devanagari script, as with many of the other Brahmi derived scripts, each consonant was pronounced with an ‘a’ sound after it if it was found in its full form by itself. When consonant clusters occurred – e.g. kw, kr, pr, prs etc – i.e. When the /a/ or other vowel sounds were not to be put between consonants, the original shapes would be cut or morphed in one way or another and fused together according to a set pattern. If the final letter in Sanskrit was to be left as the consonant sound rather than an /a/ following the consonant sound (e.g. ‘jan’ as opposed to ‘jana’), a stroke called a ‘Virama Stroke’ was placed below the final consonant to indicate this. Without this stroke, given that there was no other vowel symbol, the final inherent sound would be /a/.

In Thai, consonant clusters and the Virama Stroke are represented by a dot กรฺ. This would be pronounced ‘kar’ rather than ‘kara’. Even though the Thai sound system doesn’t allow for a wide range of consonant clusters (in theory many are written in, but in everyday speech the subsequent letters in the cluster are in many cases lost. It normally takes a conscious effort for a native Thai speaker to produce these clusters. Come to the Cracking Thai Fundamentals workshop for a more complete explanation!).

	Root ธาตุ	Transliteration(From Thai)	Devanagari	Transliteration (From Sanskrit)	Meaning ความหมาย
1	กรฺ	kr-	क्र कर	kr kar	to do, put into action
2	กี	ki-	की	ki	to buy
3	คม	kom-	कम	kama	to go
4	คห	kah-	कह	kaha	to carry, to receive
5	จร	cor-	चर	cara	to travel, behave
6	จิ	ci-	चि	ci	social, society, communal
7	จินฺต	cint-	चिन्त	cint	thought
8	จุร	cur-	चुर	cura	deceive, steal
9	ฉีทฺ	chit-	झीद्	jhid	cover
10	ชนฺ	chon-	जन्	jan	birth, be born, occur, create
11	ชิ	chi-	जि	ji	win, victory
12	ชีว	chiw-	जिव	jiva	alive, to exist, to live
13	ญา	(n)ya	ञा	nya	to know, knowledge
14	ตน	ton	तन	tana	spread / stretch out
15	ตป	top- (tap)	तप	tapa	heat, to heat, provide heat, to burn
16	ทา	tha-	दा	da	to give, bestow
17	ทิว	thiw-	दिव	diva	light, shine, enlighten
18	ทิสฺ	this(s)-	दिस्	dis	to show, indicate, point to
19	ทีป	thip-	दीप	dip	light, shine, enlighten
20	ธาว	thaw-	धाव	diva	to run
21	นนฺท	nonth-	नन्द	nanda	to enjoy, feel good
22	นาส	nat(s)-	नास	nasa	destroy, destruction, perish
23	นี	ni-	नी	ni	to lead
24	ปจฺ	poc-	पच्	pac	to boil (in liquid)
25	ปา	pa-	पा	pa	to drink
26	ปาล	pan(l)-	पाल	pala	to take care of, look after
27	พนฺธ	phon(th)-	बन्ध	bandha	to tie, bind
28	ภา	pha-	भा	bha	light, shine, enlighten, radiate
29	ภิทฺ	phit-	भिद	bhida	to break, ruin, destroy
30	ภุชฺ	phut(ch)	भुज	bhuja	to eat
31	มุทฺ	mut-	मुद्	mudh	happy, enjoy, amuse
32	มนฺ	mon-	मन्	man	to think, thought
33	มุจฺ	mut(c)	मुच्	muc	be clear of, release
34	มุห	muh-	मुह	muha	to be lost, lose
35	ยา	ya-	या	ya	to go
36	ยุธฺ	yuth-	युध	yudha	to cause trouble, fight
37	รุหฺ	ruh-	रुह	ruha	to bud, thrive, sprout
38	ลภฺ	lop-	लभ्	labh	to have attained
39	วจฺ	wot(c)-	वच्	vac	to speak, utter
40	วทฺ	wot-	वद्	vad	to speak, utter
41	วสฺ	wot(s)-	वस्	vas	to reside, to abide
42	วิทฺ	wit-	विद्	vid	to know, knowledge
43	วิสฺ	wit(s)-	विस्	vis	to enter
44	หสฺ	hot(s)-	हस्	has	to laugh, laughter
45	หนฺ	hon-	हन्	han	to kill
46	หา	ha-	हा	ha	to part from
47	หร	hor-	हर	hara	to lead
48	ชี	chi-	जी	ji	final, total, to the 'n'th' degree