เกล้า

Thai

Etymology

Li (1977) reconstructed Proto-Tai *kləuꟲ¹ (head; knot of hair on the top of the head).[1]

Thereafter, Pittayaporn (2009) reconstructed the Proto-Tai forms as *klawꟲ (hair knot) and *krawꟲ (head) (เกล้า (glâao), Lao ເກົ້າ (kao), Tai Nüa ᥐᥝᥲ (kàw) and Zhuang gyaeuj are descendants of *klawꟲ (hair knot)),[2] but it seems to vacillate whether to distinguish between the two forms.[3]

Possibly cognate with Proto-Austronesian *qulu (head).[4]

Pan (2000) considered Old Chinese (*qhljǔʔ, head) as a cognate word with Kra-Dai such as Zhuang gyaeuj etc. and Tibeto-Burman such as Tibetan མགོ (mgo, head) etc.[5]

Pronunciation

Orthographicเกล้า
e k l ˆ ā
Phonemic
กฺล้าว
k ̥ l ˆ ā w
RomanizationPaiboonglâao
Royal Instituteklao
(standard) IPA(key)/klaːw˥˩/(R)

Noun

เกล้า • (glâao)

  1. (elegant) head.

Derived terms

Verb

เกล้า • (glâao) (abstract noun การเกล้า)

  1. to make a hair knot.

References

  1. ^ Li, Fangkuei (1977) A Handbook of Comparative Tai, University of Hawaii Press, pages 220, 221, 222, 290
  2. ^ Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2009) The Phonology of Proto-Tai (Doctoral dissertation)‎[1], Department of Linguistics, Cornell University , page 323
  3. ^ Pittayaporn (2009) (ibid.) page 362 says: The reflexes of this etymon in NT dialects point to PT *-r. It is generally thought to be the same etymon as 'hair knot' found only in CT and SWT with *-l-. The Siamese form generally refers to 'hair knot' but means 'head' in the expression /puətᴰᴸ¹ siənᴬ¹ wiənᴬ² klaːwꟲ¹/ 'to have a headache, to be confused'.
  4. ^ Ostapirat, Weera (2005) "Kra-dai and Austronesian: notes on phonological correspondences and vocabulary distribution" In Sagart, Laurent; et al. (eds.) The Peopling of East Asia, London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, pages 111, 122, 124
  5. ^ 潘悟云 [Pan, Wuyun] (2000) 汉语历史音韵学 [Chinese Historical Phonology] (in Chinese), Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Publishing House (上海教育出版社), page 340