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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand

Volume XVI-2024 (Special Issue)

A loan blend is borrowed from other languages and combined with words in the

borrower’s own language, making the meaning of the borrowed word clearer. For example,
the word “ขนมเค้ก” (khanom khek) has a specific meaning that cake (khek) is a type of dessert

(khanom). In the same way, the word “ขนมโก๋” (khanom ko) has a specific meaning that ko
(from Chinese) is a type of dessert.

A loan shift is a loanword that is borrowed from other languages and used in the
borrower’s language in various ways, such as “นำ�าแข็ง” (namkhang) (“nam” means “water,” “khang”
means “hard”), used instead of “ice,” “วิัฒนธรรม” (watanatham) used instead of “culture.”

This also includes expanded meanings, such as “โบัสถ์” (bosth), which originally existed in Thai
and meant a place where monks gathered to perform various religious ceremonies in Buddhism.

The meaning of “โบัสถ์” is expanded to cover the meaning of “church.”
A loan translation (calque) are loanwords or phrases that are borrowed from other
languages and translated into words or phrases in another language. They may be translated as

a whole text or may be translated while maintaining the grammatical form and meaning of that
language, such as the word “แรงม้า” (raengma) (“raeng” means “power,” “ma” means “horse”)

from the English word “horse power,” “แรงเทีย์น” (rangthian) (“thian” means “candle”) from the
English word “candle power” and “จุดย์ืน” (chutyuen) (“chut” means “point”, “yuen” means

“stand”) from the English word “standpoint.”
In summary, loanwords can be divided into two main groups: borrowed words (loan blend,

loan shift, and loan translation) and loanword proper (transliterated loanwords). As for coined
words, they are new words created using the above methods.
However, before we get to borrowing and transliteration, there is a linguistic phenomenon

called “drawing into meaning.”
This phenomenon occurred when the Portuguese came into contact with the Thai people

in the Ayutthaya period and tried to record the Thai names in many documents, such as HUDIA
(Ayutthaya อย์ุธย์า), MEINAO (Maenam แม่นำ�า), MUANTAI (Mueangthai เมืองไทย์), SIAO (Siam สย์าม).

The French recorded CA-NOUN (kanoon ขนุน), CLOÜEY (kluay กล้วิย์), SAPAROT (sapparot สัปรด).
Other words were written in many ways, depending on the ears and hearing of the Portuguese,

Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, German, or English. Sometimes they might have heard the words
from foreigners in Thailand, such as JAGOMA, TIONGH MAY, ISCHEEN MEY, ZIMMÉ (Chiang Mai
เชีย์งใหม่), PICELOUCK, PURSELOUCK (Phitsanulok พิษัณุโลก), PIPRY, BIJREPOOREE (Phetchaburi

เพชรบัุรี). Some words were dragged into words that they were familiar with, such as OPERA
(Ok Phra ออกพระ).

Although the British came to Thailand during the reign of King Songtham in 1612,
documents containing an abundance of English words were found in the reign of King Rama II

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