Origin Of Baht

[Richard W]

Where does the English spelling 'baht' come from? Given the Thai spelling, บาท, one should expect to have 'bath', which indeed one does occasionally encounter. 'Baht' looks very appropriate if you know German, but surely there isn't any German connection.

I'm not even sure of the ultimate origin of the word. From the spelling, it should come from Sanskrit pa:da 'foot, quarter, ...'. But, although as a weight of gold, a baht is a quarter of a tael (ตำลึง), the Royal Institute Dictionary does not give an etymology for the word in the monetary sense.

[Edward B]

Good question. It doesn't really make sense, since the city หาดใหญ่ is spelt Hat Yai but has the same pronunciation as Baht. Then again, this is Thailand, and alot of stuff don't make alot of sense.

definition

[The Ghost of Phoolan Devi]

Where does the English spelling 'baht' come from?  Given the Thai spelling, บาท, one should expect to have 'bath', which indeed one does occasionally encounter.  'Baht' looks very appropriate if you know German, but surely there isn't any German connection.

I'm not even sure of the ultimate origin of the word.  From the spelling, it should come from Sanskrit pa:da 'foot, quarter, ...'.  But, although as a weight of gold, a baht is a quarter of a tael (ตำลึง), the Royal Institute Dictionary does not give an etymology for the word in the monetary sense.

Baht means simply "a measure/unit of weight", as in Hindi baat (with retroflex t), and I guess there must have been a Skt. word baata or vaata/varta.

The h in Baht just reflects that the a is long. I have no idea who this spelling came about, but maybe the person inventing this transcription was a German since German uses h's to lengthen vowels.

Satang, btw, is derived from Skt. shata, one hundred, which in turn is connected to Latin centum and thus the base of Cent. So, again an interesting connection between English and Thai!

[The Ghost of Phoolan Devi]

To take the subject a bit further:

Up to the 1940's the Baht was often called Tical. I actually know some elderly Indians in Bangkok (in their seventies or above) who still use this word occasionally.

One also often comes across this word in old travelogues by Western writers.

Tical is derived from Arabian thaqual, and related to shekel and taka (the latter being the Bangladeshi currency). In Hindi, tikali denotes a small, round piece of metal. Note that the t is retroflex in all cases.

[The Ghost of Phoolan Devi]

A few more reflections on the subject.

Some may be puzzled how a Hindi word could be the closest relative to "Baht", instead one of S/P origin.

Up to the late 19th century, next to the Tical, many deals in Siam were struck by using the Indian rupee, a spillover from the British Raj. In fact, in Northern Thailand, upwards of Tak and Sukhotai, the rupee was the only accepted currency (until ca. 1890). So we have a "modern" Indian connection here; and it's not entirely unthinkable that the word Baht was introduced by Indian traders in that period.

It took the Siamese government a major effort to stamp out the use of Indian rupees, a feat accomplished sometime in the early 20th century. "Rupee", that ubiquitous currency from Pakistan to Indonesia (in various linguistic avatars), is derived from rupya, "wrought silver" and was first coined in India in the mid-16th century. Oh yea, I'm straying again ...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

A few more reflections on the subject.

Some may be puzzled how a Hindi word could be the closest relative to "Baht", instead one of S/P origin.

Up to the late 19th century, next to the Tical, many deals in Siam were struck by using the Indian rupee, a spillover from the British Raj. In fact, in Northern Thailand, upwards of Tak and Sukhotai, the rupee was the only accepted currency (until ca. 1890). So we have a "modern" Indian connection here; and it's not entirely unthinkable that the word Baht was introduced by Indian traders in that period.

It took the Siamese government a major effort to stamp out the use of Indian rupees, a feat accomplished sometime in the early 20th century. "Rupee", that ubiquitous currency from Pakistan to Indonesia (in various linguistic avatars), is derived from rupya, "wrought silver" and was first coined in India in the mid-16th century. Oh yea, I'm straying again ...

Well I enjoy your meanderings. My disciplines are somewhat less interesting, and lack the esoteric inputs.

[The Ghost of Phoolan Devi]

Well I enjoy your meanderings. My disciplines are somewhat less interesting, and lack the esoteric inputs. 

Haha, thanks for the flowers.

And to add to my ramblings:

There's also a regional variant of Hindi "baat", which has has a nasal after the long a. This though is unlikely to be the source of Baht.

The word "baat" is still very much in use in Hindi; it also appears in several compounds, such as "baat-tarazu" (weights and scales). But I bet hardly a Hindi-speaking Indian tourist in Thailand will realize the connection to the Thai currency.

Mind you that the t HAS to be retroflex, otherwise the word changes its meaning. "Baat" with a "common" t has numerous meanings, such as affair, word, talk, discussion, matter et al.

[john b good]

To take the subject a bit further:

Up to the 1940's the Baht was often called Tical. I actually know some elderly Indians in Bangkok (in their seventies or above) who still use this word occasionally.

One also often comes across this word in old travelogues by Western writers.

Tical is derived from Arabian thaqual, and related to shekel and taka (the latter being the Bangladeshi currency). In Hindi, tikali denotes a small, round piece of metal. Note that the t is retroflex in all cases.

Two or three years back the treasury issued a limited edition of 100 Tical notes.

I think it was to commerorate the 100th anniversary of the Bank of Thailand (or some other anniversary)

There was a limit of 2,000 Bahts worth to persons applying and there were queue's a mile and a half long at the respective Bank's of Thailand.

I managed to get my 2,000 Bahts worth. (which is perhaps the only time I have got full value of anything in Thailand)

And even today in Burma the weight of gold is still quoted in "ticals" of weight as is Baht is used in Thailand.

It is however not quite the same weight (in grams) as it is in Thailand.

[The Ghost of Phoolan Devi]

Two or three years back the treasury issued a limited edition of 100 Tical notes.

I think it was to commerorate the 100th anniversary of the Bank of Thailand (or some other anniversary) 

There was a limit of 2,000 Bahts worth to persons applying and there were queue's a mile and a half long at the respective Bank's of Thailand.

I managed to get my 2,000 Bahts worth. (which is perhaps the only time I have got full value of anything in Thailand)

If you had been around in the 1930s, you'd felt quite happy with your 100 tical note, too. At that time, a labourer's monthly wage was 60 ticals.

In the late 19th century, a tical was worth about 1/20 of a British pound.

The value of the tical was originally tied to silver, but in 1902 the state bank switched to a gold-based currency system.