Im interested in the etymology of this word, in some weird way in my brain it bears a resemblence to malignant. I know its not a directly copied from the English language, but an adaption maybe?

Also, I think im way off with this translation from Wikipedia, but here goes:

มะเร็ง คือ กลุ่มของโรคที่เกิดขึ้นจากการแบ่งเซลล์ที่ไม่สามารถควบคุมได้ และการที่เซลล์เหล่านี้เข้าไปทำลายเนื้อเยื่ออื่น ๆ

Cancer is a type of disease where the group of cells exhibit traits of uncontrolled growth, attack, and sometimes metastasis. These three types differ from beign tumors, which are self-contained, do not invade or metasize.

Edited July 10, 200818 yr by kwarmcheua

I'd guess is that it's from the Khmer word ម្រេញ /mrɨɲ/ 'cancer, ulcer', because it doesn't look very "Thai" to me.

The original meaning in Thai appears to be sore or ulcer, and it didn't mean cancer as we understand the word today until well into the 20th Century. So how it came to mean cancer is apparently that the word มะเร็ง already existed, and when a word was needed to correspond to the English word 'cancer', this is the one that was chosen.

But that doesn't stop us from consulting a whole bunch of dictionaries to see how the meaning has changed (or not). Starting with the oldest Thai dictionary reference I can find.

Circa 1840s, Jones dictionary):

มะเรง An ulcer, sore.

1854, Pallegoix (though this image is actually from the 1896 revision, the text is unchanged):

มาเรง Venereal ulcer; skin-disease.

1892, Michell:

มะเร็ง (ma'rayng) venereal ulcer

1907, Cartwright:

มะเร็ง n. ulcer, sore.

1927, Krung Thep Bannakhan:

มะเร็ง น. โรคเปื่อยเน่าชะนิดหนึ่งหายยาก.

[A kind of rotting disease, difficult to recover from.]

1933, Amnuay Silapa School:

มะเร็ง (ma-reyng) น. a kind of disease.

1950, Royal Institute:

มะเร็ง น. โรคเนื้อร้าย ทำให้เนื้อเน่าเปื่อย รักษาไม่ใคร่จะหาย มีหลายอย่าง.

[A malicious tissue disease that causes tissue to rot. Very difficult to cure. There are many kinds.]

This is finally starting to sound like cancer, albeit a rather primitive and vague definition.

1999, Royal Institute:

มะเร็ง น. เนื้องอกชนิดร้าย เกิดขึ้นเพราะเซลล์แบ่งตัวอย่างรวดเร็ว ควบคุมไม่ได้ แล้วแทรกไปตามเนื้อเยื่อข้างเคียง และสามารถหลุดจากแหล่งเริ่มต้นไปแบ่งตัวเพิ่มจำนวนที่บริเวณอื่น ๆ ได้ รักษาไม่ค่อยหาย. (อ. cancer).

[Malicious tumor, caused by rapid, uncontrollable cell division, which then spread to adjacent tissues, and able to spread from its point of origin to other areas. Not very curable.]

Translations in square brackets are mine (and debatable).

Edited July 10, 200818 yr by Rikker

Thanks Rikker, can anyone confirm Rikker's postulation that มะเร็ง is of Khmer origins?

I'd guess is that it's from the Khmer word ម្រេញ /mrɨɲ/ 'cancer, ulcer', because it doesn't look very "Thai" to me.

The original meaning in Thai appears to be sore or ulcer, and it didn't mean cancer as we understand the word today until well into the 20th Century. So how it came to mean cancer is apparently that the word มะเร็ง already existed, and when a word was needed to correspond to the English word 'cancer', this is the one that was chosen.

But that doesn't stop us from consulting a whole bunch of dictionaries to see how the meaning has changed (or not). Starting with the oldest Thai dictionary reference I can find.

Circa 1840s, Jones dictionary):

มะเรง An ulcer, sore.

1854, Pallegoix (though this image is actually from the 1896 revision, the text is unchanged):

มาเรง Venereal ulcer; skin-disease.

1892, Michell:

มะเร็ง (ma'rayng) venereal ulcer

1907, Cartwright:

มะเร็ง n. ulcer, sore.

1927, Krung Thep Bannakhan:

มะเร็ง น. โรคเปื่อยเน่าชะนิดหนึ่งหายยาก.

[A kind of rotting disease, difficult to recover from.]

1933, Amnuay Silapa School:

มะเร็ง (ma-reyng) น. a kind of disease.

1950, Royal Institute:

มะเร็ง น. โรคเนื้อร้าย ทำให้เนื้อเน่าเปื่อย รักษาไม่ใคร่จะหาย มีหลายอย่าง.

[A malicious tissue disease that causes tissue to rot. Very difficult to cure. There are many kinds.]

This is finally starting to sound like cancer, albeit a rather primitive and vague definition.

1999, Royal Institute:

มะเร็ง น. เนื้องอกชนิดร้าย เกิดขึ้นเพราะเซลล์แบ่งตัวอย่างรวดเร็ว ควบคุมไม่ได้ แล้วแทรกไปตามเนื้อเยื่อข้างเคียง และสามารถหลุดจากแหล่งเริ่มต้นไปแบ่งตัวเพิ่มจำนวนที่บริเวณอื่น ๆ ได้ รักษาไม่ค่อยหาย. (อ. cancer).

[Malicious tumor, caused by rapid, uncontrollable cell division, which then spread to adjacent tissues, and able to spread from its point of origin to other areas. Not very curable.]

Translations in square brackets are mine (and debatable).

Edited July 11, 200818 yr by kwarmcheua

What happened to all my pretty pictures? Did I screw something up when I edited it?

Scratch the Khmer idea. With the help of a Khmer friend I found out that Chuon Nath's 1967 Khmer dictionary says this word is from Sanskrit: (ស. មះរេ៏ង អ. ថ. ម៉ៈរ៉ិង).

I believe this is the right word:

व्रण vraNa m. ulcer

I think that would be vraṇa in IAST, then. And sure enough, a Google search of vraṇa returns results about ulcers and cancer.