Meaning Of ศรัทธา

[fightfan340]

Just wondering the meaning of "ศรัทธาI read one meaning and heard another from someone from Thailand. Thanks in advance for any response.

Jon

[CSS]

Just wondering the meaning of "ศรัทธาI read one meaning and heard another from someone from Thailand. Thanks in advance for any response.

Jon

Lexitron gives these definitions:

ศรัทธา

ศรัทธา [N] faith

Syn. ความศรัทธา, ความเลื่อมใส, ความเชื่อถือ

Ant. เสื่อมศรัทธา.

ศรัทธา [V] believe in; have trust; confidence in

Syn. ถือ, เชื่อถือ, ยึดถือ

Related word : เชื่อถือ;ชื่นชม;เทอดทูน;เชื่อ;

[5tash]

Just wondering the meaning of "ศรัทธาI read one meaning and heard another from someone from Thailand. Thanks in advance for any response.

Jon

I think the link you provided gives you an accurate answer. What was "someone from Thailands" thoughts on the word ศรัทธา ?

[mijan24]

ศรัทธา

( ศัท-ธา- )

sàt-taa

[ V ] believe in ; have trust ; confidence in

[ N ] faith ;

ความศรัทธา

kwaam sàt-taa faith ; trust ; belief

ความเลื่อมใสศรัทธา

kwaam-lêuam-săi sàt-taa faithfulness ; believability ; conviction

เสื่อมศรัทธา

sèuam sàt-taa lose faith ;

น่าศรัทธา

nâa sàt-taa faithful ; pious

[fightfan340]

This was an older women and she said it meant something like "helper to all" or "one that help others"? I searched all the online dictionaries and got the same responses in this forum, but I was wondering from any who spoke thai if they ever heard of this translation?

Thanks again,

Jon

Just wondering the meaning of "ศรัทธาI read one meaning and heard another from someone from Thailand. Thanks in advance for any response.

Jon

Lexitron gives these definitions:

ศรัทธา

ศรัทธา [N] faith

Syn. ความศรัทธา, ความเลื่อมใส, ความเชื่อถือ

Ant. เสื่อมศรัทธา.

ศรัทธา [V] believe in; have trust; confidence in

Syn. ถือ, เชื่อถือ, ยึดถือ

Related word : เชื่อถือ;ชื่นชม;เทอดทูน;เชื่อ;

[CSS]

This was an older women and she said it meant something like "helper to all" or "one that help others"? I searched all the online dictionaries and got the same responses in this forum, but I was wondering from any who spoke thai if they ever heard of this translation?

Thanks again,

Jon

For those two translations of yours above, referring to ศรัทธา as a person, I would expect that we would need to add ผู้ before the word. I haven't heard it used as you mention personally, though it wouldn't be a huge stretch from its translations as both an adj. and noun from previous posts. However, a quick google search didn't find it being used with this meaning. The vast majority of sites using ผู้ศรัทธา were Muslim religious sites that used the word as as something along the lines of "believers."

[fightfan340]

This was an older women and she said it meant something like "helper to all" or "one that help others"? I searched all the online dictionaries and got the same responses in this forum, but I was wondering from any who spoke thai if they ever heard of this translation?

Thanks again,

Jon

For those two translations of yours above, referring to ศรัทธา as a person, I would expect that we would need to add ผู้ before the word. I haven't heard it used as you mention personally, though it wouldn't be a huge stretch from its translations as both an adj. and noun from previous posts. However, a quick google search didn't find it being used with this meaning. The vast majority of sites using ผู้ศรัทธา were Muslim religious sites that used the word as as something along the lines of "believers."

Thanks again for the response.

Jon

[Virin]

I am a ศรัทธา of this temple. - ศรัทธา = layperson

คณะศรัทธา of this temple. - คณะศรัทธา = group of laypersons

I ศรัทธาเลื่อมใส in his theory. = I am confident and fully believe in his theory.

[Rikker]

ศรัทธา is used as both a noun and a verb, meaning 'faith, belief' or 'to believe, to have faith in'.

That's why we see both ผู้ศรัทธา and ผู้มีศรัทธา in the sense 'believers, those who have faith (in something)'.

ศรัทธา meaning layperson isn't strictly correct, because 'layperson' simply means anyone who isn't a man of the cloth, not a monk or a priest. In the sense Virin is using it, ศรัทธา means something more like 'believing layperson' or 'faithful layperson', i.e. someone who isn't a monk who supports a particular temple. So we could say the คณะศรัทธา of a temple are the 'faithful' of that temple, or the believers. But I don't know enough about temple workings to know if คณะศรัทธา is simply an idiom meaning anyone who believes, or is an actual defined group for a specific temple. It might be somewhere in between, too, like you're part of the คณะศรัทธา once you donate to the temple, but there's no definitive list. Can you please clarify, Virin?

Virin also makes the good point that ศรัทธา can be used outside of a religious context, too, but I find it still carries the connotation of fervent, systematic, even pseudo-religious belief. You don't just casually ศรัทธา something, like the excuse your kid gives you for being out too late. It's more than that.

Edited July 19, 2008 by Rikker

[DavidHouston]

I am a ศรัทธา of this temple. - ศรัทธา = layperson

คณะศรัทธา of this temple. - คณะศรัทธา = group of laypersons

I ศรัทธาเลื่อมใส in his theory. = I am confident and fully believe in his theory.

I love the wonderfully melodious and poetic term for Buddhist follower, "พุทธศาสนิกชน" (phúttháʔ sàatsà níkkà chon) or "พุทธมามกะ" (phút thá maam má kà)

and a temple lay official, "มรรคนายก" (mák ká naa yók)

[KhaoNiaw]

Virin also makes the good point that ศรัทธา can be used outside of a religious context, too, but I find it still carries the connotation of fervent, systematic, even pseudo-religious belief. You don't just casually ศรัทธา something, like the excuse your kid gives you for being out too late. It's more than that.

I think it can be used to express trust and faith in the views of someone you greatly respect, perhaps a teacher or someone highly respected in a particular field, which is perhaps the meaning the OP's source was trying to explain. Think about อาจารย์ in the word's broadest sense, and that would be someone worthy of ศรัทธา.

หมดศรัทธา would be to have lost your faith, belief or confidence in that person.

[Groongthep]

I am a ศรัทธา of this temple. - ศรัทธา = layperson

The Thai Wat I sometimes visit in the US Wat Atammayatarama uses the term อุบาสก in it's printed "hymnals" when referring to laypeople. I would guess (but am not sure) that it may be synonymous with ศรัทธา

[Rikker]

There are words that mean layperson in a simply classificatory sense. By that I mean it carries no inherent meaning about the level one's faith in Buddhism. It's just to distinguish between those who are นักบวช and those who are not. I know คฤหัสถ์ and ฆราวาส, which are from the same Sanskrit root คฺฤห, meaning 'house' (so a layperson is literally a house-dweller, not a temple-dweller).

Of course, as used in a temple context, it makes sense to assume that those who are there are faithful, so other terms are used. อุบาสก means a male lay Buddhist of strong faith, and อบาสิกา is a female lay Buddhist of strong faith, to paraphrase the definitions given in the Royal Institute Dictionary.

Actually, I'd personally never heard Virin's use of ศรัทธา as a noun meaning layperson believer, but I have no reason to doubt it (I ศรัทธา based on many previous helpful contributions ;P), so I take that and try to figure out how it fits in with my own (admittedly much more limited) knowledge and experience.

Edited July 19, 2008 by Rikker

[Virin]

I am a ศรัทธา of this temple. - ศรัทธา = layperson

คณะศรัทธา of this temple. - คณะศรัทธา = group of laypersons

I ศรัทธาเลื่อมใส in his theory. = I am confident and fully believe in his theory.

I love the wonderfully melodious and poetic term for Buddhist follower, "พุทธศาสนิกชน" (phúttháʔ sàatsà níkkà chon) or "พุทธมามกะ" (phút thá maam má kà)

and a temple lay official, "มรรคนายก" (mák ká naa yók)

Many terms used for Buddhist follower, it might be different from temple to temple and occasions. พุทธศาสนิกชน and พุทธมามกะ are formal words, normally used in writing or formal speech.

อุบาสก (male), อุบาสิกา (female), ญาติธรรม (male and female), ศรัทธา (male and female) - they are all the same meaning. I have been called ศรัทธา (layperson) whenever joining religious ceremonies in temple.

[Rikker]

Virin, could you use ศรัทธา in this meaning in a sentence for us, as you'd typically hear it in a temple? Thanks.