Royal Thai Language Phrases

[YangYaiEric]

Does anyone know what the following phrase means:

'Kap prabat. Kor day cha...'

I've heard it used in Old-Period Thai drama movies. Whenever I ask my wife for a translation, I get no satisfactory answer, other than it is used ONLY amongst the Thai Royal family, and that there is apparently a whole lexicon of phrases and words used ONLY by the Thai Royal Elite. Can anyone shed more light on this, please!.

Cheers

[Rikker]

That's probably กราบพระบาท ขอเดชะ, literally "(I) prostrate (myself at) (royal) feet, (I) request (of your) authority/power."

It's ceremonial talk used with royalty, hard to give a non-literal translation for, because it would generally be uttered before or after the actual content of what you mean to say, as a way for a speaker to debase himself and elevate the royalty he is speaking with.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Rikker

[MKAsok]

Interesting stuff. Didn't the word ผม originate from people prostrating themselves at the feet of royalty? E.G. Something along the lines of I (my hair, since it was below the level of the royal feet)...

mk

[DavidHouston]

From Lexitron:

ปกเกล้าปกกระหม่อม [pòk klâw pòk kràʔ mɔ̀ɔm] [N] Your Majesty the King; form of address used when speaking to the royalty

ขอเดชะ [khɔ̌ɔ dee cháʔ] - May it please Your Majesty

Def. "คำขึ้นต้น ละมาจากประโยค ว่า ขอเดชะฝ่าละอองธุลีพระบาทปกเกล้าปกกระหม่อม ซึ่งใช้นำหน้าคำกราบบังคมทูลแล้วลง ขอเดชะ ข้างท้ายอีก."

"A phrase used at the beginning and the end [of a sentence]. It comes from the full sentence, 'May it please your Majesty, the dust under the soles of your feet, your Majesty the King," used before addressing the King; then, at the end is added, 'May it please your Majesty . . .' . "

[Rikker]

ผม the pronoun does come from the word for hair, yes, but I think historically it would have been used by people of rank, so its use would have been an indication of status, not the reverse. I could be wrong.

Many of the pronouns and high honorifics follow this logic of either elevation or debasement, and several come from words relating to the head and feet.

Anymore, though, many words formerly reserved for specific ranks are used quite generally.

หม่อม (such as in the hereditary titles หม่อมเจ้า, หม่อมหลวง, or หม่อมราชวงศ์) comes from กระหม่อม, the part of the skull between crown and forehead.

You'll also often see constructions like "(royal person) โปรดเกล้าโปรดกระหม่อม (verb)" meaning that it pleased them to do such-and-such -- เกล้า refers to the head, and more specifically the crown of the head. When regular people request something of high royalty, it is said that "(non-royal person) ทูลเกล้าทูลกระหม่อม (verb)".

ดิฉัน (which used to also be a male pronoun, and of which ฉัน is a clipped form; alternate historical forms include ดีฉัน and อีฉัน) comes from ดิรัจฉาน, meaning 'animal'; the speaker elevates the listener by calling himself subhuman, essentially.

ข้า means slave/servant, and ข้าพเจ้า is from ข้าพระเจ้า or ข้าพระพุทธเจ้า, and literally means "my lord's slave" -- ข้าพระองค์ means the same thing.

เจ้า means 'lord' or 'ruler', still used as the common second-person pronoun in Lao/Isan, and though archaic in Thai now, was in recent history used by superiors toward inferiors.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Rikker

[meadish_sweetball]

ข้า means slave/servant, and ข้าพเจ้า is from ข้าพระเจ้า or ข้าพระพุทธเจ้า, and literally means "my lord's slave" -- ข้าพระองค์ means the same thing.

เจ้า means 'lord' or 'ruler', still used as the common second-person pronoun in Lao/Isan, and though archaic in Thai now, was in recent history used by superiors toward inferiors.

This is also a commonly used pronoun set in the Thai subtitles of especially fantasy and historical films from the West and China.