I have 3 types of descriptions for Nutmeg:

look jan - ลูกจันทน์

look jan - ลูกจัน

look jan tet - ลูกจันทน์เทศ

Are these all correct and all the same?

Thanks for your help.

ลูกจัน is missing ทน์, so it's not correctly spelled.

ลูกจันทน์ has just omitted the เทศ, but it'll still be readily understood to be nutmeg and not sandalwood which just "จันทน์" would mean.

ลูกจันทน์เทศ is the actual nutmeg seed.

จันทน์เทศ means nutmeg in general, such as nutmeg tree which is ต้นจันทน์เทศ.

If you're gonna write it in recipe, use ลูกจันทน์เทศ for clarity.

Only this one is correct : ลูกจันทน์เทศ

It comes from this tree: ต้นจันทน์เทศ (Myristica fragrans)

While this tree : ต้นจันทน์ is a different kind of tree.

It's sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus).

์Now ลูกจัน is again from another tree : ต้นจันอิน (Diospyros decandra Lour or Gold Apple)

It looks a bit like an apple, the seeds don't look like nutmeg and Thai people eat the fruit or preserve it.

You can also use เม็ดจันทน์เทศ for nutmeg.

So there are 3 trees with similar names that are not related.

ลูกจันทน์ is wrong spelling (but it's sometimes used instead of ลูกจัน and ลูกจันทน์เทศ)

PS. Edited a lot after using wikipedia.

Edited April 14, 201412 yr by kriswillems

Dear Mole and Kriswillems,

Thank you both for your detailed replies.

I now clearly understand how I should list Nutmeg and Nutmeg Seed in the dictionary I am making.

Much appreciated.

Dear Mole and Krisswillems,

My previous mail was sent prior to receiving Krisswillems' new edited reply. Thank you for that. I appreciate all the trouble you have gone to.

As I can't read Thai very much, I had to organize both of your comments, so it was easy for me to understand. I also had to use GoogleTranslate to work out the missing readings.

I am attaching a list of my understanding of both of your comments. I assume it will be OK for me to use 3, 4, 5 and 6 in my dictionary. Would it also be OK to use 1? The reason I am asking this (because Mole recommended that I use 3 for clarity) is because the list will eventually be used by non-Thai speaking people, who will most probably be referring to English cookbooks, etc. wherein the incorrect name may be used widespread. I will add a comment such as 'description used, but incorrect'.

If you don't mind, I would really appreciate your comments. No hurry.

Thank you.

I recommend you just use ลูกจันทน์เทศ for clarity and do not mention anything about the other spellings because you can't really be sure if other spellings used elsewhere that they are actually just referring to the nutmeg or something else. What it's exactly referring to will be understood by context, so your duty is to use the correct terminology and just don't mention any other erroneous alternatives.

As you're writing an English language cookbook, there will also be the English names of ingredients as well as Thai, so there should really be no confusion or ambiguity.

Dear Mole,

Thank you for your reply.

Just to explain again, I am not making a cooking book. It is a dictionary of Thai food, which will include the names of vegetables, fruit, fish, etc. and will be in English, Thai (Thai script and romanized Thai) and Japanese (Japanese script and romanized Japanese).

I am trying to put in as much information as possible, so people who find words listed in English cookbooks, on the internet, etc. will know what they mean. That is the reason I am trying to clarify all these words, to assist them in knowing what they mean.

However, as you recommend I only use ลูกจันทน์เทศ, I will, although if people come up against the other words, they will not be sure what they mean.

Thank you for your help.

If they come up with the other words somewhere else, I'm sure they'll know by context.

All of them have vastly different meanings, nutmeg, sandalwood, and golden apple. I'm sure there won't be any ambiguity.

OK. Thanks so much for your help Mole, as always.