ศาลาชุมนุม

[วิลสัน]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering, what is the . under the consonant means?

Eg. อาจารย์พินิจ คุณธมฺโม

[Tonkhla]

It's called พินทุ (also see here). It' mainly used as a final syllable (ตัวสะกด) marker while transliterating Pali or Sanskrit in Thai. Without พินทุ, ธมโม is pronounced, following Pali-in-Thai pronunciation rules, ทะ-มะ-โม, whereas with พินทุ, ธมฺโม, it is pronounced ทัม-โม.

So, following the rules, คุณธมฺโม should be pronounced คุ-นะ-ทัม-โม. Please note that these 'rules' differ from normal, standard Thai pronunciation paradigm.

Usually, we don't use this mark in Thai writing at all, even when the writing contains Pali or Sanskrit; we use it when we write Pali or Sanskrit with almost no Thai, or no Thai at all. This mark can easily be found in Buddhist Prayer (บทสวดมนต์), Tripitaka (ไตรปิฎก), and a monk's title/pseudonym that have been transliterated in Thai.

พินทุ has another main use apart from this too; it's used to indicate how we should read a word with clustered consonants (อักษรนำ, ควบกล้ำ). Royal Institute Dictionary uses the mark this way.

[วิลสัน]

Thanks for the fast reply. Learn something new today

[poohlycatt]

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