ព្រះ
See also: ពីរ, ពួរ, ព្រៃ, ព្រោះ, and พระ
Khmer
Etymology
From Old Khmer vraḥ (“to be holy, sacred, divine; celestial or holy being”), of disputed origin.
Most dictionaries attribute the source of the Old Khmer as ultimately Sanskrit वर (vara, “best; excellent; foremost; holy; precious; top; valuable; etc”), although some authors maintain that it is an autochthonous Mon-Khmer word, for example Shorto (2006), who reconstructed Proto-Mon-Khmer *brah (“divine being”). Pain (2014)[1] disagreed with both theories, proposing that the Old Khmer originates as a reduced form of Sanskrit ब्राह्मण (brāhmaṇa, “relating to a Brahmin; divine”).
Compare Burmese ဘုရား (bhu.ra:); Telugu వరము (varamu), వరుడు (varuḍu); Thai พร (pɔɔn).
Pronunciation
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Noun
ព្រះ • (prĕəh)
- Buddha
- God
- Lord
- count or earl (title)
Derived terms
- ព្រះច័ន្ទ (preah can)
- ព្រះពុទ្ធ (preah put)
- ព្រះយេស៊ូ (preah yeesuu)
Descendants
- Thai: พระ (prá)
See also
- ទេវ (teiveaʔ)
References
- Frederic Pain (2014), “Brāhmaṇa as an honorific in ’Indianized’ Southeast Asia: A Linguistic Approach”, on Archive Ouverte HAL.