[Tlc] T-Taksin/Thaksin

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Dr. Thongchai Winichakul.
Thanks,
justin
P.S. I attach a short reference guide I wrote on romanization of Thai and Lao (and Pali and Sanskrit words in Thai and Lao) a few years ago. There has been little agreement on the "proper" way to transliterate/romanize Thai and Lao over the years. There has been considerable debate on this issue and everyone has their "own" system. It does produce funny results often! 


On the lighter side of political mess in Thailand:

Justin's subject line is "T-Taksin". The story is all about "Thaksin", and 
not even a word about "Taksin".

I assume that it is romanization slip. The spellings in Thai for "Thaksin" 
and "Taksin", as the King of Thonburi is commonly known, are entirely 
different in every letter.  Their etymological roots are totally different 
too: one is a Sanskrit word meaning the south, the other is a folkish 
abbreviation for the Lord of Tak (a muang) whose personal name was Sin. But 
their romanized forms are different only by one letter.

But even in Thai, the relations of two names are sometimes seditious. A few 
weeks ago, the Democrats claimed that they have found a secret plan by 
"Thaksin" for urban unrest to undermine the constitutional monarchy. The 
plan, according to the Democrats, was named the "Taksin" scheme. (By the 
way, the military said they had no idea about the alleged scheme but they 
would look into it, following the lead by the Democrats!)

Why? Why not another king's name? Well, one of the most seditious historical 
mysteries in Thailand was how the Chakri dynasty came to power and what they 
did to King Taksin. By labelling "Taksin" to the alleged Thaksin's 
conspiracy, the Democrats intentionally played with such known popular 
mystery.

Imagine a headline in English with a romanization slip: "Taksin Is Back to 
Power: Claiming the Current Regime is Murderous"

(If NotTheNation is interested in this slip, please contact me for 
permission.)

Thongchai


  

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu
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