A Reflection of Thai Culture in Thai Plant Names

Home , Helicia nilagirica, Thai name

A REFLECTION OF THAI only the core name that can differentiate CULTURE IN THAI PLANT one plant from another or include other 1 parts people add to the core to depict that NAMES particular form of plant life. The common names of plants often vary from region to Unchalee Singnoi2 region, which is why most plant encyclopedias refer to plants using their scientific names: binomials, or "Latin" Abstract names. It is not unusual that many plants to have several common names, and for The present study focuses on the plant many common names to refer to several naming system in the Thai language based distinct plants. on 1) Brent Berlin’s general principles of categorization of plants and animals in In the last decades, a number of research traditional societies (Berlin, 1974, 1992) works have investigated the plant naming which suggest that it is worthwhile to think systems of traditional societies from about a plant taxonomy system on the biological, ecological, anthropological, basis of plant names since the names linguistic, cultural and social perspectives, provide the valid key to folk taxonomy and focusing either on the structure of naming 2) Lakoff’s central guiding principles of or the categories of the identities they cognitive linguistics (Lakoff and Johnson, intend to describe. Quite a lot of literature 2003 and Lakoff 1987). Data on plant has been written about the different levels names collected from printed materials of classification, semantic features and are selectively analyzed. The study cultural implications of the naming examines the linguistic structure, folk system. A pioneer group of researchers taxonomy and conceptualization of plant dealing with the structure of plant and terms in the Thai language. It is found that animal naming includes Berlin, Breedlove there exists in the Thai language a and Raven (1973, 1974, 1992). These complex and practical plant naming papers, in which general principles of folk system establishing a relationship between taxonomy were elaborated based on ethno- language, cognition and culture. botanical studies in Central and South America, drew convincing parallels with Introduction the taxonomic thinking among European people, which became the basis of The term “plant names” in the paper refers taxonomy in Western science. At the core to a particular linguistic structure people of Berlin’s argument is the five-level commonly use to call a variety of plant structure of the taxa or taxonomic group, life. A common plant name may convey called taxonomic ethnobiological categories. These smaller categories are 1 The research project was funded by the defined in terms of certain criteria, such as Faculty of Humanities, Naresuan University. having certain linguistic or taxonomic The support is herewith again gratefully features that are recognizable. The five acknowledge. ethnobiological categories are as follows: 2 Assoc.Prof.Dr., Department of Language and unique beginner, life form, generic, Folklore, Faculty of Humanities, Naresuan specific, and varietal. Most, if not all University, Thailand organisms, flora or fauna, can be placed

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taxonomically into these categories. This names in an attempt to explicate their is a specifiable and partially predictable roles. Here, Thai plant names are generally set of plant and animal taxa that represent investigated. More than 3,000 plant names the smallest fundamental biological were collected from a number of reliable discontinuities easily recognized by any sources such as plant encyclopedias, local- particular habitat. That is, people tend to dialect dictionaries, local plant taxonomy categorize in predictable ways based on and classification, plant collections, and recognizable differences in the other printed materials by academic environment around them. Years later, institutes in all four main dialects of several research papers in ethnology Thailand: North, Northeastern, Central and followed Berlin’s principles as the best South. The choice of entries is richness of available system to present ethno- Thai folk terms for plants in all four main taxonomic data (Hiepko 2006). regional forms, both wild and cultivated, but excluded are: As claimed in Berlin (1992), traditional taxonomic groupings of plants and plant 1.) words that merely refer to a plant part; names have been assigned in sensible for example, hu&a-plii referring to patterns. Understanding the patterns banana tree flowers. provides insights into the cultural perspectives and evolutionary histories of 2.) words that refer to the state of a plant, those who developed the groupings and for example, nç$ç-maèay referring to names. This claim is in accordance with young bamboo or bamboo shoots. researchers in cognitive linguistics such as Lakoff and Johnson (2003) and Lakoff Background on Class Terms, (1987), who have worked on the assumption that language is the outcome Classifiers and Class Markers in of general properties of cognition and that the Thai Language conceptual representation is the outcome of the nature of the bodies humans have One of the research aims is to investigate and how they interact with the geo- plant names in Thai and their linguistic linguistic and socio-physical world. The role as a system of nominal classification. experience of Thai people can explicitly In general, systems of nominal demonstrate these ideas. The Thai plant classification have typically been naming system does share some of the described in terms of three sub-types: 1) features proposed by these researchers, but lexical system (class terms and measures), in the author’s observation, there is more 2) lexico-grammatical system (classifiers), to it than that. There is a specific way in and 3) grammatical system (noun class the Thai language of naming plants, and markers and gender). However, the this will be discussed in detail in the terminology used to discuss nominal following sections. classification systems typologically is not consistent in the literature. In particular, For the purpose of this paper, I focus on quite a number of researchers tend to use morpho-syntactic patterns of lexical and the term classifier to describe both lexico- grammatical systems of nominal grammatical and grammatical systems of classification, categorization systems and classification. For the purposes of this folk conceptualization illustrated in plant paper, I use the term nominal classification

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as a broader cover term to mean a system Synchronically, the Thai noun classifier through which language and its native construction3 consists of speakers mark nouns based on categories, quantifier/numeral (hereafter Q) followed which would include class terms, by a noun classifier (hereafter CLF), classifiers, and class markers. Many forming a sequence of constituents: researchers have put more focus on noun classifier systems in the last decades (see (1) Q + CLF Craig 1986, and references therein). Concrete nouns are categorized according The head noun can either precede or to intrinsic/generic characteristics, follow the compound constituent, as perceptual features, including most shown respectively: prominently animacy, shape, and consistency (Adams and Conklin 1973). A (2) ma&a sç&çN tua less well studied type of categorization is dog two CLF (animal/body) found in class terms, noun roots of a ‘two dogs’ relatively general sense that occur in compounds with a categorizing function (3) sç&çN kon phu&a mia (DeLancey 1986 and Beckwith 1993). In two CLF(human) husband wife Thai, the class term and classifier systems ‘two people, a husband and wife’ have been differentiated in the literature (cf. Singnoi 2008) but the noun class However, the second compound marker system has not. constituent is limited to a combination of human head nouns with a certain For a brief orientation of nominal relationship such as spouse (e.g., husband classification involving Thai plant names, and wife, grandfather and grandmother) it is much more convenient to begin with and kinship (e.g., father and son/daughter, the syntactic scope of noun classifiers mother and son/daughter, older which is much more well-known. Then the brother/sister and younger brother/sister) other two categories are compared to see while it is prohibited to non-human the syntactic difference. Thai is a good (Singnoi 2000). example of the numeral classifier languages which require the classifier Apart from classifiers, Thai presents morpheme in order to code the quantity of another type of classification called class a noun (hereafter N) as many South and terms (CLT), as proposed by Delancey East Asian languages do. Thai is classified (1986) in his study of Thai classifiers with as an isolating language which exhibits a reference to the work of Haas in 1942. type of SVO language and the head- Class terms do not function as true modifier noun phrase. The language is also classifiers. They classify nouns by co- well known for its elaborate classifier occurring with the classified nouns in a system. The classifiers are good examples large number of compound words (Singnoi of morphemes which differentiate entities 2005 and 2008). The study of Thai into different classes, both generally and specifically, and manifest native speakers’ cultural beliefs by noun categorization. 3 For details of the project Classifier Construction in Thai, see Singnoi (2008), which also includes its semantic and pragmatic aspects.

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nominal compounding by Singnoi (2005) on the grounds that class terms occur with reveals that lexicalized compound nouns their classified nouns (which are their in the pattern noun-noun, like fayfa^a (fire- subordinate terms) in lexicalized sky) ‘electricity’, lu&uk-na^am (offspring- compounds, while classifiers occur with water) ‘mosquito baby’ and so forth, allow their classified terms in other syntactic class terms to act as the heads in the first constructions, so that it is perhaps position which semantically classify the unnecessary to connect this with any following noun constituents in terms of significant difference in semantic function. features or shapes like classifiers, as This is in accordance with Saul (1965) shown below: who provides a description of Nung, showing the syntactic distinction of the (4) kç^çn-hi&n two similar categories. That is, class terms are obligatory (indeed lexically bound) CLT (lump shape)-stone components of their compounds, while ‘a lump of stone’ classifiers occur only under specific

syntactic/semantic conditions. (5) se^n-thaaN

CLT (line shape)-path In the CLT-noun compound, even though ‘a route’ the class term head is modified by its subordinate term, it is not equivalent to (6) lu^uk-bçn what Rosch (1977) called the hypernym of CLT (small round shape)-ball the superordinate term which is a basic- ‘a ball’ level term (which is an ordinary noun) in the sense that class terms are not However, class nouns as such do not necessarily independent while basic-level function like pure classifiers. Thus terms are, as shown in the examples consider: below.

(7) lam-thaan (10) Class term: lam ‘long-and-round- CLT-brook shaped object’ ‘brook’ * mii lam ma&y (8) *lam-thaan 2 lam have long-and-round-shaped object Q CLT-brook 2 CLF ‘Is there any long-and-round-shaped

object (here)?’ (9) lam-thaan 2 hQôN

CLT-brook 2 CLF for place (11) Basic-level term: plaa ‘fish’

mii plaa ma&y In the examples above, the class term lam generally classifies objects into the long- have fish Q and-round-shaped group, but it does not ‘Are there any fish (here)?’ always occur as the classifier of a long- and-round-shaped head noun, which hQôN The other categorization system involving Thai plant names is noun class markers. is a classifier for place, does. Therefore, Some typical characteristics of noun class the difference between class terms and markers have been provided by works such classifiers would obviously be predicted

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as Dixon (1986) and Aikhenvald (2003). plant names in the Thai language is quite They provide that noun class markers complex compared to other names such as classify all the nouns in a language while those for people, locations, objects and so class terms are lexically bound and on. That is, the plant names can be classifiers vary in boundedness cross- mentioned in two alternative ways: plain and linguistically4. Dixon (1986:106) claimed complex structures. The first is more typical that noun class markers typically emerge as whereas the later is specifically found. affixes, grammatical words, or clitics. They tend to denote “such core semantic Plain Structure characteristics as animacy, sex, and humanness”.) Accordingly, Grinevald and The plain structure of the nouns or noun Seifart (2004) have stated that noun class phrases in traditional Thai is HEAD + markers occupy positions on a typological MODIFIER, where the head optionally continuum, reflecting a diachronic pattern of combines with one or more modifiers. language change from class terms to noun This structure is also relevant for the plain class markers of agreement or gender. Class structure of plant names: markers are widely studied in African languages, some of which exhibit several (12) CORE + (MOD) + (MOD) classes (for example, see late work in Lege$re 2004 illustrating 11 noun class markers in Accordingly, names consist of the core or Vidunda, a Tanzanian language). In Thai, it head, which is either simple or complex seems that class terms and noun class (compound, nominalized, or reduplicated markers, occurring in the positions before form), and one or two optional modifiers, plant names, are extensively used to identify whether simple or not. Here are some plant life. However, folk plant names are examples which represent various types of among rare language cases that still exhibit Thai plant names. The CORE is on the left another grammatical category called noun (if there is one or two modifiers), and the class markers/gender in Thai. The two optional MODS (if both of them appear) examination of folk plant names, therefore, are on the right separated by ‘+’ from the is of great benefit in understanding the CORE. Word constituents in a complex conceptualization of the Thai classification form are separated by ‘-’. system. (13) Simple core: Linguistic Structures of Thai campii Plant Names ‘Magnolia x alba’

(14) Compound core: Like other languages, even though there are scientific terms such as “Echinochloa phi&i-sÆ^a colona”, the Thai language does have a butterfly (lit.: ghost-shirt) system of its own. The linguistic system of ‘Alangium chinense’’

(15) Nominalized core from a noun 4 However, the boundedness of class terms and phrase: classifiers is still debatable. Conflicting ma&&a-dam findings on their function as independent nouns within classifying languages are dog-black discussed in Henerson (2006) ‘Miliusa cuneata’

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(16) Nominalized core from a clause: (21) GNCLT + CORE Yaay-cuuN-la&an to^n campii grandma-lead by the hand-grandchild stalk Magnolia x alba ‘Myrsinaceae paniculata’ ‘Magnolia x alba’

(17) Reduplicated core: People can also classify plants from the to$t-mu&u to$t-ma&a perception of plant parts that are salient or fart-pig fart-dog useful to them, resulting in another slot of pig’s fart dog’s fart class terms called plant part class terms ‘P.linearis’ (PPCLT) in this research, as shown below:

(18) Simple core + a simple modifier: (22) PPCLT + CORE yçç + pa$a dç$çk bua Morinda citrifolia forest flower lotus ‘Morinda tomentosa’ ‘lotus’

(19) Simple core + a complex modifier: Both the GNCLT and PPCLT can occur sala&w + [plÆ$ak +baaN] simultaneously. When they do, the Lagerstroemia tomentosa bark thin GNCLT to^n leads the PPCLT as shown Lagerstroemia tomentosa thin bark below: ‘Lagerstroemia venusta’ (23) GNCLT + PPCLT + CORE (20) Simple core + two simple modifiers: to^n dç$çk baan-yen kç$ç + mu&u + dççy stalk flower marvel-of-Peru Castanopsis pig hill ‘marvel-of-Peru’ ‘Castanopsis calathiformis’ However, the co-occurrence of the Complex Structure GNCLT and PPCLT is not typical. While example (23) is fine, it is not acceptable However, people often call plants in a for the plant name in example (22) to more complex way, attaching one or more convey the GNCLT. Also, it is not class terms and class markers to the left of necessary for all Thai people to agree that the core. In the first position, the generic the GNCLT can lead certain plant cores class term (GNCLT) to^n ‘plant stalk’ especially plants without stalks or bulbous plants, as shown: could be attached to plant names, similar to certain English plant names such as cotton wood, banana tree, China box tree, (24) ? to^n hu&a hQ^w rain tree, and so on. It applies to any kind stalk bulb water chestnut of plants whether they are trees, shrubs, ‘water chestnut’ creepers, or bulbous plants. Even though Thai has the higher class term phÆ^Æt ‘plant’ Another class term slot found in this research is functional class terms (FCLT), for all kinds of plants, it is to^n that which reveal the roles that plants have or functions to identify the plant kingdom. the purposes for which they are used. Below is an example of this case: Their appearance results in an additional

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slot to the right of the former types in the (28) FRCLM + GDCLM + CORE plant name structure as exemplified below: ma@/ /ii hum Fruit FEMALE Moringa- (25) GNCLT + FCLT + CORE oleifera to^n ma@ay pÆay ‘Moringa oleifera (hourse-radish tree)’ stalk wood necked ‘Lagerstroemia cochinchinensis’ (29) ba$k kho^ok MALE Siphonodon- (Another Thai name is to^n tabQôQk, a kind celastrineus of tree which has a necked stalk, big ‘Siphonodon celastrineus’ leaves and purple flowers) (30) naaN la@k (26) PPCLT + FCLT + CORE FEMALE Ocimum- kÆa pha$k kQ^Qp citriodourum vine vegetable Kap ‘Ocimum citriodourum ‘Melothria heterphylla; Coccinia indica’ (hoary basil)’ (Another Thai name is tamlÆN , a kind of vine which is viewed as vegetable and The co-occurrence of class terms and class herb) markers is possible as can be seen in some of the examples above. A plant name can Beside the three CLTs, there are two optionally convey either up to three class bound morpheme types functioning as term slots or two class marker slots. It is class markers in the slots following the also possible that both class terms and CLTs. The first type immediately class markers, though not all, can appear following the FCLT is maê/- ‘fruit’ for simultaneously in the same plant names. plants that have fruit, and therefore the An example is provided in (31) for the fruit class marker (FRCLM) in this paper. first case. The second case can be seen in Examples are shown below: (28) which is repeated in (32) for the sake of convenience. The last case can be seen (27) FCLT + FRCLM + CORE in (27), and more examples can be shown pha$k ma@/ hç$çy in (33) below.

vegetable fruit Momordica- (31)GNCLT+PPCLT+FCLT+CORE+MOD1 charantia linn. to^n hu&a pha$k ka$at kha&aw ‘Momordica charantia linn (bitter melon small)’ stalk bulb vegetable Kat white ‘turnip’ The other class marker type includes a number of morphemes marking for (32) FRCLM + GDCLM + CORE gender, thus gender class marker ma@/ /ii hum (GDCLM). This class marker type follows fruit FEMALE Hum the FRCLM or prefixes immediately to the ‘Moringa oleifera (drumstrick tree)’ core, as exemplified below:

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(33) FCLT + GDCLM + CORE pha$k /ii lə^t vegetable FEMALE Lert ‘Piper sarmentosum’

The discussion so far has portrayed the complex structure of Thai plant names. A schematic representation of the complex structure of plant names is as follows:

The diagram above that a plant name can Categorization and the Folk Bio- appear as the potential CORE solely, Taxonomic System of Thai Plant which is in either a simple or complex fashion portraying compound, Names nominalized, or reduplicated form (as exemplified in (14), (15), and (17) above). Categorization may be based on scientific A core can be modified by one (MOD1) or or scholarly methods and principles or they may be based on social and cultural two modifiers (MOD1 and MOD2), which 5 are whether simple or complex. In transmission. Folk taxonomies exist to addition, a plant name may optionally allow popular identification of classes of convey one or more class slots such as objects, and apply to all areas of human class terms (GNCLT, PPCLT and FCLT) activity. All parts of the world have their own systems of naming local plants and and class markers (FRCLM and GDCLM). animals. These naming systems are a vital

aid to survival and include information such as the fruiting patterns of trees and the habits of large mammals. These localized naming systems are folk taxonomies. Folk taxonomies are

5 For the latter, a piece of evidence can be seen in DeLancey (1998) that the categorization in Tibetan honorific nouns is social and cultural rather than perceptual.

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generated from social and cultural rank includes fungi, defined in the Standard knowledge that is embedded in the Thai Dictionary (Royal Academy of cognition. They are distinguished from Thailand 1999) as a kind of mushroom or scientific taxonomies that claim to be dis- plant that has no chlorophyll, root, stalk, or embedded from social relations and thus leaves. However, the term phÆ^Æt never objective and universal. For the sake of appears in plant names. It is the other plant nomenclature, it is urged that competitive term to^n ‘plant stalk’, the most scientific names facilitate communication important part of most plants, that about plants; common/folk names confuse metonymically functions as the highest term communication. On the other hand, in the classification. common names have no standardization at all and vary from person to person, region Plant Part Rank to region, and country to country.

Thai people distinguish several taxa via The Thai folk plant taxa are of several salient plant parts and plant parts that are distinguishable types, the so-called ethno- useful to them. It is found that the parts, at botanical ranks. The linguistic least, include blossom (dç$çk), leaf (bay), consideration above reveals five ranks of the Thai ethno-botanical system, as fruit (luûk, nu&ay), pod (faèk), branch (kaân), illustrated in the following figure. stem (ki$N), lower stalk (ko$k, khoon, tçç), vine (khrÆa, tha&w/tha&wwan, yaân), tuber ‘plant kingdom’ (hu&a), bulb (nç$ç), thorn (na&am, siân), spike (ruaN, raaN), and hair (pho&m, kho&n). A list

of examples is shown in the structure plant ‘plant parts’ part-core names below:

(34) dç$çk-din ‘plant functions’ (blossom-Burmannia coelestis) (35) bay-chaâphluu ‘fruit plants’ or ‘non-fruit plants’ (leaf-Piper sarmentosum) (36) luûk-yçç (fruit-Morinda citrofolia) ‘gender’ (37) fa$k-phra@a (pod-Canavalia gladiata/ sword-bean) Plant Kingdom Rank (38) kaân-khç&çN (branch-Millingtonia hortensis) Similar to English, this rank is named phÆ^Æt (39) ki$N-ha&ay ‘plant’. Thai people can rapidly distinguish (stem-Crotalaria labunifolial) plants from animals. Unlike English and (40) khoon-samç&ç some other folk plant classifications; e.g., (lower-part stalk-Vitex pinnata) Eipo6 plant classification (Hiepko 2006), the (41) khrÆa-kha&whç^ç (vine-Tinospora cordifolia) 6 Eipo are a small group of people living in (42) hu&a-krathiam several villages in Eipomek valley in the (buber-Allium sativum/ garlic) Central Highlands of Irian Jaya. (Hiepko 2006)

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(43) nç$ç-krathÆÆ diachronically gone through some (bulb-Aingiber zerumbet) phonological and semantic changes from (44) na&am-Na@p the PPCLT maôak ‘fruit’ with the lose of (thorn-Minosa pudica) the final consonant /-k/ to a prefix to the (45) ruaN-say core of plant names. For instance, (spike-Buchanania siamensis) ma@/kha&am (tamarind), a kind of fruit in (46) pho&m-yç@/ the Central Thai dialect, is called (hair-Nephlium lappaceum/ rambutan) ma$akkha&am in other Thai dialects such as the Northern and Northeastern Thai Functional Rank dialects. Furthermore, its semantic content has been bleached or faded over time, and Thai people sometimes further classify thus it is not necessary to refer to only plants from the perspective of plant fruit. Rather, the co-occurrence refers to function, i.e., plant roles or the purposes all fruit plants including certain plants that for which they are used. Plants are do not have (edible) fruit, like ma@/-khaâ subdivided into a number of subclasses ‘Afzelia xylocarpa’. revealing the ways people use plants such as edible plants (phaôk ‘vegetable’), main Gender Rank food (khaâw ‘rice’), building materials (maèay ‘wood’), medicinal plants (waân, Similar to humans, plants are also categorized into different sexes: male and phlay ‘herb), sacred plants (phayaa, khu&n, female. Some of them also present a Thai maha&a ‘human honorific titles’), and dialect factor. The gender markers include useless plants (yaâ ‘grass’). A list of /ii- ‘female’, naaN- ‘female’, baôk-/baô/- examples is shown in the structure plant ‘male (Northeastern Thai dialect), and function-core names below: baN- ‘male’ (Southern Thai dialect). (47) pha$k-chii 53) /ii-krathÆÆ (vegetable-Coriandrum sativum) (female-Aingiber zerumbet) (48) khaâw-phoôt (rice-corn) (54) naaN-la@k (49) ma@ay-dQQN (naaN-Ocimum basilicum (wood-Wylia kerrii/ ironwood) (55) ba$k-phi@laa (50) waân-ha&aNcççrakheê (male/Northeastern Thai-Punica granatum) (herb-Atoe indica) (56) baN-kra$/ (51) phayaa-ma@/kha&ç^çm (male/SouthernThai-Elateriospermum tapos) (honorific title-Dacrycarpus imbricatus) (52) yaâ-phrQ^Qk Folk Conceptualization of Thai (grass-Cynodon dactylon) Plant names

Fruit Plant Rank Thai conceptualizations of plants as manifested in plant names afford a good Thai people obviously categorize fruit deal of subtlety in their semantic structure. plants from other plants by marking those The nomenclatural situation is somewhat plant names with the prefix maê/-. There is complex due to extensive uses of evidence that the morpheme maê/- has imaginative language expressions from

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people’s experiences. In this respect, it is the core and modifiers which are candidates to exhibit the folk conceptualizations of the world around them. The nomenclatural situation is somewhat complicated due to local extensive and taboo systems responsible for a multiple naming of many plants. For instance, there are a number of local extensive names for an odoratum (or Bitter bush, Siam weed) called saôapsÆ&a (tiger smell) and a taboo name for a kind of egg plant called khÆ&a-yaaw ‘aubergine long (th.wikipedia.org) green’. Only the more common names saôapsÆ&a and maê/- khÆ&a-yaaw can be used A more descriptive names for maê/- khÆ&a- for a comparison with other systems. yaaw ‘aubergine long green’ is: However, the synonymous local names are also of interest because they are (61) (ma@/-)khÆ&a-ha&mma@ ‘horse penis’ linguistically analyzable and reveal some folk conceptualizations of plants, as illustrated below.

Some of the descriptive names for saôapsÆ&a ‘tiger smell’ are:

(57) hu&usÆ&a ‘tiger ears’ (58) hu&asÆ&a ‘tiger head’ (59) sÆ&amç$çp ‘tiger lying prostrate’ (60) khi^ilç^ç ‘mule dung’

(www.vegetweb.com)

The following table illustrates the percentage of meaning categories of the core (1,890 names) and the modifier parts (1,350 words). In fact, it is the modifiers that relatively reveal what people think when they are talking about plants since they display more imaginative uses than the cores.

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Table 1. Meaning Categories of the Core and Modifiers and Percentage of Occurrence

Core Modifier Meaning categories Percentage Meaning categories Percentage Proper names 63 Metonymical uses 61 Metaphorical uses 27 Metaphorical uses 24 Metonymical uses 10 Proper names 15 100 100

While 63 % of the cores display proper 62) Metaphorical name: names, for example, tabQ$Qk to^n + nom-Nua ‘Lagerstroemia cochinchinensis’, sala&w tree cow’s breast ‘Lagerstroemia tomentosa’, wa^a ‘Coniothalamus laoticus’ ‘Syzygium cumini’, …etc., only 15% of the modifiers are found as proper uses, for example, tQQN-kwaa ‘cucumber’, so^m-

/oo ‘Citrus grandis (pomelo)’, buNa&a- lamci$ak ‘Goniothalamus tapis’, …etc. 85 % of modifiers display imaginative uses: 61% are metonymical uses and 24% are metaphorical uses (as exemplified in (62) and (63) below), while 37% of the cores pirun.ku.ac.th/~b5008077 display imaginative uses: 27% are metaphorical and 10% are metonymical. These differences are discussed in the (63) Metonymical name: following sections. to^n + yaaN tree resin Plant Name Cores ‘Dipterocarpus (rubber tree)’

It is found that at least 37 % of the core names display imaginatively used words in the metaphorical (c.27 %) and metonymical types (c.10 %). Other names (c. 63 %) are proper names which are usually monomial and linguistically not analyzable synchronically. Below are examples of plant names which obviously illustrate the two types of imaginative categories. Takuyak.com

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The metaphorical names pertain to several source domains plants are attributed to. It (65) fara$N human is found that the source domains would be foreigner/westerner categorized as human/ human parts, ‘Psisium guajava (Guava)’ animal/ animal parts, other plants, nature, places, beliefs, auspicious/ propitious (66) krabççN-phe@t object things, objects and excrement. Among the club-diamond core names, it is the animal or animal part ‘Cereus hexagonus (Cactus)’ domain that the majority of plant cores are found pertaining to. The human/ human (67) hu&a-wQ&Qn propitious things part domain is in the second rank which is head/top-ring not far more than the third rank, object ‘Decaspermum parviflorum’ domain, and the fourth rank, auspicious/ propitious things. Excrement, nature, and (68) khiî-nç&çn excrement other plant domains are less imaginative than the former ones but more imaginative dung-worm than the god/ghost and place domains, as ‘Schoepfia fragrans’ shown in table 2 below: (69) can-thççN nature Table 2. Categories of Metaphorical moon-gold Source Domains of the Core and ‘Fraxinus floribunda’ Percentage of Occurrence (70) khaâw-sa&an other plant Categories of source Percentage rice-milled domains ‘Phyllanthus columnaris’ Animals/animal parts 38 Humans/human parts 16 (71) theêp-tharoo god Objects 13 god-Taro Auspicious/ Propitious 11 ‘Cinnamomum porrectum’ things Excrement 8 (72) pa$acha@a-mç&çN place Nature 7 graveyard-gloomy Other plants 4 ‘Suregada multiflorum’ Gods/ghosts 2 Places 1 Besides depicting plants via other things Total 100 discussed above, people metonymically view and then call plants according to their Below is a selection of plant cores which salient characteristics such as their are obviously derived from other word appearances like shape, color, smell, categories (displayed on the right). surface, tissue, tastes, and amount, behavior/action,parts,usefulness/uselessness, (64) tiin-pe$t animal part sources, times, and possession, as shown in feet-duck Table 3 with estimated percentages. ‘Alstonia scholaris’

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Table 3. Categories of Metonymical (77) chu^m-cha$m tissue Salient Characteristics of the Core and Moist Percentage of Occurrence ‘Acronychia pedunculata’ Categories of Percentage salient (78) (pha$k)-wa&an taste characteristics vegetable-sweet Appearance 36 ‘Sauropus albicans’ Shape (24) Color (14) (79) sa&am-si$p amount Smell (14) three-ten Surface (6) ‘Asparagus racemosus’ Tissue (5) Taste (4) (80) ti$ttç$ç behavior/action Amount (3) Connect Behavior/action 26 ‘Dasymaschalon lomentaceum’ Parts 19 Usefulness/ 13 (81) (pha$k)-na&am part uselessness (vegetable)-thorn Sources 3 ‘Asparagus racemosus’ Times 2 Possession 1 (82) yaa-su$p usefulness Total 100 drug-smoke ‘Nicotiapa tabacum (tobacco)’ Below is a selection of plant cores which are metonymic: (83) (ma$ak)-bo$k source fruit-land (73) bç^N-khwa&an shape ‘Irvingia malayana’ bamboo section shape-axe ‘Syzygium diospyrifolium’ (84) sa&am-phan-pii time three-thousand-year (74) dQQN-so^m color ‘Dacrydium elatum’ red-orange ‘Schoutenia ovata’ (85) fara$N possession foreigner (75) hç&çm-dQQN smell ‘Psisium guajava (guava)’ good smell-red ‘Eleutherine palmifolia (red onion)’ Plant Name Modifiers

(76) nuan surface Statistically different from the core part, a creamy complexioned vast majority (85 percent) of modifiers ‘Garcinia merguensis’ display imaginative words: 61 percent are metonymic and 24 percent are metaphorical, leaving a small number (c.15) appearing as proper names.

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The metonymic modifiers depict salient (86) tabQ$Qk + dQQN characteristics such as appearance like color color, size, shape, smell, taste, tissue, Lagerstroemia + red surface, and amount; locations/sources; ‘Lagerstroemia calyculata’ parts; procession; behaviors; postures; patterns; usefulness; effects; gender; (87) campii + no@y size weight; stage; age; and truth. The Michelia + small percentage of occurrence is provided in ‘Michelia floribunda’ the following table. (88) ma@/kha&am + pç^m shape Table 4. Categories of Metonymical Phyllanthus emblica + oblate Salient Characteristics of the Modifiers ‘Phyllanthus emblica’ and Percentage of Occurrence

(89) khe&m + hç&çm smell Categories of Percentage salient Ixoro finlaysoniana + good smell characteristics ‘Ixoro finlaysoniana’ Appearance 36.60 Color (15) (90) ma@/-khÆ&a + kho&m taste Size (7) Solanum(egg plant)+ bitter Shape (6) ‘Solanum indicum’ Smell (3) Taste (3) (91) yaaN + khQ&N tissue Tissue (2) Dipterocarpus + hard Surface (2) ‘Dipterocarpus retusus’ Amount (.60) Location/sources 26 (92) so^m + kliâN surface Parts 16 orange + glossy Possession 11 ‘Citrus aurantium’ Behaviors/actions 3 Postures 1 (93) phraâw + phan-lam amount Patterns 1 Dracaena lourieri + thousand-CLF Usefulness 1 ‘Dracaena lourieri’ Gender .80 Weight .80 (94) khiîle$k + pa$a location Stage .80 Cassia + forest Age .50 ‘Cassia garrettiana’ Reality .50 Total 100 (95) khami^n + to^n plant part Mohonia siamensis + stalk A selection of plant modifiers which are ‘Mohonia siamensis’ metonymic is provided below: (96) khiîle$k + lu&aN possession Cassia + royal ‘Cassia siamea’

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categories. The percentages of such (97) phri@k + chi@@i-fa@a behavior imaginative modifiers are ranked in the Chili + point-sky (point to the sky) following table. ‘Capsicum frutescens (red)’ Table 5. Categories of Metaphorical (98) khQQ + bi$t posture Source Domains of the Modifiers and Fernandoa adenophylla+ twist Percentage of Occurrence ‘Fernandoa adenophylla’ Categories of source Percen (99) kQ^Qw + laay pattern domains tage Animals/animal parts 46 Murraya paniculata + variegated ‘Murraya paniculata’ Other plants 15 Auspicious/ Propitious things 9 (100) hi&aN + na@am-man usefulness Objects 8 Excrement 7 Dipterocarpus intricatus+ oil Natural items 7 ‘Dipterocarpus intricatus’ Humans/human parts 5 (101) ha@k + phu^u gender Gods/ghosts 3 Total 100 Buchanania lanzan + male

‘Buchanania lanzan’ A selection of modifiers that are used

metaphorically is provided below: (102) tQQN + baw weight

melon + light (106) klu^ay + kha^aN animal ‘pickling cucumber’ banana + long tailed monkey

‘Orophea’ (103) phri@k + so$t stage

chili + young (107) dÆ$a + wa^a another plant ‘Capsicum frutescens (green)’ Ficus + Syzygium cumini

‘Ficus auriclata’ (104) kula$ap + phan-pii age

rose + thousand-year (108) mÆ$at + ci^i propitious thing ‘Rhododendron arborea’ Memecylon scutellatum + diamond locket

‘Memecylon scutellatum’ (105) tQQN + ciN reality

melon + real (109) tQQN + mç&çn object ‘Cucumis melo (musk melon)’ melon + pillow

‘Citrullus vulgaris (water melon)’ Similar to those of the core, the source domains include animals/animal parts, (110) waa + khii-kwaa excrement humans/human parts, other plants, natural ^ ^ N items, beliefs, auspicious/ propitious things, Syzygium + deer dung objects and excrement. It is animals or ‘Syzygium fruticosum’ animal parts that are mostly involved in the plant nomenclature. Other plants come (111) so^m + lom natural items second, followed closely by the other orange + wind

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‘Aganonerion polymorphum’ relatively reveal what people think when (112) mÆ$at + khon + tua-phu^u human they are talking about plants since they Helicia nilagirica + human + male display more imaginative uses than the ‘Helicia nilagirica’ cores. The metonymically used words depict salient characteristics such as appearance (113) kradum + phi&i ghost like color, size, shape, smell, taste, tissue, Clochidion rubrum + ghost surface, and amount; locations/sources; ‘Clochidion rubrum’ parts; possession; behavior; posture; pattern; usefulness; effects; gender; weight; stage; Conclusion age; and truth. Modifiers etaphorically used demonstrate several source domains

including animals/animal parts, The paper illustrates the complex structure humans/human parts, other plants, natural of plant names in Thai, the linguistic items, beliefs, auspicious/ propitious things, aspect that reveals the Thai folk plant taxa objects and excrement. It is animals or and conceptualization about plant life. animal parts that mostly are involved in Thai plant names reflect a primarily plant nomenclature. functional categorization centered upon the human person and the world of human Finally, the analysis of data accumulated in experience. The plant taxa, on the other the plant project for Thai is an ongoing hand, are of several distinguishable process. Much more remains to be done in ethnobiological ranks: plant kingdom, order to adequately appreciate the complex salient parts, functional plants, fruit plants, nature of plant names in this language. There and gender. The plant kingdom is is a rich historical heritage encapsulated in represented by a generic class term at the the plant names and a knowledge about leading slot of the plant name structure. plants and their uses that is unfortunately Under it is the salient part rank from the being increasingly forgotten today. It is also perception of plant parts that are salient or worth working on a comparison of the folk useful to people. Plants are also further ethnotaxonomic system with the scientific categorized by their functions to humans botanical classification to bring to light how such as food plants, medicinal plants, highly Thai people developed the ability to material plants, and even useless plants. recognize relationships among plants or, in Fruit plants are ranked when they provide the other words, similarities and fruit for human consumption. Gender is discontinuities in nature. also marked for certain plants as well as humans.

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