Khmer

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Etymology

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From Old Khmer វ្រះ (vraḥ, to be holy, sacred, divine; celestial or holy being), of disputed origin. Jenner suggests derivation from Old Khmer រះ (raḥ, to shine) with prefix w, potentially a calque of Sanskrit श्री (śrī, [diffusing light or radiance; splendid; radiant; beautifying; adorning).[1]

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)[2] 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 พระ (prá)

Pronunciation

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Orthographic and Phonemic ព្រះ
b̥rḥ
WT romanisation prĕəh
(standard) IPA(key) /prĕəh/

Noun

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ព្រះ (prĕəh)

  1. Buddha
  2. God
  3. Lord
  4. count or earl (title)

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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