Re: Vaz(h)ra / uz(h)ra

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

> Sanskrit _vajra_ > Thai _phet_H_ 'diamond, jewel'... [H denotes a
> Siamese tone]. I suspect [this word was] loaned to Siamese via
> Khmer, but the only evidence I have is the Khmer shift of pre-
> vocalic p- to implosive b-.

In Old Khmer Skt. vajra, Pali vajira became _bejr_ or _pec_ (actually,
the /e/ in the latter word represents a close central unrounded vowel,
a.k.a. "barred-i"). In Modern Khmer, _pec_ ('diamond') is spelt as
pich.

Old Khmer _pec_ could, indeed, be the source of the Thai term
_phet_H_ 'diamond, jewel'.

Regards,
Francesco