''Kho khuat'' (ฃ ขวด, ''khuat'' is Thai for 'bottle') is the third letter of the

Thai alphabet The Thai script (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (, ), 16 vowel symbols (, ) that combine into at leas ...

. It is a high consonant in the Thai tripartite consonant system (ไตรยางศ์, informally อักษรสามหมู่). It represents the sound ^has an initial consonant and ̚as a final consonant. The letter is now rarely used, being replaced universally by '' kho khai'' (ข ไข่). There are currently no words using ''kho khuat'' in Thai language according to the Royal Institute Dictionary of 1999, the official standard current dictionary of the Thai language. However, ''kho khuat'' still has an entry in most dictionaries stating that it is obsolete, and is included on alphabet charts in order to preserve the traditional count of 44 Thai consonants.

History

Origins

Early evidence of ''kho khuat'' can be found in the

Ram Khamhaeng Inscription The Ram Khamhaeng Inscription, formally known as Sukhothai Inscription No. 1, is a stone stele bearing inscriptions which have traditionally been regarded as the earliest example of the Thai script. Discovered in 1833 by King Mongkut (Rama IV ...

from the

Sukhothai Period The Sukhothai Kingdom was a post-classical Siamese kingdom ( ''maṇḍala'') in Mainland Southeast Asia surrounding the ancient capital city of Sukhothai in present-day north-central Thailand. It evolved from a trading hub to a city-state in ...

, which contains 11 words containing the letter. Additionally, there are a number of other similar inscriptions that contain the letter, including the Pa Nang Mo Inscription, the Pho Kun Ram Phon Inscription, the Kam Phaeng Ngam Inscription, and the Sadaeng Phon Kam Nam Su Nipphan Inscription. Linguists believe that at the time ''kho khuat'' likely represented the velar fricative x">Voiceless_velar_fricative.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Voiceless velar fricative">xand was originally distinguished from ''kho khai'', which represents [k^h]''.'' Cognates of words beginning with ''kho khai'' and ''kho khuat'' in other Tai languages, such as Tai Dón language, Tai Dón, also consistently show different sounds. Later on, ''kho khuat'' gradually came to sound the same as ''kho khai,'' evidence of which may be seen from later inscriptions beginning to mix up the two letters.

Fall out of use

Both ฃ (''kho khuat'') and ฅ (''kho khon'') fell out of use at the same time when the first

Thai-script typewriter Typewriters with the capability to print the Thai script were first developed in 1891 by Edwin Hunter McFarland, based on double-keyboard Smith Premier models. They became widely popular, especially for government use, though their production was ...

s were brought to Thailand in 1896, for there was no space for all characters in their 84 key keyboard. Thus these two letters, which at that point were already becoming rare, were chosen to be done away with. Even after the

shift key The Shift key is a modifier key on a alphanumeric keyboard, keyboard, used to type majuscule, capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two Shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row. T ...

was invented and the number of keys in typewriters was reduced to half, those two letters were not reinstated. They are, however, present on modern keyboards and are specified as part of the official standard. The reasons why precisely these two letters were chosen and not others is not known, but neither ฃ ''kho khuat'' nor ฅ ''kho khon'' correspond to letters of the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

or the

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

alphabet.

Phya Anuman Rajadhon Phraya Anuman Rajadhon (; , also spelled ''Phaya Anuman Rajadhon'' or ''Phrayā Anuman Rajadhon''; December 14, 1888 – July 12, 1969), was one of modern Thailand's most remarkable scholars. He was a self-trained linguist, anthropologist and et ...

, ''Essays on Thai Folklore''

Revival movement

There is a minor movement for conservative spelling among some Thai publishers, one goal of which is to bring ''kho khuat'' and ''

kho khon Kho may refer to: *Kho, the Hokkien romanization of the Chinese surname Xu (許) *Kho (cooking technique), a cooking technique in Vietnamese cuisine *Kho (costume) (or Bakhu), a traditional outfit worn by Bhutia, ethnic Tibetans of Sikkim *Kho pe ...

'' back into currency. One such publisher is Butterfly Book House (สำนักพิมพ์ผีเสื้อ), which publishes children's literature both by Thai authors and Thai translations of foreign authors, such as Roald Dahl. In its books, words like ขวด and คน are spelled ฃวด and ฅน, despite the fact that the apparently "conservative" spelling is sometimes arguably not the etymologically correct one, as with ฅน for คน. As for the latter, a 2006 film set in 1890s Siam and titled in Thai: ฅนไฟบิน ''Flying Fire Person'' (in English: ''

Dynamite Warrior ''Dynamite Warrior'' ( (modern: คนไฟบิน), translit. Khon Fai Bin) is a 2006 Thai martial arts Western film directed by Chalerm Wongpim and starring Dan Chupong (from '' Born to Fight''). Plot The story is set in 1890s Siam. Siang ...

''), uses ฅ ''kho khon'' to spell ฅน (''khon'', 'person'). "Person" is the standard example word for ฅ in consonantal charts, but is spelled คน.

References

External links