Word of the day - Talapoin

Buddhist monk with talapat fan, from Mémoires de Siam

The word Talapoin (pl. Talapoins) is a word used in older literature in European languages when referring to a Buddhist monk.

Talapoin or in its various spelling variants (Talipois, Tallapoes, Talpooys, Talapoi, Talapoy, etc) came to most Europeans languages through the Portuguese word talapões (pl. talapão).

Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix, the 17th century French vicar apostolic of Eastern Siam during the reign of King Mongkut, in this Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam, wrote that:

"Les Européens les ont appelés talapoins, probablement du nom de l'éventail qu'ils tiennent à la main, lequel s'appelle talapat, qui signifie feuille de palmier"

Which translated as:

"The Europeans called them talapoins, probably from the name of the fan they carry in their hands, which is known as talapat, signifying palm leaf"

It is frequently cited that talapoin comes from the Thai word talapat or talipat (ตาลปัตร, dtaan-bpàt) , a kind of fan made of palm leaf used by Buddhist monks to hide their face when preaching or chanting before an audience.

However, the origin of the word is more likely found with the Peguan words tɔelaʔ pian (tīla puin) , literally the "Lord of Merit" (from Old Mon tirlaaʾ lord + Pali puñña merit [Sanskrit puṇya] ).

Talapoin is also a small, yellowish guenon monkey, Micropithecus (Cercopithecus) talapoin, found in western Africa.

Come together

Come Together

Come together, O sons of the earth, and hear
the angel who was sent out

With the message of the skies.
You came and were a gathering, you came

and they gathered in you.
Tell us the message of the skies.

You came and the aeons were in rank,
You came and they gathered in you.

Tell us
the message of the skies.

Wake, you who sleep.
Wake, you who sleep. Sleep in the cavern

that you can receive the sky's message
The carrier of the message is on his way

with message from the land of light
to speak out the message of the skies.

He was sent out. He raced laughing
to the first man to tell him the message.

He came and knocked on the gates
and shouted, Open at once.

I have the message of the skies!

- Song of Herakleides, from The Gnostic Bible


On the birthday of the Holy Prophet Mani ( 216 - 277 CE)

Le véritable voyage

«Le seul véritable voyage, le seul bain de Jouvence, ce ne serait pas d'aller vers de nouveaux paysages, mais d'avoir d'autres yeux, de voir l'univers avec les yeux d'un autre, de cent autres, de voir les cent univers que chacun d'eux voit, que chacun d'eux est.»

- Marcel Proust, La Prisonnière

Khmer numerals in the Customs of Cambodia

Zhou Daguan's (周達觀) the Customs of Cambodia (真臘風土記) is one of the most important texts on the Khmer Empire. Written in between 1296 and 1297 by the Chinese trade attaché during his stay in Angkor during the reign of Indravarman III, the Customs of Cambodia provides us a highly accurate and valuable portray of the splendour of the Khmer Empire.

Other than the daily life and the customs, Zhou Daguan also dedicated a small section on Khmer language, providing Chinese transliteration of certain Khmer words, including the numerals.

Listed below here are the Khmer numbers as recorded by Zhou Daguan (in the Siku Quanshu edition of the Customs of Cambodia) . From the left, modern Khmer numeral (using Khmer Unicode 1.2.2) , followed by transliteration of modern Khmer pronunciation, and then Zhou Daguan's Chinese transliteration with Modern Standard Mandarin's pinyin.

1. ១ muoy, 梅 méi
2. ២ pi, 別 bié
3. ៣ bei, 卑 bēi
4. ៤ buon, 般 bān
5. ៥ pram, 孛監 bèijiān
6. ៦ bram muoy, 孛監梅 bèijiān méi
7. ៧ bram pi, 孛監別 bèijiān bié
8. ៨ bram bei, 孛監卑 bèijiān bēi
9. ៩ bram buon, 孛監般 bèijiān bān
10. ១០ dop, 荅呼 dáhū

Chinese script is a syllabic writing system (more precisely, morphosyllabic), and has difficulty presenting foreign sounds, including certain sounds from an Austro-Asiatic language like Khmer. One should also take note that both Chinese and Khmer spoken in the 13th century would have been different from today's.