ศาลาชุมนุม

[Rick Bradford]

I see in the site's dictionary that the Thai prefix อ- is described as "un-", "in-", im-", i.e as a negator of the remainder of the word that follows.

This is identical to the Greek construction (μνήμη, αμνησία --mnimi, amnisia), which has passed down into English in the words "mnemonic" and "amnesia". Other derivations include "typical" v "atypical" and many more.

Are these usages linked by language history somehow? Is the อ- prefix a Pali/Sanskrit construct which could have a link with the Greek?

Thanks.

[JingJo Thames]

Let's await a real linguist's response, but I would say there is a remote possibility because Pali/Sanskrit are part of the same umbrella "Indo-European" language family as Greek.

I await other's input.

โจ้

[Richard Wordingham]

The Thai negative prefix อ- is indeed borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali, where it is cognate with the negative prefix a- in Greek, in- (im-/ir-/il-) in Latin and un- in English. As in Greek, the form is an- before vowels in Indic (and thus Thai, e.g. อนารยะ). As the syllabic nasals of Proto-Indo-European became /a/ in Greek and Indo-Iranian, but not Armenian, I am inclined to regard the identical development in Greek and Indo-Iranian as a coincidence rather than a common development - the relevant sprachbund is the Greek-Indo-Iranian-Armenian sprachbund.

[Rick Bradford]

Sorry for the necro, but, skimming through an article on the Armenian language, I came upon comparisons for the word meaning "unknown, unfamiliar."

Sanskrit: ajnata
Armenian: antsanot
Greek: agnostos
Latin: ignotus

Any light of hope there for the common origin of a- as being a negator?

[Richard Wordingham]

Sorry for the necro, but, skimming through an article on the Armenian language, I came upon comparisons for the word meaning "unknown, unfamiliar."

Sanskrit: ajnata
Armenian: antsanot
Greek: agnostos
Latin: ignotus

Any light of hope there for the common origin of a- as being a negator?

The negative prefixes are a-, an-, a-, and i-, all of which are cognate. The Latin i- is a dissimilated form of in-.