ศาลาชุมนุม

[chiangmaishrek]

Is this a fairground carousel; merry-go round? The only type of carousel I can find here is a luggage carousel. Clearly it's got horses in it.

My Thai language helper says: "what do you call that? it's fake horse all around a circle?"

[David and Bui]

"ม้าหมุน"

For a "merry-go-round" or "carousel" for children and those young at heart.

I see that Lexitron uses "roundabout" for ม้าหมุน as well. I believe that this latter is a particular British usage. (I guess that in the past traffic circles had horses going around them, hence the use of the this term for merry-go-round.)

[chiangmaishrek]

Thank you for the quick answer.

Something to add here?

[pensive]

A "roundabout" is a piece of playground equipment that spins with people on it. A poor person's merry-go-round and much older than the traffic roundabout that would have been named after it.

[David and Bui]

A "roundabout" is a piece of playground equipment that spins with people on it. A poor person's merry-go-round and much older than the traffic roundabout that would have been named after it.

Thank you, Pensive,for that information regarding the etymology of "roundabout." Note that the word has had a number of meanings over the course of history. More on the term here: http://www.finedictionary.com/roundabout.html

Does anyone have access to the OED online? That would tell us the dating for sure.

[Tgeezer]

Is this a fairground carousel; merry-go round? The only type of carousel I can find here is a luggage carousel. Clearly it's got horses in it.

My Thai language helper says: "what do you call that? it's fake horse all around a circle?"

You are right, หม้าหมุน is not in this site's dictionary.
Your link describes หมุน as a component of the noun หม้าหมุน and your helper describes it as an adjective showing the position of the horses.
I think that หมุน shows circular movement and we would call it an adjective, so 'revolving horses' ; useless if you haven't seen one of course.
In the context of an airport you could say กระเป๋าหมุน 'revolving bags', equally puzzling to someone who hadn't seen such a thing but guessable if you knew ม้าหมุน perhaps.

[David and Bui]

I very much appreciate the question discussed here, and we now have a chance to see whether Thai embodies the distinctions we have in English between the verbs "rotate", "circle", "circulate", "spin", "orbit" and "revolve". That is, do specific words distinguish between revolving around an axis where the axis of rotation lies within the body of the object (to rotate, revolve, spin) or whether the axis of rotation lies outside the object (to orbit or circle). Let's look at some definitions and combined words and phrases. From the RID
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หมุน ก. หันเวียนไปในแนวโค้ง เช่น โลกหมุน, ทําให้หันเวียนไปในแนวโค้งเช่น หมุนเข็มนาฬิกา,
. . . verb. to move around in a circle, for example, ‘the earth revolves’; to cause to move around in a circle, for example, to move the hands of a clock around.
(note that this verb can be both intransitive and transitive)

เวียน ๑ ก. อาการที่ของสิ่งหนึ่งเคลื่อนไหวไปรอบ ๆ ของอีกสิ่งหนึ่ง เช่น เดินเวียนรอบบ้าน; อาการที่ทำซ้ำแล้วซ้ำเล่า เช่น เวียนรับเวียนส่ง เวียนไปเวียนมา.
. . . verb. a state where something moves in circles around another thing, for example, ‘to walk around the house’; a situation where something is done again and again, for example, ‘to receive something and send it back’; ‘to pass something back and forth.

วน ๑ ก. เวียนไปโดยรอบ เช่น ขับรถวนรอบสนาม, ไปโดยรอบเข้าหาศูนย์กลางหรือออกจากศูนย์กลาง เช่น น้ำวน วนเป็นก้นหอย.
. . . verb. to go around, for example, to drive around the field; to go around toward the center or away from the center, for example, ‘a whirlpool’ ‘to move around in a spiral motion.
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Seems to me that the "axis of rotation" question is not quite resolved, although it is tempting to say simply that หมุน is "rotate or revolve" and เวียน is "circle or orbit". Let's look at some specifics:

Chiangmaishrek's ม้าหมุน is a good example of why the simplistic explanation is not fully accurate. In a merry-go-round, the horses go around the center point pivot of the carousel; they do not revolve around the pole which holds them up. One might have expected ม้าเวียน.

เวียนเทียน (to walk with lighted candles in hand around a temple) does fit the pattern, as the temple is the center-point around which Buddhist devotees march.

The combination of the two words "หมุนเวียน" carries yet another meaning: to circulate in the following applications:

สินทรัพย์หมุนเวียน - in accounting, "current assets", that is assets in current circulation, like accounts receivable; its liabilities counterpart is "หนี้สินหมุนเวียน".

หมุนเวียนใช้ขยะ - to recycle trash
พลังงานหมุนเวียน - renewable energy

Here is the combination วนเวียน (and sometimes เวียนวน). From the RID:
วนเวียน ก. วนไปวนมา, กลับไปกลับมา, เช่น เดินวนเวียนอยู่ระหว่างบ้านกับตลาด กระเป๋าสตางค์หล่นหายเดินวนเวียนหาอยู่หลายรอบ
. . . verb. to go back and forth, to go in and out, for example, ‘He went back and forth between his house and the market.’ ‘My change purse fell out and got lost; I have been walking round and round many times looking for it.

เก้าที้หมุน - a swivel chair (this seems straightforward; the axis is internal to the chair)

พายุหมุน, a cyclone or tornado; but น้ำวน, a whirlpool. I am not sure why the usage is different.

And we would be remiss in not including one more word "โคจร" (to orbit), so as to include another of Chiangmaishrek's words today:

ดวงอาทิตย์ เป็นดาวฤกษ์ที่เป็นศูนย์กลางของระบบสุริยะของเรา ดาวเคราะห์ ดาวเคราะห์แคระ ดาวเคราะห์น้อย และดาวหาง ล้วนแล้วแต่โคจรรอบดวงอาทิตย์ทั้งสิ้
The sun is a star which is the center of our solar system; planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets all orbit around the sun.

Anyone have any thoughts? Here are certainly more examples. Thanks.

[pensive]

I don't think English specifically distinguishes different types of rotation, so I wouldn't expect Thai too either. For example, I was taught that the Earth rotates on its axis but that is revolves around the sun. The word orbit is a nice one but modern, surely?

[David and Bui]

I don't think English specifically distinguishes different types of rotation, so I wouldn't expect Thai too either. For example, I was taught that the Earth rotates on its axis but that is revolves around the sun. The word orbit is a nice one but modern, surely?

Thank you for that correction, Pensive. Indeed, "revolve" does have two independent definitions:

Verb
1. Move in a circle on a central axis: "the fan revolved slowly".
2. Move in a circular orbit around.

Nevertheless, these are two separate ideas.