ศาลาชุมนุม

[pastryhunter]

"Sweet Girl" is my pet name for my wife and she will not be able to join me when I will be in Thailand next month, so I was thinking of getting a tattoo in her honor. Is there a reasonable translation for this term? Any help would be truly appreciated.

[DonSena]

"Sweet Girl" is my pet name for my wife and she will not be able to join me when I will be in Thailand next month, so I was thinking of getting a tattoo in her honor. Is there a reasonable translation for this term? Any help would be truly appreciated.

I like สาวน่ารักอ่อนหวาน
Also ดรุณีอ่อนหวานสวาท

There are several variations on these expressions.

The native speakers will have their favorite ways of putting forth the "sweet girl" concept.

[pastryhunter]

Thank you very much for your help. I am just curious what might be the difference in interpretation between the two translations. Thanks again.

[DonSena]

Thank you very much for your help. I am just curious what might be the difference in interpretation between the two translations. Thanks again.

There's a slight slight slight of emphasis between the two.

The first shows her as a teen or young-adult female who's cute (or lovely), as well as sweet.

The second points to her youthful girlishness with extra emphasis on her sweetness.

[Thomas]

With my Isan accent, and to give a second interpretation to pastryhunter, I would like to add the following:

1. สาว as in สาวน่ารักอ่อนหวาน means in Isan simply 'female' (used often as an adjective replacing standard Thai หญิง), the term used in the second ดรุณี, has per se no gender, like a 'teenager/youngster' has no gender. First version, thus, points also more on the femaleness of your wife/sweet girl.
2. ดรุณี (second proposal for saying girl) ... those nice "PaliSanskrit letters, or terms" may be nice for a tattoo as well. By language they bring a small formal touch in. The first sentence is entirely free from the PaliSanskrit-slightly-more-formal-speaking.

... and yes, I would like to ask Don Sena whether ดรุณีอ่อนหวานสวาท could mean (without further context) "sweet boy" as well.

[DonSena]

With my Isan accent, and to give a second interpretation to pastryhunter, I would like to add the following:

1. สาว as in สาวน่ารักอ่อนหวาน means in Isan simply 'female' (used often as an adjective replacing standard Thai หญิง), the term used in the second ดรุณี, has per se no gender, like a 'teenager/youngster' has no gender. First version, thus, points also more on the femaleness of your wife/sweet girl.
2. ดรุณี (second proposal for saying girl) ... those nice "PaliSanskrit letters, or terms" may be nice for a tattoo as well. By language they bring a small formal touch in. The first sentence is entirely free from the PaliSanskrit-slightly-more-formal-speaking.

... and yes, I would like to ask Don Sena whether ดรุณีอ่อนหวานสวาท could mean (without further context) "sweet boy" as well.

I do not think that it could mean "sweet boy" as well.

ดรุณ 'child, boy. lad'
ดรุณี 'girl. lass'
ดรุณศึกษา 'primary education (less common than ปถมศึกษา/ปฐมศึกษา)'
ดรุณวัย 'childhood, adolescence'
The internal morphology of these last two shows the syntax of their Pali-Sanskrit derivation.

The ณี ending signifies the feminine gender.
Likewise,
พรหมจารี 'A celibate (man)'
พรหมจาริณี 'A virgin'
(from พรหมจรรย์ 'chastity, celibacy')

[Thomas]

The ณี ending signifies the feminine gender.

Don Sena, thank you very much for your comprehensive analysis.

Personally I do not speak any word Sanskrit, or have any clue how Sanskrit grammar works. Eventually, thus, Richard could bring more light inside.

Using Sanskrit (and Tl.com) dictionaries, however, I still have not found any good evidence that taruNI is the female form of taruNa. Basic Sanskrit meaning of taruNa is "young, fresh, 'growing'", and at least the term seems to be "genderless".

May you have a look at http://www.thai-language.com/id/139317 ? RID online is not available, and I do not have a printed version.

"ดรุณ /ดะ-รุน/ {Pali/Sanskrit: ตรุณ}
[นาม] เด็กรุ่น.
[วิเศษณ์] หนุ่ม, อ่อน, รุ่น."

+ "alternate spelling ดรุณี daL rooH neeM"

If actually ดรุณี is a female เด็กรุ่น, and a RID term as well, I would urgently suggest to make this clearer at http://www.thai-language.com/id/139317.
------------------
Edit: Have found meanwhile 'some' evidence for taruNI being female:
Monier-Williams Dictionary (2012 editions)
(H1B) t/aruNI [p= 439,3] [L=83308] f. (g. gaurA*di) a young woman , girl R. Sus3r. &c
(H2) taruNI [p= 439,3] [L=83329] f. of °Na.
Question remains: Why this is not made clearer at http://www.thai-language.com/id/139317?

[DonSena]

The ณี ending signifies the feminine gender.

Don Sena, thank you very much for your comprehensive analysis.

Personally I do not speak any word Sanskrit, or have any clue how Sanskrit grammar works. Eventually, thus, Richard could bring more light inside.

Using Sanskrit (and Tl.com) dictionaries, however, I still have not found any good evidence that taruNI is the female form of taruNa. Basic Sanskrit meaning of taruNa is "young, fresh, 'growing'", and at least the term seems to be "genderless".

May you have a look at http://www.thai-language.com/id/139317 ? RID online is not available, and I do not have a printed version.

"ดรุณ /ดะ-รุน/ {Pali/Sanskrit: ตรุณ}
[นาม] เด็กรุ่น.
[วิเศษณ์] หนุ่ม, อ่อน, รุ่น."

+ "alternate spelling ดรุณี daL rooH neeM"

If actually ดรุณี is a female เด็กรุ่น, and a RID term as well, I would urgently suggest to make this clearer at http://www.thai-language.com/id/139317.
------------------
Edit: Have found meanwhile 'some' evidence for taruNI being female:
Monier-Williams Dictionary (2012 editions)
(H1B) t/aruNI [p= 439,3] [L=83308] f. (g. gaurA*di) a young woman , girl R. Sus3r. &c
(H2) taruNI [p= 439,3] [L=83329] f. of °Na.
Question remains: Why this is not made clearer at http://www.thai-language.com/id/139317?

I have an all-Thai Dictionary that shows that ดรุณี /da-runii/ is specifically a feminine-gender
form of ดรุณ /da-run/. ดรุณี is not simply an alternative form of ดรุณ, as TL.com indicates.
(Some of the info even on this site can occasionally be inaccurate.)

While ดรุณ is more general, but implying a male child or youth, ดรุณี is narrowly feminine.
There used to be -- and maybe still is -- a magazine for teenage girls with the title ดรุณี .

Also, check out http://dictionary.sanook.com/search/%E0 ... 3%E0%B8%B5

[Thomas]

RID works again! Happy!

ดรุณี น. เด็กหญิงรุ่น. ว. สาว, อ่อน, รุ่น. (ป., ส. ตรุณี).



So, Don Sena, accept my apologies for interfering with my remark. Can only hope that the question of pastryhunter as to the difference has become a little bit more clearer.
----
Edit:
Server
http://rirs3.royin.go.th/ (1999) works.
Server
www.royin.go.th
(www.royin.go.th/dictionary/ 2011) doesn't work

[Nan]

"Sweet Girl" is my pet name for my wife and she will not be able to join me when I will be in Thailand next month, so I was thinking of getting a tattoo in her honor. Is there a reasonable translation for this term? Any help would be truly appreciated.

I like สาวน่ารักอ่อนหวาน
Also ดรุณีอ่อนหวานสวาท

There are several variations on these expressions.

The native speakers will have their favorite ways of putting forth the "sweet girl" concept.

The word "Sweet girl", if it's said by Thais in Thai language, we just say "สาวน้อย".

To translate it literally would sound a little bit weird in my opinion though.