Etymograph

English

Tham

Tham comes from Pali dhamma ‘truth, righteousness’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰérmos ‘to support’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰérmos‘to support’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranianc. 2500–1800 BCE*dʰármasreconstructed
  3. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEधर्मdhárma‘morality, virtue, righteousness, moral code, good deed’
  4. Palimoderndhamma‘truth, righteousness’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2007Tham

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰérmos‘to support’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranianc. 2500–1800 BCE*dʰármasreconstructed
  3. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEधर्मdhárma‘morality, virtue, righteousness, moral code, good deed’
  4. Palimoderndhamma‘truth, righteousness’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2007Tham

Earliest quotation: 2007, Peter Koret, Past, Present and Future in Buddhist Prophetic Literature of: “In actuality, however, in many cases the use of…”

The story

Tham is the local pronunciation of the word for dharma in the area where the script is used. Thai ธรรม (tam), Lao ທຳ (tham) and Northern Thai ᨵᩢᨾ᩠ᨾ᩺/ธัมม์, all derived from Pali dhamma. Tham script is a localisation of the phrase dharma script.

Linked words

through Sanskrit धर्म ‘morality, virtue, righteousness, moral code,…’

dharma, 2 more

Today it means

name The script traditionally used for Buddhist religious study in the vicinity of Northern Thailand and Laos.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰérmos / Tham

Shirt and support for this word