Date:  Thu, 3 Mar 1994 19:00:08 +0700

From:  Gwyn Williams <gwyn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IPIED.TU.AC.TH>

Subject: Re: Something old, something new



On Sat, 26 Feb 1994, Donald M. Lance wrote:



> In the 1875 edition of Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English

> Language, the word is italicized, indicating that it is a "foreign word"

> The following pronunciation:

> 'koo pong (with macron over oo and breve over o, and no the -ng is not one

>   of my ubiquitous typos): presumably ['ku p[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ng]



 fascinating! The Thai word is [khuu pong]. I've always wondered where the

final velar came from. I thought it was French, as Thais often seem to

perceive final nasal vowels in French as [ng]. Comments?



Gwyn Williams

Bangkok

<gwyn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ipied.tu.ac.th>