The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXXI, Part 1-2, 1983 - Khamkoo

'VH:l'U1'UOUJ
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ulJ1U1'1iUfUCVIfiE.lafi1'U W.rt'. lmctlsact (Thai Dictionary, The Royal
Institute 1982) (Aksorn Chareon Dasna Press, Bangkok)
Three Presidents of the Siam Society were involved directly with the compilation
of Thai dictionaries. In 1927, H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, in his capacity as Minister
of Public Instruction, had the first official Thai dictionary published (tln1'Un13J 'il.tlll
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n1::'YI11.11r111Jn11) and the Royal Siamese Government decreed that all official documents
and correspondence must adhere to the spelling prescribed in this dictionary, unless
special permission was granted by H.M. the King. This dictionary was the model for
G.B. McFarland's Thai-English Dictionary first published in the USA in 1944, which
inspired Mary Haas's dictionary later on.
After the coup d'etat of 1932, it was decided that a new dictionary was needed
aJ!.d Prince W~n Waithayakorn, then a special lecturer in Siamese language and literature
at Chulalongkorn University, was appointed Chairman of the committee to revise
the official dictionary which the Committee thought was not quite properly a dictionary,
but only a compilation of glosses, hence the title ti'Y11'Un13J. The committee's existence
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coincided with the creation of the Royal Institute in 1934 which replaced the old Royal
Academy under the presidency of HRH Prince Damrong Rajanubhab. Since the new
Royal Institute had Prince Wan as President, it was natural that the Dictionary
Committee, under th,e same chairmanship, was transferred from the Ministry to the
new Institute.
The Committee consisted of leading scholars in Siamese, Pali, Sanskrit and
Khmer languages as well as those well versed in royal ceremonies, old palatine laws
and Brahmanic .customs. Besides Committee members also consulted lea:rned persons
outside the official circle, like HRH Prince Narisara Nuvativamsa and senior monks as
well as those who knew Malay, Burmese etc. They debated on each word carefully.
They also had to set up a sub-committee to coin new words for official usage. When
Prince Wan was appointed Ambassador to the USA in 1947, Phya Anuman Rajadhon,
Acting President of the Royal Institute, succeeded him as Chairman of the Dictionary
Committee.
It took the Committee 18 years to complete the revision work before they were
satisfied to call the new publication 'Vi'il'U1U.n13J (Dictionary) which was published in 1950
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-the coronation year. Hence it was dedicated to His Majesty the King, and the government
decreed that all official documents and correspondence must be written according
to the spellin~ in the dictionary.