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present round Lao writing; but at what date and from what source is still in question[1]. Of its history in central and southern Siam I am not prepared to speak. But late northern Făk Khám is already so nearly like southern Siamese of the 18th century, that there can be no doubt of their common relationship. From that time to this its course is a matter of common knowledge. The use of better surfaces and better instruments for writing, long practice, with resulting sureness and swiftness of stroke, have operated to lessen the stiffness, to reduce the more intricate turns, to diminish the aldermanic breadth of the original letters, and to give them the physiological slant. The modern Siamese written line—before type-writing and print had jostled it out of shape—was certainly more elegant, with its delightful clearness, its touch of feminine grace, its suggestion of accurate and fluent movement,. But otherwise it differs not very greatly from that of Prince Ram Khămhæng.
THE LANGUAGE
The total number of words used in this inscription is exactly Vocabulary 1500. The actual vocabulary, the total number of different words used, amounts to 404. This shows very fair scope and range for a document of this kind. A preliminary sorting of this vocabulary results as follows:—
| 1 | Words recognized as of Indian origin | 63 |
| 2 | Words recognized as of Khămén origin | 13 |
| 3 | Proper names not Thai and not included above | 11 |
| 4 | Thăi, native or effectively naturalized | 317 |
| Total | 404 |
This analysis concerns the question of purity of diction. Purity. But purity, it must be remembered, depends very little upon the ultimate derivation of words, and very much upon the sense which they awaken in the cultivated hearer of nearness to or remoteness from the common speech. Therefore it is that no attempt has been made to distinguish here between Thăi words and words
- ↑ See a statement as to its origin, with a note thereon by the editor, in Phongsawadan Yonok, p. 95.
