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15.6.22.2:08: WHAT IS THE INDIC SOURCE OF THAI NATTA?

That question came to mind when I saw the name of this restaurant. I assume the Natta of Natta Thai is from the name [náttʰaː] which I've seen spelled ณัฏฐา <ṇaṭṭhā> and ณัฐฐา <ṇaṭhṭhā>. The letters ณ <ṇ>, ฏ <ṭ>, and ฐ <ṭh> are for retroflex consonants that were never in Thai and usually signal Indic origin. Yet I cannot find any Sanskrit or Pali words beginning with ṇa- other than Skt ṇakāra 'the sound ṇ' which is not relevant here. Is ณ <ṇ> a hypercorrection for น <n>? There is a Pali word naṭṭha ... but it means 'destroyed'!

Since I mentioned ณ <ṇ>, here is a question I've had for a long time: why is the Thai preposition [náʔ] spelled ณะ <ṇḥ>? Was that an attempt to dress up a native word in Indic-like guise? The use of a low-frequency letter also makes the word stand out. Was that intentional? How far back does the retroflex spelling go? Was the word ever spelled with dental น <n> as นะ <nḥ> like Lao ນະ <nḥ> [nāʔ]?


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