ทัณฑฆาต

From Sanskrit दण्डाघात (daṇḍāghāta, literally “striking with a stick”), from दण्ड (daṇḍa, “stick; bar; rod”) + घात (ghāta, “strike; stroke”); or from Pali daṇḍāghāta (idem), from daṇḍā (idem) + ghāta (idem); equivalent to Thai ทัณฑ +‎ ฆาต (kâat). Cognate with Khmer ទណ្ឌឃាដ (tŏəndĕəʾkhiət).

ทัณฑฆาต • (tan-tá-kâat)

1. (typography) the name of the diacritical mark ◌์, chiefly used to kill or silence a letter.

• In modern usage, the mark is used as follows:
  • Placed above a consonant letter to indicate that the letter is silent, such as ยักษ์ (yák), in which ษ (sɔ̌ɔ) is silent.
  • Placed above a consonant letter to indicate that the letter and some other consonant letters preceding it are silent, such as อินทร์ (in), in which ท (tɔɔ) and ร (rɔɔ) are silent.
  • Placed above a vowel mark to indicate that the vowel is silent, such as สิริกิติ์ (sì-rì-gìt), in which the vowel ◌ิ is silent.
• In old usage, the mark is also used as follows:
  • Placed above a letter in a borrowed word to indicate that the letter closes the syllable, as เสดจ์ (sà-dèt) and สมเดจ์ (sǒm-dèt).
  • Placed above a letter in a Pali or Sanskrit statement to indicate that the letter closes the related syllable, as พาหุง์สหัส์สมภินิม์มิตสาวุธัน์ตัง์ (paa-hǔng-sà-hàt-sà-má-pí-nim-mí-dtà-sǎa-sùt-tan-dtang, “the demon lord appears with a thousand arms magically created, all equipped with weapons”). In modern usage, this mark is replaced by the mark พินทุ (pin-tú), and the exampled statement would be written พาหุงฺสหสฺสมภินิมฺมิตสาวุธนฺตงฺ (paa-hǔng-sà-hàt-sà-má-pí-nim-mí-dtà-sǎa-sùt-tan-dtang).
• A letter or group of letters affected by this mark is called การันต์ (gaa-ran). For example:
  • ษ์ [ษ (sɔ̌ɔ) + this tan-tá-kâat mark] in the word ยักษ์ (yák) is called sɔ̌ɔ gaa-ran.
  • ทร์ [ท (tɔɔ) and ร (rɔɔ) + this tan-tá-kâat mark] in the word อินทร์ (in) is called tɔɔ rɔɔ gaa-ran.