The Word /Pen/ Meaning ‘to be alive’ and ‘to know how to do’ in Thai: Polysemy or Homonymy?

Abstract

This article aimed at studying the word /pen/ meaning ‘to be alive’ and ‘to know how to do’ in Thai. The question addressed here was: should they be considered as polysemy or as homonymy? The collected data was based on written records from the Sukhothai period right up until the present. It was found that the word /pen/ meaning ‘to be alive’ and ‘to know how to do’ should be considered as polysemy. This is because, although these 2 meanings of /pen/ are quite different,
the historical development shows that both meanings are related. That is to say, the word /pen/ meaning ‘to be alive’ is the original word and then develop into the word /pen/ meaning ‘to arise’ and then ‘to know how to do’, respectively. In addition, these changes emerge under 2 processes: metonymic process and metaphorical process.