Cambodian Silk - Standardizing Classification and Nomenclature (from A Pocket Guide to Cambodian Silk).
When Kikuo Morimoto did his research for the report he wrote for UNESCO in 1995 he was travelling around Cambodia at a very dangerous time – after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and after the Vietnamese occupation had ended. His first language was Japanese, but he had to interview Khmer and Cham who spoke to him in Khmer, French, or English. Through an interpreter. It is little wonder that he misspelled some of the names of the many different types of Cambodian silk. And it is amazing that he was able to complete his report for UNESCO at all.
After founding IKTT he learned to write some Khmer. But, for some reason, he never revised the spellings he used in his report for UNESCO. This is the primary reason that his nomenclature and mine are different. His nomenclature is still used today, and this creates confusion. And he never developed a classification system.
There are still people trying to do what Kikuo Morimoto dedicated his life to – saving Cambodian silk from extinction. If all of us who are trying to do so cannot communicate with each other using a common nomenclature, we are far less likely to succeed.
I wrote A Pocket Guide to Cambodian Silk because I believe that if Cambodia’s annual influx of millions of tourists each goes home with a piece of genuine Cambodian silk, this might save this art form from extinction. But when they shop, they have to be able to ask for what they’re looking for – in words that the silkmaker or shopkeeper will understand. If they use my pronunciation guide, they’ll be more likely to succeed.
I’ve laid out below the nomenclature and classification system that I developed. When trying to decide what name to use for each type of silk I used a combination of the way the word is correctly pronounced in Khmer, and Khmer spelling from the Chuon Nath and Headley dictionaries.
I encourage collectors and museums to adopt my system of classification and nomenclature, and make them the new standard.
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CLASSIFICATION (I classify Cambodian silk (Khmer and Cham) by pattern type)
couture unpatterned silk: organza (auhkownohsa) paamooung
couture kōntray silk: kōntray
couture paamooung brocade silk: paamooung bauntōk chorjuung paamooung chorjuung paamooung bauntōk
haute couture floral brocade silk: chorabab brocatel
couture ikat silk: sampōt hōl hōl lbaab anloony hōl ktung hōl chaungkbun
plaid silk: sarong sōt (“SArong sōt”) kramaa sōt (any type of silk scarf)
Cham tie-dyed head coverings: kiet
ikat silk “tapestries”: pidan (“peedaan”)
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NOMENCLATURE (For pronunciation, use the “Bagg-Srey” column)
Bagg-Srey Morimoto Why I chose this term
anloony anlounh The last letter in the spelled word is NY, and some people still pronounce the word as it’s spelled
bauntōk bantok The vowel after the B is implied, and the B is a 1st-series consonant – the sound is “au”
brocatel (none) I use the English word because this is what’s used by the only company making brocatel, Golden Silk Pheach
chorabab chorabap The Khmer word is spelled with a final B; this is how chorabab weavers pronounce it. (Also called, sorabab.)
chorjuung chorcung The word is pronounced, chorjuung (the “ch” is actually pronounced like “jch”)
hōl hol The O is a long O
hōl chaungkbun sampot hol kaban This fabric isn’t worn as a sampot, it’s worn as a chaungkbun
hōl ktung sampot hol ktong I went with what weavers call this fabric. It is spelled in Khmer with a short u.
kaneew kaneiv Kaneew is pronounced with a final W but there’s no W in Khmer, so a V is substituted
kiet (none) I used the word in common usage today
kōntray (none) I used the Khmer spelling
kramaa kroma The 1st vowel is a short a. The accent is on the 2nd syllable.
lbaab (none) I went with the word that chorabab weavers use, but I’ve never heard anyone else pronounce it differently
organza (none) “Organza” is used today instead of the Khmer name, auhkownohsa
paamooung pamung I went with what Khmer call this fabric, which is how it’s spelled in Khmer
pidan pedan I went with what Khmer call it, which is how it’s spelled in Khmer. The first vowel is an “ee” sound.
sampōt sampot The O is a long O
sarong sarong The accent is on the first syllable
sōt soht There’s no H. The O is a long O.