Page 33 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SIAM

CHAPTER I

EARLY HISTORY OF THB TAI

EVERYBODY knows, in a general way, that the Chinese
claim to a national back to the
possess history dating
earliest ; and those who have not studied the
ages history
of that remarkable are to that the
people apt suppose
dominions ruled over by the earliest Emperors were
more or less identical in extent with the China of
to-day.
This, however, was not the case. The original limits
of China were not extensive. We read in Mr.
very
Demetrius China that in the
Boulger's History of year
585 B.C. the Chinese Empire did not extend farther
south than the River The
great Yang-tse-kiang. region
of the barbarians then included all the Provinces
lying
south of that stream.
Who were these barbarians ? Doubtless many and
various tribes were included among them ; but most
of them were Tai 1
people, the ancestors of the Siamese,
1
Laos and Shans of
to-day.
The unaspirated form Is used by almost all the members of this
1
race. The aspirated form, " T'ai," is only known among the inhabitants of
Southern Siam. The word is usually taken to mean " free." The attempt to
fix a meaning into every racial or national name is, however, often useless and
" "
misleading. It is enough to say that Tai is the name of a particular kind
of man.
1
Purists will object to the use of this word. It is, in fact, a corruption
of the word " Lawa." The Laos have thus acquired the name of their aboriginal
predecessors. Similarly, many a man of pure Saxon or Norman blood is proud
"
to be known as a Baton. Another theory is that " Lao simply means a man.
The word is used in this sense in certain Tai dialects. Whatever its origin, the
"
"
word Lao is a convenient term, in general use to-day to describe the inhabitants
of Northern Siam.