กำลัง

Borrowed from Middle Khmer kuṃlāṃṅa (“strength; vigour; brawn; force; power; might; energy; clients; dependents; servants; helper; aid; ally”), Angkorian Old Khmer kanlāṅ, kanlaṅ (“strength; force; power; one who is strong or powerful”), or Pre-Angkorian Old Khmer kanlaṅ, kanlāṅ (“strength; force; power; one who is strong or powerful”); compare Modern Khmer កម្លាំង (kɑmlang). Cognate with Lao ກຳລັງ (kam lang).

The Khmer word is derived from -m- infixation of the root ខ្លាំង (khlang, “strong; vigorous; robust”), whence also Thai ขลัง (klǎng, “magically potent; magical; having supernatural powers; miraculous”).

กำลัง • (gam-lang)

1. force; strength; power; vigour.
2. (mathematics) power: product of equal factors.
3. (physics) power: rate of doing work.

Semantic extension of the "force, power" sense of Etymology 1. The auxiliary verb evolved from the noun senses and was first attested in mid-19^th century writing. It supplanted the earlier postverbal auxiliary อยู่ (yùu, “to stay”) for marking the progressive or continuous aspect. The current use of preverbal กำลัง (gam-lang) is either in addition to, or instead of, postverbal อยู่ (yùu).

กำลัง • (gam-lang)

1. (preverb, auxiliary) preverbal auxiliary marking progressive or continuous aspect.
   • กำลัง (gam-lang) + verb + อยู่ (yùu): to be ...ing

     โทรศัพท์กำลังดังอยู่

     too-rá-sàp gam-lang dang yùu

     The phone is ringing.

     มีคนกำลังว่ายน้ำอยู่ในแม่น้ำ

     mii kon gam-lang wâai-náam yùu nai mɛ̂ɛ-náam

     Someone is swimming in the river.

   • กำลัง (gam-lang) + verb: to be ...ing

     คนแก่คู่รักกำลังเดินเล่นในสวน

     kon gɛ̀ɛ kûu-rák gam-lang dəən lên nai sà-wá-ná-

     The old couple were in the park taking a walk.

   • กำลัง (gam-lang) + verb + จะ (jà): to be about to do

     แม่กำลังจะเตรียมอาหาร

     mɛ̂ɛ gam-lang jà dtriiam aa-hǎan

     Mum is/was about to prepare the food.

• “กำลัง” in Thai Dictionary Project (TDP) (UC Berkeley 1964) (plus additional data from the Royal Institute of Thailand (RI) and NECTEC's LEXITRON project (LEX)). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.