From Old Khmer វ្រះ (vraḥ, “to be holy, sacred, divine; celestial or holy being”), of disputed origin. Jenner suggests derivation from Old Khmer រះ (raḥ, “to shine”) with prefix w, potentially a calque of Sanskrit श्री (śrī, “[diffusing light or radiance; splendid; radiant; beautifying; adorning”).
Most dictionaries attribute the source of the Old Khmer as ultimately Sanskrit वर (vara, “best; excellent; foremost; holy; precious; top; valuable; etc”), although some authors maintain that it is an autochthonous Mon-Khmer word, for example Shorto (2006), who reconstructed Proto-Mon-Khmer *brah (“divine being”). Pain (2014) disagreed with both theories, proposing that the Old Khmer originates as a reduced form of Sanskrit ब्राह्मण (brāhmaṇa, “relating to a Brahmin; divine”).
Compare Burmese ဘုရား (bhu.ra:); Telugu వరము (varamu), వరుడు (varuḍu); Thai พระ (prá)
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ព្រះ • (prĕəh)