La Loubère’s Translation of the Lord’s Prayer into Thai

One of the earliest documented translations of any biblical passage into the Thai language is the Lord’s Prayer in La Loubère’s report of his diplomatic mission to the kingdom of Siam from 1691. When Komonbut translated La Loubère’s book into Thai in 1967, he also restored the original Thai text of the prayer from La Loubère’s rudimentary transcription. His failure to provide any commentary on his restoration, however, largely conceals his achievement. This paper will evaluate Komonbut’s success in establishing the Thai wording and thereby provide some commentary on both La Loubère’s transcription and the difficulties of restoring a Thai text from it. At the same time some suggestions for minor improvements of the transmitted text will be made.