The phrase sounds like an obituary, but those who use it aren’t giving up. They are issuing a warning.
In traditional Khmer scholarship, knowing the niroth of a word meant you understood its soul. You could trace it back to Pali or Sanskrit roots, see how it morphed through Old Khmer, and understand the worldview that created it. khmer os niroth
So when someone says Khmer os niroth , they aren’t just saying “people forgot a word.” They are saying: The phrase sounds like an obituary, but those
Translated directly, it means or “The Khmer language has lost its roots.” You could trace it back to Pali or
I once watched a university student in Phnom Penh try to read an inscription from Angkor Wat. She could pronounce every syllable perfectly, but when asked what a particular compound word meant in its original sense, she shook her head.