| Word |
Derivation |
Gloss |
Citation |
| agar-agar |
Eng. ← Malay |
green,
cream-coloured or transparent gelat+C102inous colloidal extractive of a red
alga (genera Gelidium, Gracilaria, and Eucheuma), used as a gelling agent
and sometimes eaten as a sweet |
|
| Ai |
Wa |
First syllable
of eldest son's name |
|
| Am |
Wa |
First syllable
of third daughter's name |
|
| anna |
Eng. ← Hindi ānā
← Skt. aṇu- 'small' |
copper coin
formerly used in India, Burma, Pakistan |
|
| arrack |
Eng. ← Arabic
araq 'juice, sweat' |
strong spirits
distilled from fermented fruits, grains, sugarcane, or the sap of coconuts or
other palm trees; now generally fermented from coconut sap, then distilled to
produce an alcoholic beverage that tastes like whiskey. |
|
| awza |
Burmese |
authority |
The Special
Commissioner,... has been chosen from among the natural leaders for the
extent of his awza and the influence wielded by this personality.
(mangrai.com/khai/kanbawsa/part01.html) |
| baht |
Thai |
Thai currency
(abbrev. Bt) (in 2003 £1=Bt65, $1=Bt41
approx.) |
|
| bǎizhǎng 百长 |
Chinese, lit.
'hundred-chief', ← ? |
headman in
traditional Wa village (in charge of military affairs), used to translate Wa
'dax rīad' |
|
| bamboo |
Eng. ← Malay
bambu |
woody or
arborescent grasses of subfamily Bambusoideae of the family Poaceae, 75
genera, inc. Bambusa, Arundinaria, Dendrocalamus, 1000+ species; stem is
called a 'culm' above ground, 'rhizome' below ground |
|
| bankai 半开 |
Chinese (half a
yuan, cf. Kaiyuan tongbao 开元通宝, Yuan Shikai 袁世凯) |
Yunnan cash
coins in use after 1911 |
Fiskesjö
"The Fate of Sacrifice,"p. 415 |
| basket (of rice) |
English |
1) unit of
weight (=32 kg.); 2) unit of volume (= 8 gallons) |
"Therefore,
a total of 309 baskets, 8 pyis and two cans of poppy seeds and 480 pyis of
dried poppy bulb have been destroyed in Shan State (South)." (←
http://www.myanmar-narcotic.net/Destruction/dec9-02/9dec02.html) |
| bazaar |
Eng. (← Ital.
bazarro?) ← Urdu and Persian bāzār ←
Pahlavi baha-char 'the place of prices' |
a market
consisting of a street lined with shops and stalls, especially one in the
Middle East; a shop or a part of a store in which miscellaneous articles are
sold; a fair or sale at which miscellaneous articles are sold, often for
charitable purposes
|
|
| beriberi |
Eng. ← Sinhalese
'extreme weakness' |
nutritional
disorder caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1 (thiamine), associated with
eating polished white rice;
characterised by impairment of the nerves and heart; general symptoms
include loss of appetite and overall lassitude, digestive irregularities, and
a feeling of numbness and weakness in the limbs and extremities. Cf. Chinese
脚气（病）. |
|
| betel quid |
betel Eng. ←
Port.bétele, ← Tamil ver̠r̠ilai; quid Eng. ← cud, ← ME quide, ← OE cwidu,
cwudu |
a mixture of (1)
climbing pepper (Piper betle)
leaves, (2) betel nut, the astringent
seed of the betel or areca palm a pinnate-leaved palm, (Areca catechu) that has an
orange-colored drupe with an outer fibrous husk, and (3) mineral lime, which
is chewed as a stimulant; 'quid': a cut or wad of something chewable |
|
| Bied / Cip [sic] |
Wa |
First syllable
of eighth son's name |
|
| brinjal (brinjaul) |
Eng. perhaps ←
Port. badingān, etc., ultimately ← Skt. bhaṇṭākī (?); cognate with
French/English aubergine |
eggplant,
aubergine (Solanum Melongena) (sometimes also used to refer to the purple
glaze on ceramics, as in 'brinjal bowl') |
Henry Yule,
Hobson-Jobson (http://dsal.uchicago.edu) |
| bùjīn 布金, bùjiǎn 布睑 |
Yunnan Chinese ←
Tai pu5 kian6 'district chief' (c.f. 'circle') |
deputy headman
in traditional Wa village (in charge of production, village administration),
used to translate Wa 'dax gōun' |
Wayu yufa, p.
112, WHJMCD (布金), LGV p.135,144 ( 布睑: 傣语 bu 意为长者、头人 , 傣语 gīan 意为部落、区域。布睑即部落长
, 或区域长。傣语 gīan, 佤语岩帅话叫 gōun, 方言或作 gūan、 gian、gvīan、fīan、fēin、pein, 当地汉语一般译为圈
, 字或作谦、宜、轩、军、睑。) |
| bungalow |
Eng. ← Hindi
banglā 'house in Bengali style' |
(1) a thatched
or tiled one-storey house in India or Burma surrounded by a wide verandah;
(2) (in general Western usage) a small house or cottage usually having a
single story and sometimes an additional attic storey, and often having a
verandah |
|
| can |
English
(translation of Burmese __?_) |
unit of volume
(ca. 1 cup or .127 lt.?) |
"...a total
of 309 baskets, 8 pyis and two cans of poppy seeds..." |
| catty |
Eng. ← Malay
kati |
various units of
weight of China and SE Asia varying around 600 grams (1 1/3 pounds); also, a
standard Chinese unit, the jīn (斤), or market jīn (市斤) equal to 500 grams |
|
| chedi |
Burmese? ze-di ေစတီ |
stupa (q.v.) |
|
| chindit |
Burmese?
("The name 'Chindit' was a corruption of the Burmese word for winged
stone lion - the guardians of the Buddhist temples.") |
Special Forces
soldiers serving in the British Army in Burma during World War II, who
engaged in guerrilla tactics behind Japanese lines |
|
| circle |
English,
translation of Chinese quān 圈 'circle'? Yunnan Chinese used quān 圈 as one
transliteration/translation of the Tai/Shan word gīan, meaning 'tribe,
district' (other Hanzi transliterations used include 谦,宜,轩,军,睑 (c.f. bùjīn) |
region including
several similar Wa villages, perhaps so named because they formed a circle in
the hills surrounding a Shan meng polity down in the valley; esp. in
reference to Myanmar, or pre-Liberation China |
e.g.,
"Moitre Circle, somewhere between the Nam Ma and Nam Nang"
(Diffloth, p.8); "[K'ala language] is located in Kokang circle"
(Diffloth, p. 10); "the Wa of Ankhang say that before liberation, their
circle was called Meng Lwa" (Cholthira, p.256); Fiskesjö diss. "The
Fate of Sacrifice,"p. 70: "The administrative structure would be in
two main tiers, distinguishing the Shan populace and the mountain
"slaves" (dependent kha tribes) as satellites." n.90: "This was the meng and the ken: for example, when unified, the
small Shan state of Mengdong formally had charge of nine Shan meng (including Mengjiao and
Mengsheng, mentioned earlier), as well as thirteen tribal ken, or "circles" of
dependent mountain people, in the case of Mengdong mostly Wa villages....;
"p.116-117 the different Wa "circles" (jaig' qee); p. 127 n.
198 "The village of Nuofu belonged to the Quanhai district of the Nine
"Circles" (quan, or ken) ruled by Menglian..."; LGV p.135: 傣语
gīan 意为部落、区域。布睑即部落长 , 或区域长。傣语 gīan, 佤语岩帅话叫 gōun, 方言或作 gūan、
gian、gvīan、fīan、fēin、pein, 当地汉语一般译为圈 , 字或作谦、宜、轩、军、睑。) |
| coir |
Eng. ← Tamil
kayi{rumlunder}u 'rope' |
fibre produced
from the husk of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), highly resistant to salt water and used in the manufacture
of ropes, mats, baskets, brushes, and brooms |
|
| copra |
Eng. ← Port. ←
Malayalam koppara |
dried extracted
kernel, or meat of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), from which coconut oil, the world's ranking vegetable oil,
is expressed |
|
| crore |
Hindi karo(r) |
10,000,000, 100
lakh, (ကုေဋ 千万) |
|
| dacoit |
Hindi ḍakait |
member of bandit
gang in Burma |
|
| dah, dha |
Tai
(Shan)?; Burmese? written dah (Tai),
dha (Burmese), daab, darb (Thai) or
dai dao (Thai/Shan/Lao/Burmese) 'blade, knife' |
a single-edged
sword common through-out mainland S. E. Asia, but often called "the
national sword of Burma." Common features: (a) a grip with a round
cross-section, (b) a long, generally curved blade and (c) no cross-guard or
knuckle-bow, and at most a very small tsuba-like guard. Used by Tai and
Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups of these areas, not by the Mon-Khmer and Viet.(?) |
"This
old [Shan] gentleman may be seen walking to the bazaar in Taunggyi on a
bazaar day, shikkho-ing a Sawbwa in a haw, or trimming a hedge in any village
with his dah. But over and above the dahs of some other bamboo civilisations,
the dah of a Shan is something special. His personal dah, that is, not the
domestic one for chipping and hacking, but a finer one, the lethondaw which
the humblest Shan has, for fighting, hunting and for dancing."
(mangrai.com/khai/kanbawsa/part14.html) |
| dasheen |
Eng. (origin
unknown) |
taro (Colocasia esculenta) ('taro' ←
Tahitian or Maori) |
|
| Daw |
Burmese |
polite prefix
for older women's names |
|
| Dax / Tax |
Wa |
polite
prefix for older man's name, "grandfather, old man" |
|
| durbar |
Urdu darbar
'court' |
1) state
reception formerly given by Indian princes for a British sovereign or one
given for an Indian prince by his subjects; 2) court of an Indian prince |
|
| durian |
Eng. ← Malay |
large oval,
tasty but foul-smelling fruit, with a prickly rind, of the Durio
zibethinus tree (silk-cotton family) |
|
| farang |
Thai ฝรั่ง (and
Thailand English) ← Arabic (noun ifranji [إفرنجي], adjective faranj
[فرنجى] 'Frank' (referring to the
Germanic tribe) |
foreign,
Western, European |
farang [ฝรั่ง]
“foreign, Western, European” derives from the name of a Germanic people, the
Franks! Due to their powerful position in Medieval Europe (see also lovage
for the herbal edict of Charlemagne), the ethnonym was transferred to Arabic
(noun ifranji [إفرنجي], adjective faranj [فرنجى] “European”), whence it spead
eastwards. Examples include Sanskrit phiranga [फिरंग] and Kannada paramgi
[ಪರಂಗಿ] “Europe”, and Kurdish farangi [فةرةنگی], Dhivehi faranjee [ފަރަންޖީ]
Thai farang and Khmer barang “foreigner”. (fr. Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages,
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Eryn_foe.html) |
| fuyintang 福音堂 |
Chinese ('good
news hall') |
Christian
missionary church in China |
Fiskesjö
"The Fate of Sacrifice,"p. 415 |
| galanga, galangal |
←
Arabic khalanjan, perhaps a perversion of a Chinese word meaning 'mild
ginger' (cf. Modern Standard Chn. jiāng 姜) |
Thai ginger
(Siamese ginger, Laos ginger), the
white ginger-like root of Alpinia officinarum plant, used as a medicinal herb, as snuff, as a flavoring for
beverages (esp. in Russia, Lithuania, Estonia area), and as a spice in
curries, etc. (Thai 'kah'). Distinguish fingerroot (Boesenbergia
rotunda, B. pandurata, Kaempferia pandurata),
'Chinese ginger', Chn. 凹脣姜(薑) āochúnjiāng, Thai krachai กระชาย, which is also
sometimes called galangal. |
|
| gecko |
Eng. ← Javanese
ge'kok |
Gekko gecko and
other similar small or medium-sized lizards |
|
| godown |
Eng. ← Malay |
warehouse (usu.
at wharf) |
|
| gram (gram flour, green gram) |
Eng. ← old Port.
gram ~ mod. grão 'grain' |
various
leguminous plants (like the chickpea [Cicer arietinum, a.k.a garbanzo bean]),
grown especially for their seeds; gram flour is ground chickpea meal; green
gram refers to mung beans, Phaseolus aureus (q.v.), and the flour ground from them |
|
| guǎnshì 管事 |
Chinese ('manage
affairs') |
headman in
traditional Wa village (in charge of resolving disputes), used to translate
Wa 'dax brōng' |
|
| gunny sack |
Eng. ← ? ← Skt.
gonī 'jute or hemp fibre' |
large sack made
from loosely woven coarse jute or hemp fibre |
|
| Han Baiyi 旱摆夷 |
Chinese |
"Dry"
Shan; dry-rice "Chinese" Shan |
Fiskesjö
"The Fate of Sacrifice,"p. 415 |
| heng |
Shan? Burmese?
Chinese? |
chief, prince |
e.g., "heng
of Kokang", Yang Li (Jackie Yang), The House of Yang (Sydney: Bookpress, 1997) refers to heng and myosa (q.v.)
almost interchangeably--no gloss for 'heng'?; circle headman (Pu Heng, Pu
Hmong, Pu Mong) Pu which literally means GRANDFATHER would always be put in
front of their rank. Sometimes 'Tao', which means 'grand old age', would be
used to refer to them in respect
(www.shanland.org/resources/culture/shan_traditions_and_customs.htm) |
| heshang 和尚 |
Chinese, perhaps
← Khotan in form of 和闍 or 和社 (or 烏社) which might be a translit. of vandya
(Tibetan and Khotani ban- de), 'reverend.'; Chinese translation of Skt.
upadhyāya; Pali upajjhāya, meaning preceptor—a Buddhist teacher who imparts
the precepts to the practitioner. Transcribed as 鄔波馱耶 (ap. C. Muller) |
Buddhist priest,
monk, abbot |
|
| Hlaing |
Burmese |
lit.
"wave", place name in Myanmar, NW of Yangon |
|
| huǒtóu 火头, 伙头 (大伙头, 二伙头 ) |
Chinese, lit.
'fire-leader' (i.e., in sacrifices); or 'band-leader' (Yunnan Chinese
equivalent for Wa 'krox' |
headman, chief
(in traditional Wa village), used to translate Wa 'tax krox' (大伙头) , tax kie'
(二伙头)('deputy headman') |
Wayu yufa, p.
112, WHJMCD, LGV p.135,No.1201: 之所以称火头 , 当与佤族之重视火 , 有祭火、改火等习俗有关。 |
| I |
Wa |
First syllable
of second daughter's name |
|
| indigo |
Eng. ← It.
dial., ← Lat. indicum, ← Grk. indikon, ← neuter of indikos 'Indic', from
Indos 'India' |
deep blue dye
from one of several plants; most common among Wa seems to be Chinese indigo
or dyer's knotweed, Polygonum tinctorium; most common historically and
commercially in Asia (e.g., already exported from India to Roman Empire) was
Indigofera sumatrana (I. tinctoria); since ca. 1900 virtually all indigo dye,
used to dye one billion pairs of blue jeans a year, is synthetic aniline dye |
|
| Ja (zhā 扎) |
Lahu? |
First syllable
in many Lahu names (when written in Chinese use 扎 ) |
Wazu jianshi
p.28 n.1 (re Sanfozu) (many examples
); also Fiskesjö "The Fate of Sacrifice,". p.119 on Dax Jadie etc. |
| jackfruit |
Eng. ← Port.
jaca ← Malayalam chakkai (?) |
Artocarpus heterophyllus |
|
| jaggery |
Eng. ← Port.
jágara, prob. ← Malayalam chakkara 'sugar' |
kind of candy, using unrefined
brown sugar made from palm sap (toddy, q.v.) |
|
| Jiad / Siet |
Wa |
First syllable
of seventh son's name |
|
| Ka Kwe Ye |
Burmese |
militia |
|
| kan (亢kàng) |
Wa |
Wa unit of
volume/weight (= 100 catties of grain, 50 kg.) |
Nbeen Si Mgang
Lih, p. 5, n.5 [亢kàng RK cf. káng 扛] |
| kapok |
Eng. ← Malay |
mass of silky
fibers that clothe the seeds of ceiba tree (Ceiba pentandra, syn. Helicteres
pentandra, cotton tree, kapok tree, white silk cotton tree), formerly used as
a filling for mattresses |
|
| Karen |
|
Myanmar ethnic
group, living in eastern Myanmar-western Thailand border region |
|
| Karenni |
|
Myanmar ethnic
group similar to Karen, = Red Karen, Kayah State |
|
| khaa (xa3) |
Tai |
term used among
Shan et al. for 'primitive' non-Buddhist people, often translated as
'mountain people' or 'slaves' |
LGV
p.127,No.1121: 本义为奴隶, 过去傣族土司对山区少数民族通称为 [xa3] , 音译作卡。现在转义为百姓、群众。 |
| Kokang 果敢 |
Burmese ? ကုိးကန္ /kou:gan./ |
refers to both
Kokang State (23.2-24.5 N lat. x 98.2-98.5 E long., Myanmar NE Shan state,
immediately N of Wa state) and its inhabitants, over 90% ethnic Han Chinese
people (果敢華人). One explanation of their origin: Chinese Han soldiers who took
part in the siege of Ayudhiya did not return to China but sought permission
to take up their resident in Kokang. Or cf. Yang Li (Jackie Yang), The House of Yang (Sydney:
Bookpress, 1997), and www.4dw.net/royalark/Burma/kokang.htm |
(formerly)
www.shanland.org/History/secession_of_kokang.htm |
| krait |
Eng. ← Hindi
karait, perhaps ← Skt. kāla- 'black' |
venomous snakes
of genus Bungarus, usu. black
body with brightly colored bands |
|
| kyat |
Burmese (lit. classifier for round, flat objects) |
Myanmar currency
(abbrev. K) ($1=80K-100K free market rate) |
"The
headman collected together all the money he could in the village, altogether
122,000 kyats…" LNDO, Unsettling Moves, p. 51 |
| lajia 腊家 |
Chn. ← Shan
(Tai) la4 'socially advanced Wa people' ← proto-Wa (M-K) laʔ,luaʔ,lvaʔ,l'vaʔ
'Wa (Vax) people' + Chn. jiā 家 'family, tribe' |
(1) Ba Raog Wa;
(2) Buddhist, or Shan-ruled, Wa people |
LGV p.78,No.676;
Fiskesjö "The Fate of Sacrifice,"p. 415; see also citation for
entry Wa Küt; LGV p.295,No.2713: 腊家是佤族的一个支系 , 他们自称布陆。 |
| lakh |
Hindi lākh |
(1) 100,000 (သိန္း 十万); (2) a great number (e.g.,
in Wa usage a lāg/lag is sometimes 10,000,000) |
e.g, in the
novel/movie Sai Pan, a loan of
"40 lakhs" in silver ingots (sycee, q.v.) is negotiated |
| lángjiā 郎家,lǎngjiā 朗家 |
Chinese, ← Tai?
(cf. lam? 'emissary'?, ja 'village official'); Lahu? (cf. lajia) |
deputy headman
in traditional Wa village (in charge of village affairs), term used to
translate Wa title 'dax lām' into Chinese |
Wayu yufa, p.
112, WHJMCD |
| Lōug / Log |
Wa |
First syllable
of sixth son's name |
|
| mahadevi |
|
Shan prince
consort |
Yang Li (Jackie
Yang), The House of Yang
(Sydney: Bookpress, 1997) |
| mahout |
Eng. ← Hindi
mahāvat, mahāut, ← Skt. mahāmātraḥ 'one having great measure', mahout :
mahā- 'great + mātram 'measure' (← mimīte, mā- 'he measures') |
keeper and
driver of an elephant |
|
| meng |
Shan (Tai)
möng?, mu'ang?, meung? |
realm, kingdom,
city-state, traditional Shan state |
|
| milo |
Eng.
← Afrikaans? mealie 'corn', prob. ← Port. milho, ← Latin milium 'millet'; or
Eng. ← Afrikaans? ← S. African Sotho (Bantu fam.) maili 'milo' |
an
early-growing, usually drought-resistant grain sorghum, especially Sorghum bicolor, resembling millet |
|
| móba 魔巴 |
Chinese, ← Lahu
maw55pa11 'shaman' (Bradley) |
shaman,
spiritual leader, prayer-sayer in Wa village (Wa ba nqai?) |
Fiskesjö
"The Fate of Sacrifice,"p. 273 |
| monsoon |
Eng. ← obs.
Dutch monssoen, ← Port. monção, ← Arabic mawsim 'time, season' |
seasonal wind,
especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia, and the heavy rainfall
associated with it, during the months of June-October in the Wa area |
|
| mung bean |
Eng. ← Hindi
mu[α]g, from Sanskrit mudga |
erect bushy
annual bean (Phaseolus aureus) cultivated for its edible usually green or
yellow seeds, for forage, and as the chief source of bean sprouts; cf. gram |
|
| muntjac |
Eng. ← Malay
menjangan 'deer' |
muntjac, Indian
muntjac, barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak or Reeves's muntjac Muntiacus
reevesi |
|
| myosa |
|
ruler of a
smaller Shan state, lit. 'eater of town'?. Of 33 Shan states, 17 were ruled
by sawbwas, 12 by myosas and 4 by ngwekhunhmus. |
"myosa of
Kokang", Yang Li (Jackie Yang), The House of Yang (Sydney: Bookpress, 1997) |
| nam (lam) |
Tai (Shan nam5
etc.) |
water, river |
|
| Ngāox / Ngaox |
Wa |
First syllable
of fifth son's name |
|
| Nyī |
Wa |
prefix for name
of second son |
|
| opium |
Eng. ← Latin ←
Grk. opion, dim. of opos 'vegetable juice' |
narcotic
analgesic drug derived by collecting and drying the milky juice in the unripe
seed pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum |
|
| Oug / Ok |
Wa |
First syllable
of fourth daughter's name |
|
| paddy |
Eng. ← Malay
'padi' |
(1) rice;
especially : threshed unhusked rice; (2) flooded field in which rice is grown |
|
| pagoda |
Eng. ← Port.
pagode 'Oriental idol, temple', perhaps ← Tamil pagavadi, ← Skt. bhagavat,
'goddess', ← fem. of bhagavat-, 'blessed', ← bhaga 'good fortune' |
religious
building of East and SE Asia, especially a multi-story Buddhist tower,
erected as a memorial or shrine |
|
| panay cloth |
Eng. (from name
of Panay island, Philippines) |
a fabric woven
from mixed pineapple and cotton fibres |
|
| panthay |
Eng. ←
Burmese (MED 1993 gives ပန္းေသး /pàn-dhè/ 'Chinese Muslim',
related to ပသီ /pă-thi/ 'Parsee' ← Hindi ဖာရသိ /p'a-ră-thi/ 'Parsee, Zoroastrian'? ← Persian pārsī ←
pārs 'Persia') |
Chinese Muslim
Hui 'nationality' (huimin 回民) in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces; Wa term 'Pa
Si' from same ultimate source |
"Le terme
de Panthay est un exonyme birman que les «Panthay» désapprouvent en lui
préférant les endonymes de hui-hui ou encore de hui-tzu qui signifient
simplement «musulman». L'expression de «Chinois musulman» est ainsi de loin
préférée par les principaux intéressés à celle de «Panthay» : Yegar M., «The
Panthay (Chinese Muslims) of Burma and Yunnan», Journal of Southeast Asian
History, 1966, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 74-75. «Panthay» sera néanmoins utilisé ici
par souci de simplicité et de clarté, le terme précisant de façon
satisfaisante les origines ethniques et géographiques en plus de la religion
du groupe considéré lorsque ses individus résident en Birmanie. En Thaïlande,
au Laos ou en Chine du Sud, les Hui sont aussi appelés Haw ou Chin Haw."
-Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy "L'importance..." p.72 n.9. |
| Pan-hung (Banhong 班洪) Incident |
|
1933-34 border
dispute between British authorities in Burma and China in area of Banhong
班洪,NW of Cangyuan |
|
| Pa'O (Pa'o, Pa-O, Pao, Taungthu) |
|
ethnic group of
Myanmar Shan State, related to the Karen |
|
| patchouli |
Tamil paccuḷi
(or patchai [green], ellai [leaf]) |
(Pogostemon
cablin, a small shrub in mint family, with leaves that yield a fragrant oil
used in perfumes |
|
| Peguan |
|
Myanmar ethnic
group, same as Mon, or a sub-group of Mon?, a.k.a. Talaing? |
Peguan or Mon
First Standard Reader (Rangoon, 1918) |
| picul |
Eng. ← Malay? |
Chinese dàn (担),
a unit of weight equal to 100 catties (100 jīn斤, 50 kg) ?; Cf. shí 石, (unit
of weight =120 jīn, 60 kg) and shí/dàn (unit of volume = 10 pecks dǒu 斗 or
100 shēng 升, 100 lt) |
|
| pomelo, pumelo |
← older
pompelmous, ← Dutch pompelmoes ← (or rel. to Tamil bambolmas ?; Cf. Fr.
pamplemousse 'grapefruit' (← older pamplemoucier?) |
large,
thick-rinded, usually pear-shaped citrus fruit of the Citrus
maxima (syn. C. grandis) tree, differing from the grapefruit especially in its loose
rind and often coarse dry pulp; according to one account, the grapefruit is a
hybrid of the pomelo and the orange. A.k.a. 'shaddock' (q.v.). |
|
| punji stick, punji stake |
Eng. ← Burmese ? |
A very sharp
bamboo stake that is concealed at an angle in high grass, in a hole, or in
deep mud, often coated with excrement, and planted to wound and infect the
feet of enemy soldiers. |
|
| pyi |
Burmese |
1) unit of
volume (= 1.56 gallons) ( = small tin or 1/16 tin) (traditionally = 8
handfuls); 2) unit of area?; 3) unit of weight (1 pyi of rice = 2 kg.) |
"I planted
32 pyi of paddy, and I got 2,048 pyi because of the good soil...", LNDO,
Unsettling Moves, p. 18; cf. id. p.44; cf. "Therefore, a total of 309
baskets, 8 pyis and two cans of poppy seeds and 480 pyis of dried poppy bulb
have been destroyed in Shan State (South)."
(http://www.myanmar-narcotic.net/Destruction/dec9-02/9dec02.html);
"Pyi 的单位为 以手抓拿起来 8把为 1 Pyis
的度量单位" |
| raffia |
Eng. ← Malagasy
rafia |
fiber of the
raffia palm, a pinnate-leaved palm (Raphia farinifera, syn. R. ruffia) of Madagascar, used especially for tying
plants and making baskets and hats |
|
| rambutan |
Malay |
bright red spiny
Malayan fruit of Nephelium lappaceum tree (soapberry family), closely related to the litchi
(lychee, lizhi 荔枝) |
|
| ramie |
Eng. ← Malay
rami 'ramie' |
ramie (Boehmeria
nivea), perennial plant of nettle
family, primarily used for lustrous bast fibre, woven into linen-like fabric |
|
| rattan |
Eng. ← Malay
rotan |
climbing palm
(especially of the genera Calamus and Daemonorops) with very long tough stems, from which canes and wickerwork
are made |
|
| rupee |
Hindi |
silver coin
currency from British-era Burma, still used among Wa villagers in Myanmar for
day-to-day trade; worth 900 kyats in Tachilek area ca. 2002 |
"I carried
2 viss of opium and 150 rupees at the bottom of the basket…", LNDO,
Unsettling Moves, p. 48 |
| sago |
Malay sagu 'sago
palm' |
dry granulated
or powdered starch prepared from the pith of a sago palm (genus Metroxylon); very similar to the
botanically distinct tapioca (q.v.) |
|
| Sai |
Wa |
First syllable
of fourth son's name |
|
| salax |
Wa |
(Christian)
pastor, priest, missionary; from Burmese 'saya' ('sara') (q.v.) |
|
| Sam |
Wa |
First syllable
of third son's name |
|
| sambar, sambhar, sambur, sambhur |
Eng. ← Hindi |
large deer (Cervus unicolor) of southern Asia,
with three-tined antlers and a reddish-brown coat |
|
| sanad |
|
British letter
of appointment for Shan princes and myosas, under Burma Laws Act of 1898 |
Yang Li (Jackie
Yang), The House of Yang
(Sydney: Bookpress, 1997);
mangrai.com/khai/kanbawsa/part01.html |
| sangha |
Burmese (← Pali) |
Theravada
Buddhist clergy |
|
| saopha, saohpa |
Shan, ဝ္ ့ (E. Shan ဝ္ ့caofa), lit. 'master (sao)
of the sky (pha)' |
hereditary king,
ruling prince, or headman of a traditional Shan state |
Cf. "The
Thai usage is Chaofa." ..."Sao: denotes person of Shan royalty;
Saophalong: Senior Shan Prince" (Yang Li (Jackie Yang), The House of Yang (Sydney:
Bookpress, 1997)); Sao Hpa Awn (Phya, Myo Sa, or Sao Perng)
(www.shanland.org/resources/culture/shan_traditions_and_customs.htm) |
| sara |
Burmese |
teacher (cf. Wa
"salax"); polite prefix for names |
|
| sarama |
Burmese |
teacher
(female); polite prefix for names |
|
| sawbwa |
Burmese (ေစာ္ဘား), loan from Shan
'saopha', lit. 'master of the sky' |
hereditary king,
ruling prince, or headman of a traditional Shan state |
Cf. "The
term sawbwa is a Burmese corruption of the Shan term saopha." (Yang Li
(Jackie Yang), The House of Yang
(Sydney: Bookpress, 1997)) |
| seersucker |
Eng. ← Hindi
śīrśaker, ← Persian shīr-o-shakar, lit. 'milk and sugar' |
light fabric of
linen, cotton, or rayon usually striped and slightly puckered |
|
| sepoy |
Eng. ← prob. ←
Port. sipae ← Urdu sipähï ← Pers. ← sipäh, army |
Indian soldiers
in the Bengal army of the East India Company |
|
| shaddock |
Eng. ← Capt.
Shaddock, 17th cent. English ship commander |
large,
thick-rinded, usually pear-shaped citrus fruit of the Citrus
maxima (syn. C. grandis) tree, differing from the grapefruit especially in its loose
rind and often coarse dry pulp; according to one account, the grapefruit is a
hybrid of the shaddock and the orange. A.k.a. pomelo/pumelo (q.v.) |
|
| Shan |
Eng. |
|
Shan B'mah: Burmese name for the Shan of the Shan
States of Burma; originally from southern China; settled along the Salween
river valley and the upland Shan Plateau; not a hill tribe, as the Shan
inhabit the river valleys of the uplands; see also Hkampti Shan; Shan
Tayok: Burmese name for the Chinese
Shan of the Shan States in Yunnan, the most important of which lie south of
the Tengyueh river and west of the Salween river (dharesearch.bowditch.us/GlossaryFrame1Source1.htm) |
| Shui Baiyi 水摆夷 |
Chinese |
"Water"
Shan; wet-rice "Chinese" Shan |
Fiskesjö
"The Fate of Sacrifice," p. 415 |
| shuǐ jiǔ 水酒 |
Chinese |
Chinese term for
Wa national beverage 'plai núm', a rice beer; lit. 'water liquor'--from the
fact that the rice mash is fermented in cake form, then infused in water,
rather than being brewed in liquid form) |
|
| Siam, 暹 (xiān) |
Chinese 暹
(xiān), Chinese 掸 (shàn), Wa 'Siam', English etc. 'Siam' are all the same
root |
(1) 暹 (xiān) is
former Chinese word for Siam (Thailand) /Siamese branch of Tai peoples;
(2) 暹 (xiān) is also the Chinese
stereotype for writing the Wa ethnonym 'Siam', which is a generic reference
to all Tai peoples, but especially to the Shan people |
LGV
p.402,No.3710 |
| sisal |
Eng. ← (Sisal,
name of port in Yucatán, Mexico) |
strong
durable white fiber used especially for hard fiber cordage and twine, called
also sisal hemp, derived from Agave sisalana, a widely cultivated Mexican
agave |
|
| stupa |
Skt. stūpa |
usually
dome-shaped structure (as a mound) serving as a Buddhist shrine (cf. chedi,
pagoda) |
|
| sycee |
Eng. ← Chn.
(Guangdong) sai-sì, lit. 'fine silk' (细丝?) |
Chinese silver
ingot formerly used as money, weighing about 50 taels (q.v.) |
|
| tabasheer |
Persian tabāshīr
('sugar of bamboo'?) ← Skt. tavakkshīra |
fine-grained
silica produced in the joints of bamboo stems, used as a medicine, a.k.a
bamboo manna, bamboo silica,used in island S.E. Asia as a medicine for the
cure of bilious vomitings, bloody flux, piles, and various other diseases |
|
| tael |
Eng. ← Port. ←
Malay tahil |
Chinese
and general E. Asian unit of weight, equal to ca. 1.3 English ounces or 518
grains; often used as unit of silver money |
|
| tamarind |
Eng. ← Arabic
تمر هندي tamr hindī |
Tamarindus
indica, originally from E. Africa |
|
| tanaka (thanatka) powder |
Eng. ← Burmese (သနပ္ခး) |
a pale yellow
powder made from pulverising wood of Limonia crenulata
(L. acidissima) 'tanaka', 'kapittha', or 'elephant
apple' tree, and then smeared on face as cosmetic and sun block |
cf. Tai (Shan) တူ္ပ္း a kind of tree,
the bark and root of which are used in making a fragrant cosmetic |
| tapioca |
Eng. ← Spn.
& Port., ← Tupi tɨpɨóka (cassava ← Spn. cazabe 'cassava bread', ← Taino
caçábi)
|
usually granular
preparation of starch, used in puddings and as thickening, of cassava plant
(spurge family, genus Manihot
and especially M. esculenta), grown widely in the tropics; very similar to the botanically
distinct sago (q.v.) |
|
| taro |
Eng. ← Tahitian
(or Maori?) |
taro (Colocasia esculenta), a.k.a. eddo:
malanga, kalo (Hawai'ian), elephant's ear, dasheen, cocoyam, colocasia |
|
| Tatmadaw |
Burmese |
Myanmar
government army |
|
| Tax |
Wa |
see Dax |
|
| teak |
Eng. ← Port.
teca, ← Malayalam tēkka |
tall timber tree
(Tectona grandis) of the
vervain family, with hard yellowish brown wood used especially for furniture
and shipbuilding
|
|
| thakin |
Burmese |
master |
|
| thingyan |
Burmese |
Burmese new
year, mid-April |
|
| tical |
Burmese |
unit of (small)
weight (as for jewelry, opium, etc.) (= 5 grams?) |
"In one
year, they had to give 10 ticals of opium, 2 tins of rice, and 200 baht [to
UWSA, as tax]...", LNDO, Unsettling Moves, p. 19 |
| tin |
Burmese |
1) unit of
weight (=16 kg.); 2) unit of volume (= 4 gallons) |
"a monthly
ration of rice: one large tin each for adults, and half a tin each for
children", LNDO, Unsettling Moves, p. 18 |
| toddy |
Eng. ← Hindi
tāṛī' 'juice of the palmyra palm', ← tāṛ 'palmyra palm', ← Skt. tāla |
a beverage drunk
fresh, fermented, or distilled, produced from the sweetish sap yielded by the
young flower stalks of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) when wounded or cut; also a source of sugar (cf. jaggery) and
alcohol |
|
| tussah |
Eng. ← Hindi
tasar |
silk or silk
fabric from the brownish fiber produced by larvae of some saturniid moths
(e.g., Antheraea paphia) |
|
| typhoon |
Eng. ← Eng.
touffon (1771) (influenced by Chinese [Guangdong] daaih-fùng, from daaih
'big' + fùng 'wind') ← Arabic tūfān 'hurricane' ← Greek typhōn 'violent
storm' |
tropical cyclone
occurring in the south China sea or Indian Ocean |
|
| U |
Burmese |
polite prefix
for older men's names |
|
| viss |
Eng. ← Burmese ပိာ pissa (peiq-tha) (← Pali) |
unit of weight (
= 1.6 kg.); related to unit of volume pyi (ca. 2 kg or rice) ? |
"I carried
1 viss of opium...", LNDO, Unsettling Moves, p. 14; Ye Naing came to
Tha-byu village in Kya-in Township and looted from villagers - 121 chickens
and ducks, a large container having fermented rice for distilling local
liquor, 4 baskets and 6 Pyis of rice, 1 Pyi of pepper, 2 large bags of
monosodium glutamate, two shirts, 3 pairs of Jean pants, 2 machetes, 2 torch
lights, 7 boxes of dry cell batteries, 4 Viss of onion, 1 Viss of fish paste,
4 Karen bags, 2 pairs of shoes, one steal necklace, 1 bottle of honey, 1
cassette tape player, 2 cassette tapes, 1 Pyi of sticky rice, 2 Karen
costumes and 418,000 Kyat cash. |
| Wa Küt (瓦库特,佤固德） |
Wa (Vax Gud (Vāx
Gud) / Vax Kut / Vax Kud /vaʔ kut (va̤ʔ kut, 'the Wa who remained, the Wa
left behind', ap. Wang Jingliu --see Citation); Wei Deming writes 'laih krup'
p.5 (Laih Grub 'catch up to', 'visit', 'honor') nad 'vax kut' p.6 |
Mon-Khmer-speaking
people of the Kengtung, Myanmar area, closely related to the Wa, a.k.a. Tai
Loi ('mountain Tai'), Sam Tau (Sam Dāo) 三岛, 桑[姆]倒); Wa of 翁嘎科 also belong to Wa Küt branch of Wa?
(Wei Deming, Wazu lishi yu wenhua yanjiu, p.4-5) |
Fiskesjö diss.
"The Fate of Sacrifice," p. 71-72: "The same kind of
transformation accompanied the introduction of Buddhism in the Shan state of
Kengtung, with the conversion and the creation of the so-called Tai Loi, the
Buddhist 'mountain Tai,' who really are Buddhist former 'Wa' and who are
known in the Wa language as the 'Wa that remained' under Kengtung rule (they
are the 'Wa Küt' in British sources)"; Wang Jingliu et al., Loux Gāb
Vax, p.432-433: 'Vāx Gud lūd nblōng, Vāx Lād lōng ngōd.' '佤固' 把事搞错了呆在后边 " 佤腊 "
沿着山坳大步向前。澜沧、沧源一带的佤族传说他们原住在阿瓦（即瓦城 , 现属缅甸）一带》后来缅族来攻打他们 , 逼使他 们离开了阿瓦 ,
另找生存之地。当他们举族迁徙时 , 为了彼此有个照应 , 沿路砍野芭蕉作为标记。走到勐养一带时 , 有一部份人因为在路上煨螃蟹吃掉了队。在此以前 ,
这些佤族都没有煮吃过螃蟹 , 不认得螃蟹煮熟了才变红 , 还以为螃蟹有血 ,
没有熟。 一直在那里等螃蟹煮熟 , 就这样误了时间。最后 , 他们等不得了 , 也就不管螃蟹熟不熟 , 只得吃了。当他们吃了螃蟹再往前走时 ,
本来也就不过是一宿功夫的事 , 但野芭蕉易长 , 砍过后无须多久 , 就能长出一大截 , 那些佤族不懂得野芭蕉生长的这些特点 ,
以为砍过的野芭蕉都已长得老大一截了 , 前面走的一定已经走得很远了 , 怕跟不上了 , 而勐艮、勐养一带 , 地方也还不错 , 他们就决定在那里待下来。这样
, 这一部分佤族就被称为 " 佤固 ", 即呆在后边的佤族 , 也被叫作 " 三岛 " (Sam
Dāo)。而来到了澜沧、沧源一带的佤族则被称作 " 佤腊 ", 即大步向前的佤族。 |
| wolang (窝朗,卧郎) |
Wa (Ximeng area) |
village headman |
Nbeen Si Mgang
Lih, p. 2, 5, n.5 (not!) |
| ya ba, 摇头丸, 冰毒 |
Thai, Chinese |
"crazy
drug", "shake-the-head-pill", "ice-drug": names for
methamphetamine, barbituates, and other synthetic drugs (本丙胺类毒品) |
LNDO, Unsettling
Moves, p. 19; cf. http://www.bdtzone.com/news_details.asp?ID=26 |
| yam |
Eng. ← Port. inhame
or Spn. ñame ← Wolof 'eat' |
about 150 (out
of c.600?) species of genus Dioscorea, usu. cultivated for their starchy
tubers (Wa often 'houn X'). "In the Philippines, the purple ube variety
of yam (Dioscorea alata, also known in India as ratalu or violet yam) is
eaten as a sweetened dessert called halaya, and is also an ingredient in the
fruity, pudding-like halo-halo, another popular Filipino dessert." (←
en.wikipedia.org) |
|
| yamen |
Eng. ← Chn. 衙门 ←
Manchu? |
Chinese
government office during Qing dynasty, home and administrative headquarters
of district magistrate |
|
| yanbang 烟帮 |
Chinese |
(former) opium
caravan |
Fiskesjö
"The Fate of Sacrifice,"p. 415 |
| Yaong |
Wa |
prefix for clan
name, lit. 'village' |
|
| Yeix / Yex |
Wa |
First syllable
of eldest daughter's name |
|
| yuan |
Chinese |
Chinese currency
RMB ("hmeen" in Wa) |
"I earned
20 Yuan…", LNDO, Unsettling Moves, p. 49 |
| zebu |
Eng. ← French
zébu |
domesticated
bovine mammal, Bos indicus
("Brahman cattle"), having a prominent hump on the back and a large
dewlap (Wa mōi, although ap. one source, mōi is ordinary European bovine) |
|
| zedoary |
Eng. ← M.E. zeduarie, ← M. Lat. zeduāria, ← Arabic
zadwār, ← Persian |
Curcuma zedoaria, a perennial herb and member of the ginger family
(Zingiberaceae), native to India and Indonesia. Introduced to Europe by Arabs
ca. 6th C., later replaced as a spice by ginger. A rhizome that grows in
tropical and subtropical wet forest regions. The fragrant plant bears yellow
flowers with red and green bracts and the underground stem section is large
and tuberous with numerous branches. The leaf shoots of the zedoary are long
and can reach 1 metre (3 feet) in height. The edible root of zedoary has a bright
orange interior and a fragrance reminiscent of mango, however its flavour is
more similar to ginger, except with a very bitter aftertaste. In Indonesia it
is ground to a powder and added to curry pastes, whereas in India it tends to
be used fresh or pickled. Zedoary is also used in some traditional eastern
medicines where it is reputed to be an aid to digestion, a relief for colic
and an agent for purifying the blood. (Fr. Wikipedia) |
|
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|
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