3864] 



On the history of the Burmah Race. 



19 



that people call themselves, can be traced to the native name for 

 man. This, however, is open to some doubt ; but Mr. Hodgson's 

 general conclusion that the languages of the Himalayan, Indo-Chinese, 

 and Thibetan tribes are of one family is fully justified. 



The name by which the people known to Europeans as Burmans or 

 Burmese call themselves, is written by them Mran-ma and some- 

 times Mram-ma, and is pronounced Ba-ma. The Arakanese call them- 

 selves Mg-ra-ma which is a variation of the same word. The questions 

 involved are, — * 



1st. Does the word Mran-ma contain the root signifying man in 

 some of the Indo-Chinese dialects ? 



2nd. Is the word Mran-ma directly derived from the name for 

 man generally, and on that account used as the national designation 

 of the Burma ? 



3rd. Can any other origin for the term Mran-ma be found, from 

 which it is more likely to be derived ? 



It is shown by Mr, Hodgson that in many of the above languages 

 ma and mi mean I, and man, (pp. 5, 34, 36 and 63), and hence it is 

 concluded that the etymology of Burma or Burmese is recovered. 

 The word Burma or Burmese no doubt is the European form of Ba* 

 ma. Is the written form Mran-ma the original, of which the 

 spoken form Ba-md is a mere colloquialism ? or is the latter the real 

 original expression of the name for the race ? The Arakanese, it may 

 be noted, do not use the form Ba-ma and therefore are never called by 

 Europeans Burmans or Burmese. 



The root mi in the Burmese language has now no known reference 

 to ths pronoun I, or to man, as a general term, whatever it may 

 formerly have had. It now means female ; with the prefix a it means 

 mother, and sometimes a daughter. As an affix to the word tha or 

 8a, child, it signifies a female child. The root ma has the same 

 general meaning, female ; but has a more dignified signification than 

 mi. It is also applied to female animals. The word for woman, 

 Mien-ma or Mi-ma, is probablv the union of the two forms of the root 

 representing female, and is applied to woman as the female par excel- 

 lence (seep, 66 of Mr. Hodgson's paper). The personal pronoun 

 Nga=rl, is both jnasculine and feminine. But though I cannot agree 

 that the root mi or ma appears in the word Mran-ma, that root mav 

 possibly appear in the Burmese word myo, mro or in its Arakanese 



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