mmmum 



20 



On the history of the Burmah Bace. 



[No. L 



form, mru=race, and seed ; possibly also this word may originally have 

 signified man, in the Burmese as now in the Mrti language, (see p. 

 34), Mr. J. K. Logan in the Journal of the Ind. Arch, for 1857, 

 Vol. II., observes " The root of Mran-ma is ran, one of the forms of a 

 widely spread Himalaic name for man. Karen has the same root, 

 with the guttural in place of the lateral prefix." I have not been able 

 to satisfy myself as to the grounds on which this observation is founded, 

 The question still remains, whence the word Mran-md, which is 

 pronounced Ba-md, and in the Arakanese form Ma-ra-ma, is derived ? 

 I believe it to be a modern appellation adopted by the people since 

 they became Budhist, and derived from the Pali word Brah-ma signi- 

 fying celestial beings, as shown in the text. Hence it really has only 

 an accidental similarity to the word for man in some of the Indo- 

 Chinese dialects. It is much as if the Angli had adopted the national 

 name Angeli with their Christianity, with this difference, that we 

 know for certain that the Angli originally so called themselves, but 

 wo do not know for certain what the Burmese called themselves, before 

 they adopted the name Mran-md. The pride of the people caused 

 them to assume this as their national designation. The only names 

 for the ancient tribes which may have become the Mran-ma nation, 

 which we are acquainted with, are Byoo, Kan-yan or Kan-ran and 

 Thek or Safe. 



Is it possible that in adopting the word Brah-ma as their national 

 name they kept in view also their native root ma as Mr. Hodgson 

 would appear to conclude ? This I will not venture to affirm, but 

 of the direct origin of the present national name I have no doubt. 

 Nor need it cause surprise that a people should have adopted a foreign 

 term to designate themselves. With their religious instructors they 

 received knowledge of every kind. The districts of their country 

 were named after the countries of their teachers. Even their great 

 river, known in the vernacular as Myit-gyi, received an equivalent term 

 in Pali, — B-ra-wa-ti ; and their capital city always has a Pali name. 

 From the history it is evident that the name Mran-ma was not adopted 

 until after several tribes had been united under one powerful chief, by 

 whose fiat the name would readily have been adopted. 



With reference, however, to the root mi and its appearance in the 

 word Mien-ma or Mim-ma (woman), it is curious that the Chinese of 

 Yunan call the Burmese Mien ox hung -mien, and that is the name 



