Chapter XV: Appendix: The Legend of Creation (5)

[32] "A field-watcher's hut," hèm-thàp: a small hut, raised high upon posts and thatched over, built in a clearing for cultivation, in which the cultivator passes the night for the purpose of scaring wild pigs and deer away from the crop.

[33] A species of potherb, so-called in Assamese: Bengali putika, Basella lucida. It has red juicy fruit.

[34] Notice the simplicity of life indicated by the occupations the fairy princesses have to attend to on their return to their celestial home.

[35] The exact species of these flowers is not vouched for; those named are common in the house-gardens of Assamese cultivators.

[36] See the note on p. 60.

[37] The flesh of animals killed by hunters is cut into strips and dried in the sun on frames of bamboo, for future use. The frames are called in Mikir ur and ràp.

[38] "Jungle-cock": Gallus ferrugineus, the wild fowl of Assam jungles.

[39] "Cock-pheasant": vorèk alopo, the dorik (Ass.) or "derrick," Gennæus Horsfieldii, the black-breasted kalij pheasant of north-east India.

[40] There are certain particles, jo, jàm, hur, hòr, and krei, used to indicate plurality when this is necessary; but they are inserted between the root and the tense-suffix, which is invariable.

[41] Pe- and pi- are used with monosyllables, pa- with most polysyllables; pa + ing = pàng.

[42] See "Khasi Monograph," p. 211.

[43] Reference may here be made to a summary of the Gospel history in Mikir entitled Birta Keme, "Glad tidings," published by the American Baptist Mission Press, Tika, Nowgong, in 1904.

[44] This seems to have taken place in or about 1765 A.D. See Gait, History of Assam, p. 181.

[45] Words resembling kèp are found for ten in some of the pronominalized languages of the lower Himalayas of Nepal; but these do not enter into our present field of comparison.

[46] Lepcha kha, Khaling khal, are probably the same word.

[47] Other Boro languages borrow Aryan words for higher numbers than ten.

[48] Lhi is the relic of kre, with the prefix k dropped and the r changed to l.

[49] Linguistic Survey, vol. III. part iii., p. 118.

[50] Southern Chin, as will be seen from the word-lists which follow, agrees in this respect with Mikir against Lushei, Meithei, and other Kuki-Chin languages.

[51] The only exception in Angami is r, in which a few words end.

[52] This seems to make it improbable that, as suggested on p. 109, chui in var-chui and nim-chui (to throw into water, to drown) is connected with the Tibetan chhu.

[53] The Chin words are taken from Mr. B. Houghton's Essay on the Language of the Southern Chins and its Affinities (Rangoon, 1892). In transcribing them h has been substituted for ` to indicate the aspirate, but the spelling has not been otherwise varied. The Lushei words are from Messrs. Lorrain and Savidge's Grammar and Dictionary of the Lushai Language (Dulien dialect) (Shillong, 1898); here too the spelling of the original has been retained.

[54] In Mikir this root is perhaps found in pi-nu, mother's sister, nimso, a virgin, and chai-nòng, cow. Chai-nòng is now used for both sexes, but the cognate languages point to chai (for chal) being the original word for the bovine species.

[55] A final mute italicised in Lushei words indicates that it is formed with the vocal organs, but not pronounced.

[56] Sa in Lushei means animal, and we see that the prefix te- (in teke, tiger), thi- (in thi-jòk, deer), or thòk- (in thòk-vàm, bear) has the same meaning in Mikir.

[57] So called from the figure of a butterfly (pli-pli) on the cover.