Glossary
Mostly Burmese / Indian words (and occasional sets of initials) used by RK.
(if only I still had the elderly Hobson-Jobson that I sacrificed when we moved north ...)
Word | Meaning (simple) | Meaning (extended) |
alu chams | rissoles | |
arak / arack | strong alcoholic drink | flavoured with anise (~liquorice flavour), clouds when water added (~Pernod) |
ata | some sort of foodstuff? | |
atebrin / atabran | proprietary term for quinacrine | treatment for malaria in 1930s / 1940s |
badlis | IOU / chitty / voucher | |
bakaura | some sort of foodstuff | |
basti | military compound | |
chindra | some sort of foodstuff | |
dao | knife or hatchet | Chinese-made, various sizes |
dirming | ceremony at a manan | |
dooly | palanquin | |
dumsa | priest at a manan | |
durwan | doorkeeper | |
Duwa | most senior headman of a district | |
dzo | yak crossed with ox | |
godown | accommodation | doss-house for coolies |
goral | small goatlike antelope | |
grm | abbreviation for 'grams' | or grammes |
gyi | full-grown cow | |
jangli admi | wild man, yahoo | |
kangra and pashi | some sort of foodstuffs | |
kichni | some sort of foodstuff | |
lyep | unidentifiable hairy object | very hairy thing, plant or creature, maybe a nat (devil), RK specimen now lost. |
machan | hunting platform in tree | |
manan | religious festival | |
Mashang Juwai | (possibly) ~ wild horses | |
mimira | Kachin name for a high-altitude medicinal root, aka Kamtok, and Ningring, meaning Man, in Khanung | |
mithun | ox | |
naik | (lance) corporal | |
nat | demon, god or both | |
pangolin | the scaly anteater | |
parates | flat-bread | |
phorpas | drinking vessels | |
piata | messenger | |
pyada | postal courier | |
quartan (fever) | form of malaria | |
salaami | gift | must be reciprocated! |
sambhur | large deer with impressive antlers | |
serow | goat-antelope | a goat-antelope with short, sharp horns, long, coarse hair, and a beard |
Sharow lai ai lam | (possibly) ~ tigers | |
surra | big biting flies | |
takin | large goatlike antelope | |
Tanugok | village elde | |
the A.P. | functionary | British? |
the S. of I. | Survey of India | (1802-1852) completed by George Everest after whom mountain is named |