Interesting Burmese word origins By Fifty Viss
A graphic I made, showing some of the linguistic diversity found in the Burmese language.
Burmese has a hodgepodge of words that come from other languages, some that would surprise most people, at least me. It’s a given that many Burmese words come from Pali (from Buddhism) or English (from colonial rule), but quite a number of words also come from obscure and seemingly unrelated languages to Burmese. I’ve compiled a list of the most interesting ones.
The Burmese word for noodles, khauk hswe (ခေါက်ဆွဲ) comes from Shan ‘khauk hswoi’. Perhaps it’s just me, but I would have expected the word to have been native in Burmese, considering how ubiquitous it is in Burmese cuisine.
The Burmese word for flag, a lan (အလံ) comes from Arabic ‘alam’. This one was shocking to me, because Arabic seems like a very unlikely language to have influenced Burmese. But I was mistaken, because Arab traders first made contact with Burma during the 1400s and their ships probably carried flags, a term not present in the Burmese language at the time.
The Burmese word for fish sauce, ngan bya yay (ငပြာရည်) comes from Thai ‘namplah’. I always thought the ngan in ngan bya yay means “salty” (because salty is ‘ngan’ in Burmese), but I found out today, for the first time, they’re spelled differently in Burmese.
The Burmese word for gun, tha nat (သေနတ်) comes from Dutch ‘snaphaan’, which is a very primitive firearm. At first thought, one would wonder how a Dutch word became incorporated into the Burmese language. However, it is because the Netherlands’ Dutch East India Company first began trading in the 1600s with lower Burma and ended in the early 1700s. With the Dutch came their guns, and thus their word for gun was incorporated in Burmese. It’s also interesting to note that in Burmese, the ‘th’ sound represents the ‘s’ sound (that’s why the Thai Songkran is Thingyan in Burmese), so back then, Burmese speakers might have said sanat.
The Burmese word for pineapple, na nat thi (နာနတ်သီး) comes from French ananas. The French were not as intimately tied in Burmese history as the British, but they apparently did make come cultural contributions. I’m assuming that the French either traded pineapples or introduced pineapple cultivation in Burma during the late 1800s (according to the Burmese government website).
The Burmese word for money, pat hsan, also pronounced paik san (ပိုက်ဆံ) comes from Hindi ‘paik sa’. I remember watching several Bollywood movies, including Taxi No. 9211 (which was a good film), where the characters constantly said ‘paik sa’ or something along those lines whenever the word ‘money’ popped up in the subtitles. Perhaps coincidence, I thought, but I was mistaken. Hindi lent Burmese the word for ‘money’, which one would assume is a very basic word. I assume that the word was probably was carried over when Burma was an British Indian province.
The Burmese word for window, ga dwin pauk (ပြာတင်းပေါက်) comes from Mon ‘batang’. This one took me by surprise, in both its spelling and its origin. I always used to wonder why people say ga dwin pauk, even though it’s spelled pya tin pauk. But I guess a lot of architectural terms, even those as basic as window, come from Mon, because Burmans adopted a lot of Mon culture.
The Burmese word for clothing or shirt, ein gyi (အင်္ကျေး) comes from Hindi ‘amgiya’. This is very interesting, because the modern Burmese longyi comes from India, the result of British colonization (beforehand, the Burmese longyi was more elaborate and looked similar to Thai sarongs). Apparently the Burmese borrowed more than the sarong from India.
The Burmese word for foot (the measurement), pay (ပေ) comes from Portuguese ‘pé’. This was absolutely shocking. Myanmar is almost an anomaly in not using the metric system for measurements. It uses a wide range of traditional measurements like peiktha and English measurements like the pound. Originally, I assumed that pay was an attempt to sound out English “foot”, because Burmese has no equivalent sound for the “f” sound and usually substitutes the “p” sound. But, it’s interesting that the Burmese word for foot actually comes from Portuguese, and I have no idea how they introduced the word into Burmese. Also interesting is the Burmese word for water fountain/water tap, bone hmaing, also pronounced bone baing (ဘုံဘိုင်), which comes from Portuguese as well.
The Burmese word for garage or warehouse, go daung (ဂိုဒေါင်) comes from Malaysian ‘godong’. I’m not sure how this word transferred into Burmese, but my guess is that during British rule, Malaysian shippers and traders who transported goods to and from Burma introduced this word into the general populace, or that because lower coastal Burma is so close to Malaysia that a few words such as garage slipped into the Burmese vocabulary.
Update: Sorry, the Zawgyi pseudo-Unicode doesn’t work on WordPress for some reason, at least for me.
Update 2: I’m using Unicode 5.1 for this. You just need to install the ပီတောက် font here: http://scripts.sil.org/Padauk.
Comments
Well, the Portuguese were as common the Bay of Bengal as the Dutch traders were. I read a lengthy article on the history of Arakan that I can’t find now, but was quite interesting and enlightening. At least during that time period, the Arakanese and Bangladeshi rulers had as much to do with Dutch and Portuguese in the area – who had settlements on some islands – as they did with the Burmans to the East. I would expect that a few Portuguese words had slipped in, and I imagine there are probably more either in Burmese or in the languages/dialects spoken around the Bay of Bengal. “Foot” was probably a common measurement back then, even if it wasn’t standardized like today. Although, there are also probably some words that just get adopted because they are easier/shorter/better sounding than the original word, and not necessarily because there was a specific need for it. American English also has lots of ‘hidden’ loan words that were brought back by soldiers during the wars. Ie. “Skosh”, is from tsukoshi – “A little bit”. We didn’t need the word, but it’s easy and fun and quickly became slang in many parts of the country.
I don’t know any Burmese, but your language posts are still interestin! It does show a lot about the history of a place.
Aung Kyaw
Thanks for all of the information. You have some very interesting comments. I really appreciate it.
I think ‘kauk’ in Burmese may have come from Tai-Shan. A friend of mine who speaks Thai said “sticky rice” is ‘kao hnyaw’ and in Burmese it’s ‘kauk hnyin,’ but I could be wrong.
And I believe Mon shares a lot of more root origins with Burmese than Tai, because they’re a lot less obvious in many instances. For example, I just recently learned that ‘sa-nit’ (method) is from Mon, which caught me by surprise.
ZAungZ
I have misplaced a research document which lists all the terms that various ethnic groups in SE Asia use in wet rice cultivation . It looked at the relationship between terms and whether this could link / confirm that the Tai-Kadai group were the original cultivators before Han expansion . There are many words that have similarity including kauk and hsan as well as sabah . It may well be that all these terms stem from Tai .
Kao is similar to the Burmese term Kauk and as you say Kauk Hnyin can be Kao Hnyaw, Kao Niew etc depending on the Tai dialect . Sticky rice certainly has its centre in Eastern Burma , Northern Thailand and North Western Laos ( the home of the “Shan” ) .
I am in no doubt that Kauk Hnyin is a Shan word . I’m just not very sure about Khauk Swe .
Aye
I doubt that ‘paik san’ (money) is derived from the Hindi ‘pehsa’. If you look at each syllable in ‘paik san’, it literally means ‘hold rice’. The inhabitants of ancient Burma would’ve used rice predominantly to barter for other essentials. So when the concept of money was eventually introduced to Burma, those notes and coins that comprised money came to be perceived as a kind of rice that can be ‘held’ and used to trade or barter.
However there are other Burmese words which are without any doubt derived from Hindi such as aloo(potato), gobi(cabbage), masala, palata(paratha), pankah(fan).
Anand
“Godown” is an indian term but not Hindi. It’s the other ethnic south-indian language. The original term is “gaḍaṅgu”.
“Ananas” for pineapple is a native american term. No wonder they have it in abundance in Hawaii.
“Longyi ” derived from Urdu lungī, from Persian, variant of lung.
The derivation of “Paik San” is obvious. Paik San, Paisa, Money, Money. You got my point. I really love the amazing creativity of the individual who posted the origin of the world so innovately.
The original word for Ein gyi is “Khamige” not ‘amgiya’ even though close enough.
New words for you.
The word “Namuna” as in trailers at the theaters is also indian “Namuna”.
I think, (nothing to back me up here), the word “Gar Wun” for frock for ladies is English “Gown”.
“Akkhaya” for alphabet is from “Akchara” org. Hindi.
That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted as I recall back.
Bay Dah
What about Potato? In Burmese we called “Ah Loo”. I think, it is from India because my friend from India also called Potatoe as “Ah Loo”.
What about “Pauk Se” in Burmese. I think from China, they call it “Pau” (Steam bun)
Also “Nan Pya” in Burmese, I think is is probably from India, Indian also called it as “Nann”(Flat Flour baked in the charcoal oven)(indian bread??)
Anand Raj
That’s right.
Aaloo(Potato) is Aaloo in Hindi.
Gawbee(Cabbage) is also Gobi in Hindi.
Nan Pya is Naan in Hindi.
Palata is obviously Paratha.
Samusa is Samosa.
Masala is Masaala.
Zeera is Jeera
To Shay(Flat Indian Pancake) is Dosa
Gari Gari(Again and Again is Gari Gari
That’s all for now.
ko
“Ta yoke” may come from chinese word “Dae ryoke” Dae=big or large
ryoke= land or country, so some chinese in myanmar use to mention China as “pyae Gyi” big country or “pyae gui pauk” who born in china.
My comment> May be Tayoke comes from Tao …”Taoism (modernly: Daoism) is a philosophical and religious tradition that emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (modernly romanized as “Dao”). The term Tao means “way”, “path” or “principle”, and can also be found in Chinese philosophies and religions other than Taoism. In Taoism, however, Tao denotes something that is both the source and the driving force behind everything that exists. It is ultimately ineffable: “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”[1] ref Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
Anand Raj–
There’s also many other words
“namuna” (sample) from Hindi ‘namuna’
“bilat” (Britain) from Hindi ‘wilayat’
“bali” (mosque) from Hindi ‘balli’
“zani” (wife) from Hindi ‘jani’
“zagana” (tweezers) from Hindi ‘jagana’
“malaing” (cheese) from Hindi ‘mala’
“muli” (bolts) from Hindi ‘muli’
Aung Kyaw
Bodomar –
Laphet might actually be Burmese. I know that ‘phet’ is another synonym for ‘ywet’ (leaf). But I’m not 100% sure about it.
Thagya is from Sanskrit, not Pali, but since the ‘s’ sound became a ‘th’ sound in Burmese (but, as Yadana [below] said, ‘tha’ (the letter) is still pronounced ‘sa’ in Dawei. That’s why Burmese ‘Thingyan’ (spelled ‘Sangkran’ (tha+nga+a-that + ka-gyi+ya-yit+na+a-that) is ‘Songkran’ in Thai, because the Burmese, Thai, Mon, Cambodian, Lao, etc. alphabets all originate from the same alphabet that Indian languages like Hindi use. Also, we can still see that the letter ‘tha’ still acts sort of as an ‘s’ sound when British is spelled in Burmese: ‘bri-ti-sha’ (with the sha spelled ‘tha+ya-pin+ha-hto’, and the ‘th’ becomes an ‘sh’ sound).
As for ‘wati,’ I know that Ayeyawadi comes from the name of a Hindu god ‘Iravati,’ so I did a little research and found that the root ‘vati’ (Burmese ‘wati’ ) is Sanskrit and means ‘flowing’ (http://vedabase.net/v/vati). So my guess is that Ayeyawadi means ‘flowing elephant river,’ (because Ayeya, or Erawan as the Thais call it, is an mythical elephant) Hanthawadi means ‘flowing hintha river’ and Myawadi means ‘flowing emerald river.’
And for spelling reform, of keeping or making obsolete the ‘r’ sound, I personally think that we should retain it, so we can trace word origins more easily. For example, although most Burmese pronounce jewel ‘yadana’ instead of Pali ‘ratana’ (which Thai uses), it’s more helpful for people to know the origins. Mon does have an “r” sound. Spelling reforms, however are common in Burmese language history. Until the 1600s, standard Burmese had a ‘la-hswe’ (just like the ‘wa-hswe’, except with the ‘l’ sound), when it was replaced with ‘ya-yit’ and ‘ya-pin’. Imagine people still pronouncing words like ‘kyaung’ (school) like ‘klaung.’ But isolated Burmese groups like the Dawei have retained these features in their dialects.
Yadana-
Thanks for the information.
It does make sense, though that the Dawei still have preserved the ‘la-hswe’ so that words like pyan become plan, because that was reformed in standard Burmese spelling in the 1600s, when the Dawei were geographically isolated from central Burma. The glottal stops that have become open vowels also makes sense. Many related languages like Shanghainese have undergone the same thing, and I expect the glottal stop will slowly disappear in the Burmese language (Burmese words were once pronounced completely, so words like ‘loke’ (work) were ‘loup’, now pronounced ‘lohh’ ) and people in the younger generation are now putting less emphasis on glottal stops.
Aung Kyaw
Yadana –
wall = nanyan = flank + to surround = “flank that surrounds”
ship = thinbaw = Sanskrit loan
furniture = paribawga = pari + bawga (wealth) = Pali loan
ladah/lindah = vulture = commonly prefixed to bird names + call = “bird who calls”
dada (tanta) = bridge = water + obstruct = “obstructing water”
daga = door = rod + waist= “??”
hluttaw = parliament = release + royal = “royal release” (referring to thatministers release the king from some duties)
thantaman = diplomat = embassy + messenger = “messenger of the embassy”
I’m not sure about hleyatsit (did you mean hlesitdat), bagyi (pan refers to one of 10 Burmese classical arts, pan se myo), pahso or htamein, both of which may not be native Burmese words. Kalay (child) may be Mon, a lot of words that start with ka originate from Mon but are indistinguishable as loans. This may explain why many Burmese say “khalay” instead of “kalay” except for the town of Kalay.
Vaikom Madhu
The equivalent of Godown in Malayalam, a south-Indian (Kerala State) language is Gudam. See the similarity.
But the Hindi word for money is Paisa. It is used throught India as equivalent to cash.
‘sit’ may be derived from Sudh (Pure), a Sankrit word migrated to other Indian languages.
Vaikom Madhu, Kottayam, Kerala, S.India
Aung Kyaw
Thant Myint-U writes in several of his books that the Burmese word for “Chinese” (tayoke) is a Burmese corruption of “Turk,” perhaps stemming from the fact that Mongol Turks (the Yuan dynasty) invaded Bagan in the late 1200s.
Wagaung
I rather doubt that since Turk is in English and Burmese call them Tu-ra-ki same as the country Turkey. The Mongol army that invaded Bagan was called Taruk later Tayoke. Did they call themselves Turk?
Ian Ison
Turanians, not Turks – whence Turanki. This is a Zoroastrian Persian descriptor of the barbarian nomad infidels of the Central Asian steppe. Its original usage is very ancient and it is surprising to hear it applied to the Mongols – unless Persian / Parsee trade influence in Burma at this time is stronger that we suspect.
Dho-ong Jhaan
Mon say ‘preng-sit’ for ‘French’ or ‘Francaise’. It’s spelled pa-zout r-rit nga-that: preng, tha-way-htoh tha ta-that: sit so ‘preng-sit’. That might be a gap between Burmese ‘pyinthit’ and French ‘francaise’! In his well-known novel, Thu-kyun-ma-khan-pyi, Tekkatho Pon Naing used ‘paransit’ for ‘French’ or ‘France’.
Mary
In hindi phiringi means outsider (foriegner).
in malyalam sharkara (sugar) sounds similar to thakara.
lungi is also lungi in malayalam.
it is interesting to see how words migrated and got metamorphized in different places.