NOTES.
Here we have a narrative of a more complex character than that of the first story, with a richer vocabulary, and abounding in the descriptive adverbial particles which are the main feature of the language.
Jàngrē, orphan: sō is a diminutive particle. Jàngrē indicates that one parent is dead; jàngrèng is used when neither survives.
Inut, a loan-word from the Khasi ngut, used for the enumeration of persons: in Mikir initial ng is inadmissible.
Hèm-ēpī, widow, literally, “sole mistress of the house” (hèm); the syllable ē is perhaps a thinning down of ā; pī is the feminine affix, here of dignity.
Āchèklè, brother, used only by a woman speaking of her brothers; īk is used by both sexes; mār, collective particle, used to form plurals: often ātum is added; kòrtē, brother; both kòr and tē separately may be used for either brother or sister; bàng, the class-word used for human beings before numerals.
Do, a verb meaning to stay, dwell, exist; specially, it has the meaning “to live with as a wife,” and is the correlative of èn, “to take (to wife).”
Ārnī-kàngsàm, “day-becoming-cool-time,” the late afternoon. As is natural where there are no clocks, the divisions of the day are marked by other means than the count of hours. Ārnī is a day (or sun), regarded without reference to the lapse of time = French jour; ānērlo is a day’s space = journée. Similarly, ājō is a night, jīrlo a night’s space. The first indication of coming day is vo-khu ē-thē, “first cock-crow”; then follows vo-khu thē-nī, “second cock-crow,” and vo-khu thē-thòm, “third cock-crow”; then thē-àng prinprē-lē, “just before dawn”; then ādàp kàng-thàng, dawn (ādàp, general word for morning); then nērlo-chitīm, “day-middle,” noon; then ārnī thē-lēlo, “the sun at its height”; then ārnī-kàngsàm, “the sun becoming cool,” afternoon; then ingting lim-rim, or ingting-rim, dusk. Then begins ājō, night, when the evening meal is taken, after which soon comes the first sleep, àn-chō mèk-bur, “rice-having-eaten eye-close”; then jīrlo chitīm, midnight.
Nàng-, a particle used, prefixed to verbs, to give vividness, is really the pronoun of the 2nd person singular, emphasis being given by referring the verb to the person addressed. Nàng at the end of the phrase is the verb of necessity = must; it often means “let us do this or that.”
Pàt, as a noun, is a stone dam or fence, put across a stream with an opening in the middle in which the bamboo cage or fish-trap, rū, is placed; as a verb, it means to build such a dam or fence; dū means to place a thing so that it will catch or intercept something else.
Làng, water, stream: làng-thàk up-stream, lāng-bēr down-stream.
Che- prefixed to verbs gives them a reflexive meaning, and indicates that the action relates to the subject; hèm che-voi-lo, “he went home, to his own house”; che-pu-lo, “they said to one another”; rū che-vàt-dàm-lo, “they went to inspect their own fish-trap.”
Chikung, a cray-fish; chikàng is an imitative sequent; similarly phàng-ō, carelessly, is followed by phàng-ā.
Jàng, as a verb, means to fill up, or, of the containing vessel, to hold—òk-kejang ā-rū, “fish-to-hold-trap.” Notice that òk means both fish and flesh; alone, it has usually the former meaning, or that of game, animals hunted; when joined to the name of an animal, the latter: chainòng-ā-òk, beef; phàk-ā-òk, pork; bī-ā-òk, goat’s flesh.
Tèng and plèng both mean to be full: sèt is a particle added to strengthen the verb, taking the place of the tense-affix.
Ādàp-vàng, “every morning”; literally, “as (each) morning came.” Che-rai-vēr-lo; here che- is the reflexive particle, rai a verb, to occupy, take up, vēr a particle indicating continuance, lo the tense-affix; the whole therefore means “they kept on taking up for themselves.”
Dū-tekàng-kē-dèt-sī; dū, verb, to place, set; tekàng, a verb, to leave, depart; kē, negative syllable, reduplicated from last syllable of tekàng, dèt, particle of past time, sī affix of conjunctive participle; the whole therefore means “not having placed and left,” “without setting up at all.”
Ējòn: jòn is the class word for animals, as bàng is for persons, used with numerals; ē- is the prefix for “one”; the other numerals follow—phàk jòn-nī, jòn-thòm, two, three pigs.
Māthā thèk-thē: māthā, verb, to think, imagine; thèk, verb, to be able (also to see); thē negative affix: the whole therefore means “as could not be imagined”; jādi-thèk-thē is a doublet of the same meaning. Àn-pin: àn, particle of quantity; pin up to; also tik; àn-pin or àn-tik therefore means “to such a degree.”
Ākèng ē-hòng: ā its (the calf’s), kèng, leg, ē-, one (as before), hòng class-word for enumerating parts of the body; hā, particle indicating distance; Lā, this, hā-lā, that: lā-dàk, here, hā-dàk, there.
Tèkē-nàng-kòrdut-pī ā-osō: tèkē, “tiger”; nàng, particle of vividness, or, possibly, “you”; kòr, verb, to bite, dut, particle strengthening the verb and dispensing with tense-affix, pī syllable used in abuse, ā- syllable of relation, osṓ boy: the substantive being put last indicates that the verb is to be taken passively: “you tiger-bitten scoundrel of a boy!” As the Mikirs consider that to be eaten by a tiger is conclusive evidence of the wickedness of the victim, the phrase is equivalent to “you wicked wretch of a boy!”
Nàng peklàng thèk-sēr mā-sī: nàng, “you,” klàng, verb, “to see, observe”; pe-, causative particle, so that peklàng means “to show, to produce”; thèk, verb, to be able, sēr strengthening particle, “fully”; mā, syllable used for direct or indirect questions: dojī-mā? “will you marry me?” Nàng pēsō èn-tàng-mā? “have you taken a wife?”; then, for alternatives, do-jī-mā do-dē-mā? “will you marry him or not?”; and lastly, as here, “if you are not able to produce—then,” etc.; sī, affix of conjunctive participle, properly a locative particle.
Dei, “very good,” a loan-word from Khasi. Tàng-tē, “then,”—properly “not having finished”; tàng is the verb meaning to be ended, completed, tē the negative syllable.
Vung-dàm-phlut inghoi-lo. This periphrastic construction, in which inghoi, to do, is used to strengthen the verb, seems to be borrowed from Assamese; many examples occur further on.
Pō-ārnàm-pō! a honorific form of address; pō, literally, “father,” but used also of a son (cf. the Hindustani bābā) ārnàm, God (Ass. dēutā), pō, big, honourable. For a girl the corresponding phrase is pē-ārnàm-pī. Dohòn, Assamese dhòn (dhan), wealth, money; notice that the dh is resolved by the insertion of a vowel; similarly, further on, bahār occurs for bhār (Ass.), a load; neither dh nor bh is used in purely Mikir words.
Tòn, hotòn, one of the numerous words for basket. Tàng-hō, a word used by a messenger to express the wish of him who sent him to ask for something: not used in other phrases. Tòn pī kànghoi-ī-jī-nē “the basket for the purpose of doing what is?” Pī, what, kànghoi, infinitive, to do, -ī syllable added to indicate purpose, jī affix of future, nē, particle of enquiry, an Assamese loan-word. Làng-dun-tòn-thā: làng, verb, to look, dun, verb, to go with, to be with, tòn, verb, to peep, pry, thā, imperative particle. Tèng, to measure, with a vessel of known contents; originally, to fill (see above, tèngsèt = plèngsèt). Konàt-tòng kelòng-dàm-lo-nē: konàt, where: tòng, a particle expressing uncertainty: “where on earth did he get it”? Sai-sē “in order to”; “he really (chinàm) has to use a basket in order to measure this mass of money!” Thòn, to return a thing borrowed. Vàng-thā-tu tàng-hō-pō: notice the use of pō, father, as a respectful address, by the mother to her son; so also the uncles address their nephew respectfully with nàng-lī. Nànglī-tum-nē-kithū-pī-pèt āchainòng: notice the string of descriptive words prefixed adjectivally to the noun: this is an excellent example of the manner in which Mikir deals with what in English would be a relative sentence—“the cow of mine which you put to death by cutting her up”; literally, “by-you-my-killed-and-cut-up cow.” Thū, to kill by cutting; pī, here a verb meaning to cut a large mass (see note to preceding story, p. 94); pèt adverbial supplement indicating completeness.
Chetàng-tē, “It is not enough”: che, reflexive particle, tàng, verb, to complete, finish; tē, negative: literally, “it does not finish our business, it does not do all we want.” Che-hàng-jō: hàng, to call out, summon; che, as before, indicates that they all called out together; jō is one of the particles used to indicate plurality; others (which will be found further on) are jàm and krei. Làng, an auxiliary verb which seems to indicate continuousness, to go on being or doing. Observe that -tē is used to indicate the two parts of a conditional sentence: chainòng ā-òk jòr-dàm-tē, èn-jī làng-tē “if we go selling cow’s flesh, they will go on taking it.” In chainòng-do-ō-pārā, ō is a syllable indicating multitude, perhaps another form of òng; pārā is a loan-word from Assamese. Ābàng-phū, “each one”; also ābàng-phū-īsī (used further on); phū means “head,” īsī “one”; the latter is used in bāmòn-pō-ròng-īsī in the sense of “the whole,” “as one man.” Ā-rī-kòk-krei-sī: ā-rī “their hands,” kòk, verb, “to tie with a noose,” krei, particle of plurality. Kātirvā, “to offer for sale,” a loan-word from Khasi (tyrwa). Ē-ke-chōbei, “us he has cheated,” ē- is the pronoun of the first person plural including the person addressed. Notice the doublets—ēchainòng ēhaidi “our cattle,” ērèng ē-hu, “our skins” (hu, “hide, bark of a tree”), and observe how ē- is prefixed to each part of the sentence. Ātum chibūsī: tum is here a bamboo basket in which to carry a load on the back; bū, “to plait or weave.” Hèm mē-kechō “the house that had been eaten (chō) by fire (mē)”; hum, to pick up, collect. Phēlō means both “ashes” and “cotton.” Ārju-lòng-sī, “having got (lòng) to hear (ārju).” Ārju means both “to hear” and “to ask.”
Chi-hī-rī-thā, chi reflexive particle; hī, verb, “to rub in”; rī particle for the negative imperative, “do not”; thā, ordinary imperative affix, which may be dispensed with when the negative particle is used. Thā! “wait”! loan-word from Assamese. Tàn-mu-chòt: mu is the comparative particle, “more,” chòt is the constant suffix to mu; tàn, a verb, to be severe, burdensome. Chu-āphàn, “than last time:” āphàn is the postposition of comparison = “than.” Lòng-dàm-ō-lo “have you got so much more”: ō is, as before,the particle of multitude. Kedòr-dē: dòr, “to suffice, be enough”; dē negative syllable; hàng-jō, “they cried in crowds” (jō, particle of plurality). Ong-ē-dèt; òng “much,” particle of quantity; ē, negative; dèt tense-suffix. Thē-dung “big”; ke-thē great, dung particle; on its addition the ke- is dropped.
Hābīt, “in the jungle,” locative of Assamese hābī, forest. It is noticeable that many, if not most, Assamese nouns borrowed by Mikir are taken over in the locative case (of which the final t is the proper ending in Assamese), as here: thus dèt, “country” = Ass. dēh; munīt, “man” = Ass., muni; nòrokòt, hell = Ass. nòròk. Konānē “some one or other,” Ass. loan-word. Kemē-pu “she is so lovely!” mē, “to be fair, beautiful,” pu, literally, “saying.” Èn-tu: here èn, “take,” has the special sense of “take to wife, marry” (see what is said of do, ante, p. 95); tu, one of the signs of the imperative mood, is perhaps borrowed from the Khasi to. Bòntā, “but,” perhaps a Khasi loan-word. Àn-hēlo-mā, a difficult expression to translate: àn “so much,” particle of quantity; hēlo “far”; mā particle of questioning; it might be rendered “how are you getting on?” literally “thus-far-what”? But it is also used in the answer to the question: àn-hēlo there seems to mean “all right”—“so far so good.” Tō-tàngtē; tō is a Khasi loan-word: in that language it is used in answer to a question to express assent = “very well.” Vār-chuī, “to throw into water,” “drown”: so also nīm-chuī. It seems possible that chuī here may be an old word for water, corresponding to the Tibetan chhu. Che-pindèng “having put on himself”: pindèng, “to put on,” is an Assamese loan-word. Kithī-jī kālī: the use of jī, the particle of the future, seems anomalous here: possibly the phrase means “he is not going to die, not looking as if he were going to die;” kālī is the emphatic separate negative. Dōlā, “a palanquin,” Ass. loan-word. Ke-phā-dun-pār: phā, verb, to send a message: dun, verb, to be with: pār intensive particle, “urgently.” Nàngkelō “they have sent”: lō is a verb, “to send a thing,” while toi means “to send a person.” Sēr, gold; it is remarkable that the Tibetan word (gsēr, pronounced sēr) is used for this object of culture both in Khasi (ksiar) and Mikir, and not the Assamese (sōn, hōn); for silver, on the other hand, the Aryan rūp is in general use. Lut-dàm-īk-nòn; lut, verb, “enter,” dàm, verb, “go”; īk, honorific address = “elder brother” (though he is speaking to his maternal uncles); nòn imperative particle. Note the doubling of the verb ràk-dun-hèt-lo to indicate repetition of the action in the case of each person.
Nòksèk-lē. The nòksèk (see plan of Mikir house at p. 8) is the part of the house where the food (àn, cooked rice) is placed as an offering to the Manes. Dèng, “to place a share, leave a share”; pī “give”; īk honorific (as above); krei particle of multitude = “for each one.” Mòn-duk-lo, Assamese loan-words (mon, mind, heart, dukh, grief). Làng-un-ē-ābàng “a person who cannot (un-ē) look on (làng) another (for envy).”