“Leng” in Lushai means “to stroll,” and “lengba” in Manipuri means “to walk,” but is only used of important personages who would be likely to move slowly and in a dignified manner.
In Lushai “shāt” means “to cut,” but as a Lushai’s house consists of timber and bamboos, he always uses “shāt” when he speaks of building a house, and we find “sha” in Thado and “sāba” in Manipuri mean “to make,” “to build.”
In Lushai the verb “ni,” “to be,” is conjugated completely, but in Manipuri “ni” means “is” and has no other tenses.
| Manipuri: | Ma | ai-gi | i nau | ni. |
| Lushai: | Ama | ka | nau | a ni. |
| English: | He | my | younger | brother he is. |
The following comparative vocabulary gives in the first two columns the Thado and English words as given by Mr. Hodson. The first word in the column of remarks is always Lushai, and where it has not exactly the same meaning as the Thado word the correct meaning is given; then follow, where necessary, the equivalents in other dialects.
About one word in every three given in Mr. Hodson’s vocabulary has been found to resemble closely the Lushai word having the same or a similar meaning. Mr. Hodson’s vocabulary has no pretensions to be a complete dictionary of the Thado language. Were such available I believe the number of similar words in the two dialects would be found to be even greater. As regards the Old Kuki dialects the information available is not sufficient to make a thorough comparison. It is clear that they are very closely allied to Lushai and Thado and to each other. The connection between Manipuri and what Dr. Grierson calls the Chin languages will, I believe, be found on further enquiry to be closer than at first appears.
[1] Clans marked * are not dealt with in this monograph. [↑]