The Lepcha-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary

The Lepcha-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary
Second Edition


The indigenous Lepchas are constantly demanding for the introduction of Lepcha language in schools and colleges for their children as a subject in the Darjeeling Hills, West Bengal, for the last 60 (sixty) years or so but, unfortunately, the basic human rights to education in their own mother tongue enshrined in the Constitution of India have been denied to them even in the 21st Century. Undeterred, the indigenous Lepchas of Darjeeling Hills, West Bengal, have opened up 40 (forty) Lepcha Night Schools on their own and have prepared and published the necessary Lepcha text books from Primary to Higher Secondary Education levels for the Lepcha children in order to preserve and foster the very rich and ancient Lepcha language, literature and culture. We felt it necessary to update and bring out the second edition of ‘Lepcha- English Encyclopaedic Dictionary’, compiled and written by Aathing K. P. Tamsang, at this crucial juncture to show as a sign of our strength.

Additional Lepcha words connected with ‘Mun’ and ‘Boongthing’, Lepcha priestesses and priests, respectively and indigenous Lepcha herbal medicinal plants have been incorporated into the dictionary in the second edition. Some Lepcha words accidently left out in the first edition are now included in the second edition.

Ren Dup Shuzong Lepcha, Renue Marmit Lepcha, Miss Claire Innes, Miss Deirdre Westgeest, Miss Bridget May, Miss Catherine Mitchell and Mr. Alastair Couldrey all read drafts and offered many useful suggestions for improvement. The success of this monumental work owe a great deal to the people mentioned above and I am very grateful to them for their contributions.

Lyangsong Tamsang
Editor
Second Edition
Lepcha-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary

3 October 2009

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Lepcha mythology says that the Lepcha language is the language of God, the language of Fodong Thing and Nazaong Nyoo, the first creation of God and the primogenitor of Lepcha race and therefore, it is the sweetest and oldest language of the world.

Lieutenant General G.B.Mainwaring, Bengal Staff Corps, the one and only westerner who thoroughly mastered the Lepcha language and, to this day, remains unsurpassed and supreme amongst foreigners on the Lepcha language and literature, in his Preface and Introduction and Remarks of ‘A Grammar of the Rong (Lepcha) Language’ in 1876 he wrote -

“Of the Lepcha language, I cannot speak too highly. The simple and primitive state in which the Lepchas lived is admirably shown by it. Their peaceful and gentle character is evinced by their numerous terms of tenderness and compassion, and by the fact that not one word of abuse exists in their language. Nevertheless, the language itself is most copious, abounding in synonyms and possessing words to express every slightest change, every varying shade of meaning, it admits of a flow and power of speech which is wonderful, and which renders it capable of giving expression to the highest degree of eloquence. The language also attests the astonishing knowledge possessed by the Lepchas. Of all the inconceivable diversity of trees with which the hills and dales are covered; of all the almost incalculable variety of plants and flowers with which the forests are filled; the Lepchas can tell you the names of all; they can distinguish at a glance the difference in the species of each genus of plants, which would require the skill of a practised botanist to perceive, and this information and nomenclature extends to beasts, to birds, to insects and to everything around them; animate or inanimate; without instructions, they seem to acquire their knowledge by institution alone.

It is impossible that a people with a language so comprehensive, with manners, though primitive, so superior, as to entitle them to rank high among civilised nations, could be engendered amidst the wild and vastness of the Himalayas. They retained, in so marked a degree, all the simple ways and habits of the partriarchs of old, as to lead to the conclusion, that they must have remained isolated ever since such customs were in vogue.

The Lepcha language is a monosyllabic and di-syllabic one and is unquestionably a very ancient language. It is preeminently an Ursprache, being probably, and I think, I may, without fear of mis-representation, state it to be, the oldest language in existence. It is a most comprehensive and beautiful one, and regarded alone, as a prolific source of derivations and etyma of words; it is invaluable to the philological world. It, however, recommends itself to us on higher grounds; it possesses and plainly evinces the principle and motive on which all language is constructed’.

The Lepcha language is formed in a syllabic manner, in which letters, vowels, finals, and circumflex signs are combined and arranged in alphabetical order, forming syllables and comprehending all the forms that words in the Lepcha language can take. It is called Lazaong, literally meaning syllabic scheme. Each Lepcha alphabet when joined with consonants, with vowels, with finals and circumflex signs affixed, will give 7180 monosyllabic words. Lepcha language is essentially a monosyllabic language, for though it has words of more than one syllable, these are words which are formed by compounds of two different words, or by the same words reduplicated or connected by an epentheses, or by certain prefixed or suffixed syllables common to many words; which may be abscindable or inabscindable, commutable or immutable, according to the nature of the words. By addition of these particles, the sense of the word may be completely altered, or may remain unchanged, may be slightly modified, or may be transmuted from verb to substantive or to adjective. Thus, if the order of the scheme be carried out to its full, with the syllable prefixed or suffixed to each word, it will give 5,32,800 di-syllabic words alone, all of which can be used and expressed in Lepcha language. Also there are hundreds of tri-syllabic words in the Lepcha language. And therefore it will not be an exaggeration to say that the Lepcha language is the richest language in the universe though spoken by over 100,000 Lepchas only.

In the structure of the Lepcha language, I have discovered the system on which, I considered, all language is based. By an exegesis which I have, in part, prepared, the root and true significance of all words in all languages, are, at once, rendered apparent.

Observe the Lepcha word MO, a particle of magnitude, with the Latin suffix word-super-mo, extre-mo, pri-mo, ulti-mo and also with the Saxon MO, as in more, most, etc. This MO is simply the basic M, with the vowel O affixed.

In Lepcha the letter M, forms a number of verbs-is, am, was; it means also, to pray, to create, to make, hence

Lepcha MO-AMO = mother

Hebrew AM = a mother

English AM = being

Anglo-Indian AMA = a nurse, esp. a wet nurse

Latin A-MO = love, makes

In Tibetan, M represents an indefinite article-a, an = being, matter hence mother.

Arabic MA = water, semen-hence a mother

Persian MA = we (beings)

Lepcha MO = a female sex

Chinese MO = mother

Saxon MODER = mother

Latin MATER = a womb, a mulicar, a genetrix- productive force flowing from MATER: the production source - Mother.

Dutch MOEDER = mother

German MUTTER = mother

Icelandic MODHIR = mother

Hindi MATA = mother

Sanskrit MATAR = mother

The word man is a compound of above creative M with the basic formative N, flowing with primitive force, hence MAN.

Chinese MIN = men simply signifies the creative being emphatically, above all other AM-MA = mother

It was formerly, like the Lepcha MARO applied to either sex, as HE-MEN, SHE-MEN, etc, so also WOMEN (root, Lepcha W = to be worthy, worth, primative)

Saxon WA = sorrow, we in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.

Sanskrit W = weave

Saxon WEFAN = to weave, wif = a woman, a wife, a weaver.

so Lepcha WOMOO = a spindle, a spinning wheel-symbolised flow of life, and work of a woman.

Saxon WER = a man, the primitive flow of W is applied to the male.

The same word of MAN is seen flowing with primitive force in the:

Lepcha MAN = to want, to be minus, to be less, adverb-no, not

Sanskrit MA = no, not, none.

Hebrew MAN = to refuse, to deny

Arabic MAN = to forbid

Saxon MAN = sin, evil

Latin MAN = mal, malus, bad, wrongful

We have it again with primitive power in:

Sanskrit MAN = honour

In Latin we find MO as suffix to HO. HOMO signifying man.

In Chinesew HO is radical and implying a primitive flow:

Ho = to breathe forth

Ho = air

Ho = fire

Ho = sound

Ho = river

Ho = good

Ho = to unite

Ho = grain (the support of life)

Ho = blood (the flow of life)

So Arabic HO = He is (the being)

Hebrew HOA = he (the being)

Arabic HOA = the air (the spirit)

Hindi HOA = was (the being)

Take the examples of ‘H’ in the pronouns (the pronouns primitively, representing the first being)

Lepcha HO = thou, you (the being)

Lepcha HU = he

Saxon and English HE (the being)

Lepcha HUSA = of him, his

Saxon and English HIS (the being)

Inflection, Lepcha HUM = to him

Saxon and English HUM = him

Arabic HUM = of the persons

Sanskrit HUM = we

Saxon HWAM = whom

Lepcha A-YOU = you

Saxon EOW = you

English YE = you

Lepcha HU = he

Saxon HEO = they

Inflective Lepcha HUYUM = them

Saxon HEOM = them

Saxon HIRA = of them (relatively of being)

Comparatively, Saxon HEAH = high

HIERA = higher (appertaining to the beings the gods)

Latin HERES = the heir, the successor

German HERR = honorific for man

Saxon HERRA = a lord

Latin HEROS = a hero (emphatically a man, a being)

So we have Arabic MAI = implying extension

Sanskrit MAHA = great (high flow in life)

In the HO language, Ho means a man. In Lepcha Ho means you (a being, a man.)

In Lepcha word MARO is seen flowing with primitive force;

Hebrew MARA = erect (as man) , high, exalted

Chaldean MARA = a great man

Arabic MIR = a prince, a lord

English MODER = a mother

Latin MARIS = a lake

French MER = a sea (whence the waters, the spirits flow and return)

Hindi MERA = mine (the lords)

Compare also Lepcha MARO, with the Latin word MAS (of or belonging to the being) dropping the ‘R’ and resuming it again in the inflection MARIS, whence MARS, MARTIAL, etc. So also MOS, of appertaining to the way of man = death.

Persian MARA = man

MURDAH = Life flown = death

English MURDER

Note also Lepcha MARUM = The allotted period of life, likewise MARE an evil spirit of great malignity.

Sanskrit MAR = whose influence is fatal

Sanskrit MARU = a desert, without water = without spirit or life.

English MAR = to ruin, to deface

So also Lepcha M = negative, privative, not, without.

Tibetan M = not

Persian MUR = dead

Hebrew MUR = dead

Arabic MO = death, repose and

Lepcha MAK = dead

All these observations, comparisons and facts presented above alone justify publishing this new Lepcha-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary.

The Lepcha-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary is a record of Lepcha language prepared by me to meet the essential needs of the Lepcha reader, speaker and writer who want to know the meaning of a word, how to pronounce it, how to spell it, or some important facts of usage. The LEED is the current usage of the Lepcha language.

The LEED, however, differs from other similar dictionaries in many important particulars. Linguists have made significant advances in the study of language and psychologists have developed techniques of presenting facts which have been neglected by dictionaries prepared today on the same general principles they used one hundered years ago. In order to ensure that the LEED would be carefully planned in accordance with the current knowledge of Lepcha scholars in various fields of Lepcha language study, I secured the service of many Lepcha experts, representing the fields of general linguistics, usage, phonetics, pronunciation and definiton.

This LEED records the usage of the speakers and writers of the Lepcha language, no dictionary founded on the methods of modern scholarship can prescribe as to usage; it can only inform on the basis of facts of usage. A good dictionary is a guide to usage as a good map tells you of the nature of terrain over which you may want to travel. It is not the function of the dictionary-maker to tell you how to speak, any more than it is the function of the map-maker to move rivers and rearrange mountains or fill in lakes. A dictionary should tell you what is commonly accepted usage and wherein different classes of speakers or regions differ in their use of language. I have taken special plans to give accurate records of the distribution of usage so far as I can determine it.

As far as synonym studies, the Lepcha language abounds in synonyms, yet numerous words bear many various meanings, both simple and in combination with other words, effecting great play and power of speech.

For example, the word mDa giving some of its significations: mDa = to do, mDa = to effect, mDa = to suppose, mDa = to make a habit of; mDa = used as in subsatantive, for a thing or action; mDa = only; mDa = till, until; mDa = in addition to, including; mDa = as well as; mDa = sexual relations, intercourse.

All facts have been arranged in the easiest possible fashion for the user. All entries are in one alphabetical list; the reader will not have to look in half a dozen lists to find the entry. All inflected forms of verbs, nouns, etc,. in which the stem is changed in anyway by the addition of a suffix have been entered in this LEED. All definitions are completely explained and clarified. Central or common meanings are put first. I have tried to give the most significant facts, location, or significance of names about each person, thing, place having importance today.

No illustrations have been given as aids to the definitions. Also no pictures of common birds, flowers, fishes, butterflies, etc., have been given as that can be of value only when shown in colour or in magnified detail.

The original plan of the LEED, was drawn up by Mr. Lyangsong Tamsang and also he had the task of seeing the work through the press and to him I am deeply indebted.

It is impossible adequately to thank all who have helped in the co-operative project of writing the LEED, but I am especially grateful to Mr. D. T. Tamsang for his many helpful suggestions and criticisms at the early stages of the LEED preparation which have materially improved the LEED.

It is not possible to make more than a general acknowledgment of the help received from many quarters, but I would like to express particular thanks to the following for their help on specialised and technical matters: Miss J. Tamsang, Mr. Samdup Tshering Simick and Mr. Ongdup Lepcha.

I also owe thanks to the following contributors and advisors for their kind hard work : Mr. Dup Shuzong Tamsang and Chuling Lepcha.

It is my pleasant duty to say my sincere thanks to Mrs. Mayel Clymit Tamsang for her generous grant to make the publication of the LEED possible.

Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Parasmani Pradhan and the staff of the Mani Printing Press, Kalimpong, in particular their Compositor, Mr. Pem Tshering Lepcha, for the great care they have bestowed in printing the LEED. It is hoped that the LEED will help to meet the long felt need of the Lepchas for this kind of work.

Bom, Kalimpong.

December 1980 K.P. Tamsang

AATHING K.P. TAMSANG

Aathing K.P. Tamsang, a distinguished Lepcha scholar and linguist, was born in Kalimpong on 19 January 1915 and was the son of Aathing Sando Tshering Tamsang, the Foundar-President of the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, Headquarters Kalimpong. He was educated in S.U.M.I, Kalimpong. In the late 1940s he was selected as the General Secretary of the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, and held the appointment until the early 1950s when he was selected to work in the Oriental and African Studies, the School of London, in the study of the Lepcha language and literature.

On his return from London, Aathing K.P. Tamsang resumed the appointment of the General Secretary of the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, and devoted his time and energy to the development of the Lepcha language, literature and culture. The following books of his written in both Lepcha and English have been published:

1. A Grammar of the Lepcha Language (1978) (in Lepcha)
2. The Lepcha English Encyclopaedic Dictionary -1980 (First Edition)
3. Lazoang (1982) (a Lepcha syllabic scheme) (in Lepcha)
4. The Unknown and Untold Reality about the Lepchas-1983.
5. Lepcha Proverbs - 1996 (in Lepcha)
6. Lepcha Myths-1996 (in Lepcha)
7. Lepcha Folklore-1997 (in Lepcha)
8. Lepcha Proverbs with their English Equivalents -1998
9. Rong Taom Sung- 1999 (A Treasure of the Lepcha Moral Stories)(in Lepcha)
10. Pho-yu saa Chha-lyu aan Thaambik saa Sakdum - 1999 (Birds and Insects World)(in Lepcha)
11. Rong Sung- 2001 (Lepcha Folk Tales) (in Lepcha)
12. Glossary of Lepcha Medicinal Plants -2004 (Lepcha-English)

The following books of his remain to be published:

1. Trees, Shrubs and Large Climbers found in the Darjeeling District and Sikkim (Lepcha- English)

2. Letters to a Lepcha Son (in English)

Aathing K.P. Tamsang was elected the President of the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, in early 1970s and worked and wrote for the cause of the Lepcha people of Maayel Lyaang until his death in Gangtok, Sikkim, on 23 September 1985.

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