United States or Kyrgyzstan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


Mon, kni, gni; Stieng, ko'nei; Bahnar, kone; Khasi, khnai. Swine. Bahnar niung is evidently Khasi 'niang, the abbreviated form of sniang. Tiger. Mon, kla; Stieng, klah; Bahnar, kla; Khmêr, khla and Khasi, khla are evidently the same. With this compare the Kol kula, kula, kula. Bird.

It will be seen from the collections of words that follow how Khasi possesses many words in common with Mon or Talaing, Khmêr, Suk, Stieng, Bahnar, Annam, Khamen-Boram, Xong, Samre, Khmu, Lemet, Palaung, and Wa. There is some correspondence, although perhaps to a lesser degree, between Khasi and the Ho-Munda languages and those of Malacca and the Nancowry language of the Nicobar Islands.

Mon, snam; Annam, nam; Stieng, so'nam; Bahnar, sandm; Khasi, snem. Lightning: Mon, l'li; Khasi, leilih. Stone, Rock. Mon, tma, k'maw; Stieng, to'mâu; Bahn, tmo, temo; Khmêr, thma; Xong, tmo; Palaung, mau; Ba, maou; Khasi, maw; Wa, hsi-mo, hsi-mao. Water. Probably the Stieng um, to bathe, can be connected with the Khasi word for water. Sea, pond, or tank Khmêr, ping; Khasi, pung. Rice.

The word ka or kha runs through the following languages: Mon, Stieng, Bahnar, Annam, Khmu, Lemet, Palaung, Wa; and if we cut off the first syllable of the Khasi word for fish, dohkha, we find 'kha, which is the same word as in the languages above mentioned, with an aspirate added. The Khasi doh merely means flesh, and the word dokkha is very frequently abbreviated, cf. 'kha saw, 'kha iong. Crab.

Xong ruko is in Palaung rekao, sakao, or takao. Dog. The common word for this animal will be found to be nearly the same in sound in many of these languages, e.g. Suk. cho; Stieng, sou; Bahnar, ko, cho; Annam, cho; Xong, tcho; Mi, khmu; Lemet, so; Palaung, tsao, hsao; Khasi; ksew. The Mon khluiw is the same as the Khasi ksew, if l is changed into s. Rat, mouse.

Bahnar, hangai; Annam, ngai; Khmêr, chhngay; Lemet, sngay; Sue chngai may be compared with the Khasi jing-ngai. Amwi shnjngoi seems to be a closer form to the above than Khasi jing-ngai. To weep, to cry. Mon, yam; Khmer, yam; Khmu Lemet and Palaung, yam, are clearly the same as Khasi iam, with which also may be compared Ho yam.

In case it may be possible for French and Siamese ethnologists in Further India to follow up these inquiries at some subsequent date, it may be stated that information regarding social customs is required with reference to the people who speak the following languages in Anam and Cambodia and Cochin China which belong to the Mon-Khmêr group Suk, Stieng, Bahnar, Anamese, Khamen-Boran, Xong, Samre, Khmu, and Lamet.