Mingalaba

Mingalaba (Burmese: မင်္ဂလာပါ; MLCTS: mangga.lapa [miɴɡa̰làbà]; variously romanised as mingalarpar, mingalabar, or mingalar par) is the formal Burmese greeting."[1] It is typically accompanied by a slight bow,[2] or more formally, an Añjali Mudrā gesture, wherein the palms are folded together.[1] The phrase "mingalaba" is typically rendered in English as "may you be blessed" or "auspiciousness to you."[3]

Origins

Much like the Thai greeting, mingalaba is a relatively modern creation. The phrase first emerged during British rule in Burma in the 19th to 20th centuries, coined as a Burmese language equivalent to 'hello' or 'how are you.'[4] In the late 1960s,[5] the Burmese government institutionalized the phrase in the country's educational system. Burmese pupils now greet their teachers with mingalaba at the beginning of each school day.[3]

Mingalaba itself is a phrase, decomposed into mingala + ba. The first word "mingala" (မင်္ဂလာ) originates from the Pāli term maṅgala, which means auspicious, lucky, prosperous, or festive.[6] The word also appears in a well-known Buddhist sutra called the Maṅgala Sutta.[4] Burmese culture recognizes Twelve Auspicious Rites or "Mingala." In Burmese, "mingala" is affixed to several Burmese terms, including "to wed" (မင်္ဂလာဆောင်) and "housewarming" (အိမ်တက်မင်္ဂလာ).[7] The second word , "ba" (ပါ), is a grammatical particle suffixed to Burmese verbs to denote politeness.[7]

References
  1. "Myanmar (Burmese) Culture - Greetings". Cultural Atlas. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  2. Myint Myint Aye (2018). "A Comparative Study of Business Manners of Myanmar and German" (PDF). Mandalay University of Foreign Languages Research Journal. 9.
  3. Yin, Saw Myat (2013-08-15). CultureShock! Myanmar: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. ISBN 978-981-4435-55-0.
  4. Houtman, Gustaaf (1999). Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. ISBN 978-4-87297-748-6.
  5. Aung-Thwin, Michael A. (2017-05-31). Myanmar in the Fifteenth Century: A Tale of Two Kingdoms. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-7411-7.
  6. Davids, Thomas William Rhys; Stede, William (1993). Pali-English Dictionary. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 978-81-208-1144-7.
  7. Myanmar-English Dictionary. Myanmar Language Commission. 1993. ISBN 1-881265-47-1.

See also
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