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Mingalaba

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Salutation or greeting

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

Origins

The 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.' In the late 1960s, 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.

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. The word also appears in a well-known Buddhist scripture called the Maṅgala Sutta. Burmese culture recognizes Twelve Auspicious Rites or "Mingala." In Burmese, "mingala" is affixed to several Burmese terms, including "to wed" (မင်္ဂလာဆောင်) and "housewarming" (အိမ်တက်မင်္ဂလာ). The second word, "ba" (ပါ), is a grammatical particle suffixed to Burmese verbs to denote politeness.

See also

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.
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