mâkpa

Mizo

Etymology

From Proto-Tibeto-Burman *maːk (“son-in-law, genitals”). Compare Tibetan མག་པ (mag pa), Dzongkha རྨགཔ (rmagp, “husband”), Galo magbo, Adi mak-bo, Lisu ꓟꓯꓸ ꓪꓵ (mǽ wy); also compare Jingpho /da-maʔ/, Southern Qiang /tʃɿ⁵⁵ ma³¹/ (Taoping), Northern Qiang /tʃɪ miɛ/ (Mawo), Situ /tə nmak/ (Ma'erkang / Barkam), Burmese သမက် (sa.mak), Lepcha ᰕᰤᰩᰭ (myók), S'gaw Karen မာ် (mạ).

Benedict (1979) also compares this to 牡 (OC *mɯwʔ, “male”), though this is disputed. (STEDT)

Noun

mâkpa

1. son-in-law
   • 1995, Mizo Common Language Bible, Bible Society of India, 1 Samuel 18:18:

     “Tu nge maw ka niha, Israel rama ka pa chhûngte pawh eng mi nge an niha lal mâkpa ka han nihna tûr chu le?”.

     Who am I? and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king? (KJV)

2. a sister's husband, brother-in-law
3. paternal aunt's husband, uncle

References

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940) “mâk%20pa”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society, page 306
• James A. Matisoff, editor (2015), The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus, etymon 547.