MALA/MALA/MALLA - Latin, Tibetan, Nepali?

Rusty

Rusty

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Can anyone ( like Beo or Uncle ) elucidate on what seems coincidence of what sounds like the same word, but ?

Would love to hear Beoram and Uncle debate this while they watch a bottle of Khukuri Rum evaporate.

Besides, we all might accidentally learn something from this. Hee Hee.....:D ;) :eek: :D
 
Mala= Spanish for bad (female adj)

Malla= Spanish for net

?????

n2s
 
The little Latin I know is limited to mala in se vs. mala prohibitum. Berk could explain it better than I.

And in Tibetan it's got to do with the 108 bead Buddhist rosary. But don't let me stop anyone.
 
Rusty - what are you taking these 3 words as refering to? Mala like a garland, necklace? And Malla like the khukuree? What's the other Mala?

As N2S points out, in spanish mala=bad - the Latin mal- means 'bad, evil' (e.g. in English malevolent, malefactor, &c.); in Sanskrit mala means 'dirty, bad, impure, &c.' - not surprising since Sanskrit and Latin (and English) ultimately go back to the same language.

Mala, the garland is actually maalaa, two long a's. Nothing to do with mala- meaning 'bad' - I don't know if it has cognates.

Malla, as in the khukuree, refers to some time period - but I only know this fact from the HI site - I don't know what the time period is or what the word means in that context (or whether it's vowels are short or long - that's the problem with English orthography, it's very hard for me to tell what words mean when I don't know whether the vowels are long or short). However, in Sanskrit, malla (short vowels) means "strong, athletic, robust; good, excellent" - so in Sanskrit one has to be very careful to enunciation geminates (two consonants together), because mala and malla have essentially opposite meanings!

that's what I know - we'll have to wait for Uncle to further elucidate...

--Ben
 
Originally posted by Rusty
The little Latin I know is limited to mala in se vs. mala prohibitum. Berk could explain it better than I.

And in Tibetan it's got to do with the 108 bead Buddhist rosary. But don't let me stop anyone.
Click to expand...

Oh, ok - you do mean maalaa, like a garland - yes the same name is used for the 108 (or other no.) 'rosary', used by Buddhists & Hindus, but the word is from Sanskrit, not Tibetan. I don't know any Tibetan and it's not related to Sanskrit, Hindi, Nepali, English, Latin, &c. - it's part of the Burmo-Tibetan language family.

--B.
 
to the question at hand, but obediently answering the page:
malum in se (evil itself) -an act involving illegality from its very nature upon principles of natural or moral law; e.g. the premeditated killing of another human being without justification.
malum prohibitum -an act which is not inherently immoral, but becomes so because it is expressly forbidden by law; e.g. smokin' a little weed in the privacy of your own home, no kidddies present.

As used to describe the HI khukuri of the same name:
Malla Period (1200 - 1769 AD)
Though the Malla were active in other areas, they didn’t come to the Kathmandu valley until 1200 AD when King Ari-deva assumed the title and founded a new, highly accomplished dynasty. The Malla Period is a glorious era in the history of Nepal. Mallas developed trade and commerce, industry, religion and culture. They reached a high level of perfection in the fields of art and architecture.
The early Malla monarchs held absolute power by divine right: they were considered to be incarnations of Vishnu, as are the present Shah rulers. Although the Mallas were Hindu Shaivites following strict Brahmin rituals, they were tolerant of Buddhism, which was widespread at the court and among the people - especially in its Tantric form, the cult of Vajrayana.
A feudal administrative structure was imposed, dominated by an aristocratic elite whose powers at times overshadowed those of the sovereign. Below them, Brahmins and Chhetris monopolized all offices of profit around the palace. Next on the social ladder were the traders and farmers, divided into 64 strictly enforced occupational castes.
Click to expand...
 
Is that I just finished a book by Elliot Pattison called "Water Touching Stone" set in today's Tibet. Interaction between Tibetan Buddhists, Chinese Communists, and Khazak Muslims. At the end it had a glossary of foreign words repeatedly used and their derivations: tibetan, mandarin, and turkic.

The word mala rang a bell, and I remembered the Malla. And then mala ( actually malum - I did remember before you brought it up, Berk; I was a Criminology major ). So I asked the original question.

Along the road, I found that Latin ( and thus English ) and Sanskrit go back to another root language. I shouldn't be amazed at the geographic extent of Turkic but I'd never thought on it much before. And really surprised to find the Catholic Rosary on one hand, and the Buddhist and Hindu rosaries somehow linked. I know the earlier "bede" meant prayer but I'm sorry, can't stop to look it up now.

The transcultural aspect of the forum continues to delight me. And to teach me since the perrennially banned Ghostsix said long ago something to the effect "you can't know your own culture without knowing another.

I keep coming back to Wm. James, whose criteria for Truth are Congruity, Usefulness, and Luminosity.

Those who stay with this forum seem to be looking not for Truth with a capital letter, but lower case truth as they can understand and live it, and are willing to share of their knowledge and experience. Besides that, there is acceptance and fellowship, and last but not least, fun and laughter. Including some very bad jokes.

As they say, "Good judgement comes from experience, and most experience comes from bad judgement. :p :)
 
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