Glossary

All terms are in Northern Yi (Nuosu) unless specified as Chinese (Ch). The Northern Yi words are given both without (as elsewhere in this volume) and with boldface tone indicators (syllables ending in t, x, or p) for specialists. (See also Appendix: The Book of Origins Contents with Tone Indicators.)

bai jiu (Ch): commercial alcohol

bbopa: oral origin stories

bbopa teyy / bbopa tepyy: written origin stories

bbudde: folktale

bburma: Yi script

bimo / bimox: folk priest

bimo teyy / bimox tepyy: written texts used by bimo priests

bisse: apprentice bimo

Cuan wen (Ch): Cuan script; a name for early Yi script

cy / cyt: genealogy

cyvi / cytvi: patrilineal clan

Dduzi / Ddut zi: Torch Festival

Hmamu teyy / Hmatmu tepyy: Book of Teachings

Hnewo teyy / Hnewo tepyy: Book of Origins

Hxiemga / Hxiemgat: Han people

gaitu guiliu (Ch): system in Ming and Qing that sought to replace native rulers

gaxy: slave caste

Gefi / Gepfi: life spirit

jin (Ch): Chinese measurement of about 1.1 pounds

kenre / kepnrep: oral poetry riff

kevie: splendid hunting dogs

long shulin (Ch): dragon tree forests; sacred groves

maddu: soul vessel

mgajie / mgapjie: lower-caste serfs

monyi / mopnyit: female shaman (also called nimu / nipmu)

ndeggu / ndepggup: conflict arbitrator

Ni / Nip: ancient name for Yi

Nimu cobi / Nipmu cobi: rite for directing soul to land of ancestors

nuoho / nuohop: upper-caste Nuosu (Black Nuosu)

Nuosu: subgroup of Yi ethnic group

Nuosuhxo: northern Yi language

nzymo (nzy): elite ruling class caste

Ozzu / Opzzup: local Tibetan groups

quho / quhox: serf caste (White Nuosu)

shaoshu minzu (Ch): ethnic minority group(s)

Shuo: old word for what are likely Han people

shuoma / shuoxma: varieties of rhododendron

sunyi / sunyit: male shaman

tian gou (Ch): mythological dog that eats the sun

tusi (Ch): government-appointed native leader

vala / vapla: fringed wool cloaks

vazyrhli: antiphonal song and dance performed by young male singers

vondi / vondit: creatures with claws, dangling digits

vonre sse cinyi / vonre sse cinyix: twelve sorts of flora and fauna transformed from red snow

voma / vopmat (Ch: yuangen): turnip

Xinan Yizhi (Ch): Chronicles of the Southwest Yi

Yiery: name in the epic text for “foreigners”

Yiwen (Ch): Yi script

Yizu (Ch): Yi ethnic group

yy yyr: sacred grass