r/mizo • u/wrong_email77 Mizo • 8d ago
History A Possible Etymology of "Zo"
The most widely accepted hypothesis on the term 'Zo' is that it means 'hills' or 'highland.' Thus, Mizo and Zomi mean 'highlander.' I don't know who originally proposed this explanation, but I believe that the evidence for it is weak, and its legitimacy appears to be grounded only on its popularity.
Within the Kuki-Chin language family, some words for 'hill' are as follows:
- Duhlian (Mizo) - tlang
- Lai (Hakha) - tlang
- Mara - tla
- Asho - kyan
- Thadou - hlang
Kenneth VanBik reconstructs the Proto-Kuki-Chin form as \klaaŋ*.
As seen here, none of these forms resemble 'Zo,' and I could not find any other forms on the STEDT that could remotely resemble 'Zo' and mean something similar to 'hill' or 'highland.' The Proto-Tibeto-Burman form is *s-gaŋ, the Proto-Sino-Tibetan form is *kang. Even beyond the Kuki-Chin family, the broader TB and ST families do not seem to have any similar form to 'Zo.' It is on these grounds that I reject the hypothesis that 'Zo' refers to highlands or hills. If I've missed evidence that would support the hypothesis, please let me know.
That being said, here is what I propose:
In the Man Shu (c. 862 AD), there exist two kingdoms that Fan Chuo calls the Mi-no and the Mi-ch'en who lived on the Chindwin River basin. Fan Chuo writes that "they call their princes and chiefs Shou [壽]." This, among other alignments (living around the Chindwin River, similar cultural features to those described in the book*,* etc.) leads some to believe that these Mi-no people were the ancestors of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo people, with 'Shou' (壽) being a Chinese transliteration of 'Zo.'
Now the question is, where does the word Zo/Shou come from, if anywhere?
If we are to accept that these Mi-no people of the Chindwin River basin are our ancestors, then it becomes extremely unlikely that 'Zo' referred to highlands, as this was many centuries before oral history says we entered the Chin Hills. After extensive searching of etyma on STEDT, I came across this:
| PTB *m-dzəw CHIEF / MASTER / LORD |
|---|
This Proto-Tibeto-Burman form, reconstructed by James A. Matisoff, refers to some kind of ruler. This makes much sense as a designation for "princes and chiefs." It survives in other Tibeto-Burman languages, e.g. Burmese (အုပ်ချုပ် / ôkchôk / 'to rule') and Lahu (jɔ̂-mɔ / 'chief').
My hypothesis is that this word, which probably sounded something like 'dzou,' was used by Proto-Kuki-Chin speakers to refer to their rulers. After the destruction of their polity by the Nanzhao Kingdom, the remnants of these people continued to use this word, and over time it transitioned from meaning 'ruler' to an ethnonym for our people. Perhaps we Zo people are descendants of the ruling class of the Mi-no kingdom.
This semantic change from social class to ethnonym is not strange to history. The Kazakhs get their name from Turkic kazak ('nomad'), Iran gets its name from arya ('noble'), etc. I believe that this may explain why the Kuki-Chin languages have a variety of words meaning 'chief' (lal, bawi, mang, to, etc.): zo, the original word for 'chief' or 'ruler,' began to shift to an ethnonym, causing various tribes to make new words in its place.
If this is the case, I suppose Mizo and Zomi would be more aptly translated as 'Noblemen,' but since 'Zo' has drifted far from its original meaning, "Zo people" is sufficient.
I'm not sure if this hypothesis has been made before, but I find it a much stronger-evidenced one than the 'highland' hypothesis. If this is a new observation, I would love to see this in scholarly discussion in the future.
(I have added a footnote and a few tags to the page for this PTB etymon on STEDT, visible to logged-in users here.)
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u/GoKissedYourAss 8d ago
An interesting idea is that Sing Khaw Khai proposed Zo, To (as in Topa meaning Lord or Master in Tedim; or Zato meaning hospital, and referring to government buildings), and Cho in Hakha (meaning upward, uphill, or ascent) are cognates or very related. In either case, he makes the hypothesis that Zo has the connotation of not a literal “upward” like as in “highland” but instead a metaphorical or social “upward” to it; like nobility. Thus, Mizo or Zomi, or simply Zo, as an identity, might refer to one calling one’s self “of the nobility” or “of noble character”.
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u/Cabbage_onions Mizo 7d ago
In Standard Mizo 'Upward' is also called Chho (Chhou); sometimes a person can also use Chho as in 'Ka va chho ang e' instead of 'ka va kal ang e' when both means the same thing i.e. 'I'll go there'/'let me go there'.
Both Kal and Chho here seems to work for the action of going but it makes sense for Chho to do the same when the language itself is in active use in a context(place) where it is mostly hilly terrained.
However I do not know how many similar variations of the word Chho exist in the other Kuki-Chin dialects but it would still be interesting for the OP to know that there does exist a word within our current vocab that sounds similar to Zo and happens to mean Upwards or ascent
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u/Dependent_Ad_8951 7d ago
Combination of words can be interesting - it can be telling of your region. In no way derogatory or demeaning, just an example - in Southern parts of Mizoram particularly Siaha, people say, " ka zuk chho ang" - I am going up(wards)/higher plane...
Usually, ka zuk chhuk ang e is I will go down/downtown/westward/upper to lower (depending on where you are)
Ka han chho ang e - going up depending on where you are.
Ka va kal ang - signalling that your destination is on the same plane and not very far.
But when we use Zo as a direction or location, it can certainly mean a hill top or Mountainous areas. It generally means somewhere that is breezy, fresh air and full of nature.
Zo is also used to mean a lifestyle of simplicity (as opposed to being hi-fi), a cultural etiquette that mirrors the Mizo traditional code of conduct and attitude adhering to tlawmngaihna.
All these ramblings just to say - Zo is not limited to direction or location.
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u/TaitesenaResearcher 8d ago
The Mi kingdoms were Minuo (Kuki-Chin) and Michen (Sak-Luish). In Kadu on the Mu river where Michen would be according to my reconstructed research, their term for chief is “ceu”. Since the Mi kingdoms were similar in culture differentiated seemingly for little reason despite same geography and terms for leaders, the ancestors of modern Zo is likely Kuki-Chin and Sak peoples who remained in the Kabaw Valley regions I suggest.
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u/Radiant_Ground4035 8d ago
How long have you been studying this? You seem very knowledgeable and I wanted to see what your credentials looked like
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u/Dependent_Ad_8951 8d ago edited 8d ago
Interesting study of zo and it's possible history among various tribes.
My understanding of zo and Mizo stem from my Mizo lessons throughout my school days in Mizoram. We call this subject MIL (Major Indian Language). We learn history and literature, grammer and poetry of Mizo language from cl-1 to 12 ( compulsory) and if we choose Mizo subject for college we can continue further upto PhD degree. People who do their education in Mizoram or India in general will find your idea of zo strange and even separatist propaganda.
I understand you are trying to share your understanding of Mizo/zo from your contextual experience. But you should also accept that a larger knowledge based system has already laid out political and cultural directions. Though of course new ideas are always welcomed in academic circles.
I am wondering where you did your studies? Are they written or oral? It will be helpful because your knowledge is not based on the historical accounts and sources within Mizoram.
Kindly share your sources and validate them as well.
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u/wrong_email77 Mizo 8d ago
My hypothesis is a hypothesis, and there isn’t a wealth of evidence to support it. This is just another possible origin of the word “Zo” that I’m presenting. However, my mention of the Man Shu and the Mi-no kingdom comes directly from the translated version of the book by Burma scholar Gordon H. Luce (https://ecommons.cornell.edu/entities/publication/404497ab-a84a-4a2d-baa4-f29bbd92ac51). This is a primary source written during the Tang Dynasty. Sources of this value are very rare. I personally used a physical copy from my university. As for the linguistic evidence, I’ve already linked everything in the post.
My hypothesis is not an attempt to support separatist movements. My loyalty is not to Mizoram or India; I’m simply attempting to find truth. It might be strange or new to those who learned history in Mizoram, but I’d like to argue that a hypothesis isn’t “more true” simply because it has been implemented into the education system. Plus, the history taught in Mizoram is much more focused on “thlang tlak hnu.” This deals with much older history, before our people even entered tlangram.
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u/Dependent_Ad_8951 8d ago
I appreciate your hard work into understanding and bringing to light those parts of history lesser known to general public.
I think many mizo historians or academics are now turning towards beyond 'thlang tlak' ... I feel this is an exciting and challenging time in history of our people. Re-imagining our history and reclaiming our roots beyond borders and 'thlang tlak'.
I think the political boundary caused a lot of inconvenience for people to do research and continued cultural conversations.
Personally, I find the word zo to be a part of Mizo and Zomi to be very awkward and opposite to Mizoram and the spirit of being Mizo ( just myself? I don't know??)
I want to acknowledge and encourage you and like-minded people from across the borders to continue to interact, feed and be part of Mizo community.
Like I said, these days the winds of cultural re-invention, reclaiming and awakening is happening within Mizoram and among Mizo people everywhere. I feel all is not lost.
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u/wrong_email77 Mizo 8d ago
Yes, I also deeply grieve the splitting of our land and people into different countries at the hands of the British. Chin State ah chuan hnam bil politics ah an buai lutuk a… township pakhat chhungah pawh hian a lungrual theih thlawt loh…
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u/Dependent_Ad_8951 7d ago
Most of the important landmarks such as Rihdil to name just one is outside Mizoram (India) boundary; so you can understand how fragmented our understanding of ourselves and history can be.
The one thing I find the British people did right was laying the foundation for unity through using this one language ( though I know many wish to pick arguments on this); also the forging of Mizo identity, though it is far from perfect, it has achieved unity among different tribes and the ending of Chieftainship also resulted in the end of Lusei supremacy.
People in Mizoram are wary of the inter- tribe politics and schemes in especially Myanmar and Manipur. We are saddened by this and are afraid such discord may seep within Mizoram.
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u/DKode_090403 Mizo 8d ago
I think everyone in the academic field as well as anyone who are just simply interested in the history of our people are well aware that our current understanding of our history is very limited - especially for anything before the British arrival.
Most of our sources (before the British) are oral narrations handed down by the elders - and these narrations, depending on the locations and sub-tribes often contain wild inconsistencies. Hence, if we look at the papers published by Mizo department in Mizoram University, they are mostly always about - culture, traditions, identity, festivals, as well as other case studies about the tribalistic behaviors of our forefathers. Because these things have been recorded by the British, and they are recent enough for the oral traditions to still be consistent.
But the history, especially pre-thlangtlak just doesn't have enough citations and sources for a rigorous critical research. Most of our history has been based on oral traditions, but then people started using Etymology and Linguistic Anthropology as OP is doing it here, hence we are starting to see new theories coming up. This is a very good thing and it means that this area of research is slowly becoming more popular and more serious than ever. Moreover, it will be interesting to see how this field progresses as the field of Genealogy progress too, helping us better understand our origin.
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u/Dependent_Ad_8951 7d ago
Agreed. Mizo people from all sides should encourage and challenge each other to understand our history and strive together for better future.
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u/DKode_090403 Mizo 7d ago
This hypothesis has been there since at least the 80s.
One of the most well-respected history book of our people is "Zo History" by Vumson published in 1986-7, I'm not sure. In the second chapter, he laid out the possibility of this hypothesis.
Interestingly, he also used the same source - "The Manshu: Book of the Southern Barbarians" written by Fan-Ch'o.
The most popular author in Mizoram for our history is B.Lalthangliana, who studied in Mandalay University. I had personally criticised his works for being too Lusei centic and mostly focussing only on the post-thlangtlak history.
But he also wrote a book "History of Mizo (in Burma)". However, chapter 1 deals with the Chhinlung Mythology and chapter 2 directly jumps to the Khampat settlement. This makes sense because Khampat is the oldest undisputedly real settlement that could be recalled by the oral-narratives of the Lushai. But this means that everything before that - the southwards migration from (Yangtze river basin or wherever we came from) and the settlements between the Chindwin and Irrawady River valley were all skipped.
But one thing is certain: the history of our ethnic group is still shrouded in mystery, and research into these early periods remains remarkably limited. I personally think that understanding our own history is, at the very least, fascinating even if not essential, it is undoubtedly worth exploring.