Understanding the Origin of the terms ‘WUNG’, ‘HAO’ and ‘TANGKHUL’

Mawon Somingam

Department of Cultural and Creative Studies, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Shillong, Meghalaya, 793022, INDIA

Available online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 7th March 2014, revised 10th April 2014, accepted 12th May 2014  

Abstract

Understanding the origin and meaning of nomenclature of the ‘people’ or term referring to the ‘people’ is as important as identity of the people itself. At times, terms and nomenclatures of the ‘people’ are given by non locals. In the Naga context, the term ‘Naga’ itself is non-local, nomenclature of its federating tribes like Tangkhul is non-local, and names of many Tangkhul villages like Ukhrul, Tushen, Lambui, and Hundung etc. are given by non local administrators, missionaries, anthropologists and neighbouring communities among others. The core focus of the paper is to understand the origin of the terms WUNG, HAO and TANGKHUL. It also brings in the hypothesis of ‘Tangkhul-Meitei Origin’ while attempting to understand the people in brief. One of the main arguments of the paper is that the term HAO is the original or traditional nomenclature of the Tangkhul Nagas.