The Language of the Modhupur Mandi (Garo), Volume 2

5.33 Cattle

Mandi dialects with little influence from Bengali had no words designating specific gender or age categories for animals. 'Cow', 'bull', and 'calf' in A˙ chik are mat-chu-bi-ma, mat-chu-bi-pa and mat-chu-bi˙-sa 'cattle-female', 'cattle-male' and 'cattle-child' respectively. These three words are still used in Modhupur, but the vocabulary has been enriched by borrowing a number of terms from Bengali that designate particular ages and sexes of animal species.

ba-sur n. calf, young cow. <B

do˙-, do˙-o, do, du˙-, du˙-u, du n. domestic fowl, more broadly any bird at all. Combining form: do˙-, du˙-). cp. prefix for varieties of birds: do˙-pi-sa chick; do˙-bi-ma hen, female bird; do˙-bi-pa cock, rooster, male bird.

ma˙-su n. cow, bull, cattle, (A˙ chik: mat-chu).

ma˙-su gen-da, ma˙-su pi˙-sa, ma˙-su ba-sur n. calf.

mat-te, mat-ti n. a loner, human or animal, rogue male that stays alone. n. echo in ma˙-su mat-te cow, cattle.

5.35 Domestic Animals, Other

Sheep, horses, and geese have not been traditional domestic animals for the Mandis or other Garos, and all three are now named by borrowed words. For 'water buffalo', only occasionally kept by Mandis, older Garo mat-ma, which can also mean 'wild buffalo', competes with borrowed moi-si.

a-chak n. dog.

a-chak gol-dang n. a large type of dog.

a-chak ka-si n. a castrated dog.

be-ra n. sheep. <B

do˙-mok, du˙-mok n. goat, (A˙ chik: do˙-bok).

do˙-mok an-dra n. uncastrated male goat.

do˙-mok-me-ra, do˙-mok-be-ra n. sheep.

ga-gak n. domestic duck.

ga-gak-gang-si n. goose.

go-ra, gu-ra n. horse. <B

gu-ra, go-ra n. horse. <B

mat-ma n. water buffalo, wild buffalo.

meng-go n. cat, (A˙ chik).

meng-gong n. cat, (A˙ chik: meng-go).

mo-si, moi-si n. domestic water buffalo, wild buffalo, (same as mat-ma). <B

ra-ja-has n. goose. <B

wak n. pig.

wak-man-di n. a small variety of domestic pig that is no longer common.