I am often told "your names look different from those I found in all the books" referring to almost every language with a non-roman script that we have romanised. The overall explanation is that most authors wrongly assume that their readers either are familiar with the language they write about or that these readers will do their "homework". Most authors, especially if they are not linguists but scientists, appear unconcerned about conveying the true meaning of their foreign names across to their readership. Otherwise I would never have felt the need to start this huge project. They merely imitate what others have done and write some casual romanisation which in some cases happens to be correct but most of the time is not.
Romanising a foreign language such as Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Thai and others is an extremely difficult task. Many have tried and come up with internationally recognized "standards" which always approximate the real sound but cannot really be spot on. The written word is a little easier to handle, especially with computers. The rule is simple : start with a standard romanised name, type it in and if the computer spits the correct foreign name out you have the correct romanisation... well ! do you ? ... perhaps not always.
Example 1 : the standard Nepalese "bans" can only be rendered correctly by basically typing "baans" in any computer generating Nepalese characters. Moreover the correct Nepali characters need to be further discriminated so the ending looks correct. This is achieved by typing "baa.Ns".
= bans,
= baans,
= baa.Ns
Example 2 :
Maalbans (Malbans). One may be tempted to write the romanised form of this word "Mal bans" as if the same bans was involved, obviously this would not be correct. So even a space can be very meaningful. This example demonstrates as well that the standard "Malbans" does not convey the correct spelling. Maalbans needs to be typed to generate the correct characters.
The trick is that one has to know the many standards of romanisation, the foreign script and vocabulary in order to convey to the reader the exact words. How many dictionaries have you ever seen displaying both a foreign word and its corresponding romanisation ? Point made. I could count those on the fingers of one hand and I have had to consult literally hundreds of dictionaries, glossaries, catalogues etc., those mentioned in our references are only the most relevant. Sometime a rare character will be found in only one dictionary.
On bamboo names
The following names have been found in the literature only in a romanised form. We would welcome assistance in working out the correct script for those names, and the matching botanical names. It is possible that some of those names are not Nepali but Assamese, Bengali or Hindi. As alluded to in the two examples above subtle orthographic and / or grammatical nuances can make the task of identifying difficult. Examples such as : "tite" vs "tito", "nigale" vs "nigalo", "gohiya" vs "gobiya", "Ghopi" vs "Gopi", "taru" vs "tharu" can be found below.
Bonu bans (large,wild fodder bamboo), Chilei bans (rafter bamboo), Choya bans (possibly coya bans) or Dou Rai (water-pipe bamboo), Crum jei or small Satei, Dhuti nigalo (possibly a Drepanostachyum or a Thamnocalamus), Dungrei bans, Ghopi bans, Katha bans, Kute bans, Laurei bans, Leiwa bans (Dendrocalamus patellens), Malu or Mola or Malo, Nigalo (Drepanostachyum khasianum), Paryreng, Philinge, Satei (Ta Ruka), Tama kalo & Tama seto (Dendrocalamus hamiltonii), Taru or Sata (Bambusa Sp.), Ta ruka (Satei), Tellia, Tite nigalo.
The following names have been found in the literature only in a romanised form. We would welcome assistance in working out the correct script for those names. A number of names appear to be corruptions of others. We would also like to know if these spelling variants are legitimate or not.
xxx Ban bans -> Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro
xxx Bonu bans -> Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro
xxxx Burra bans -> Dendrocalamus giganteus Munro
xxx Chab bans -> Bambusa tulda Roxb.
xxx Chilei bans -> Bambusa nepalensis Stapleton
Choya bans -> Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro
Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Dhudi nigalo -> Himalayacalamus falconeri (J. D. Hooker ex Munro) P. C. Keng
xxx Dhungre bans -> Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro var. undulatus Stapleton
Dhuti nigalo -> Himalayacalamus falconeri (J. D. Hooker ex Munro) P. C. Keng
xxx Diu nigalo -> Drepanostachyum falcatum (Nees) Keng f.
Dungrei bans -> Dendrocalamus hookeri Munro
Dungrei bans -> Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro var. undulatus Stapleton
xxx Ghopi bans -> Cephalostachyum latifolium Munro
xxx Ghunre -> Thamnocalamus aristatus (Gamble) Camus
xxx Ghunre nigalo -> Thamnocalamus spathiflorus (Trin.) Munro subsp. spathiflorus var. crassinodus (Yi) Stapleton
Gopi bans -> Ampelocalamus patellaris (Gamble) Stapleton
Gopi bans -> Cephalostachyum capitatum (Wall. & Griff.) Munro
Gopi bans -> Cephalostachyum latifolium Munro
xxx Gorey nigalo -> Himalayacalamus asper Stapleton
xxx Gorey nigalo -> Himalayacalamus falconeri (J. D. Hooker ex Munro) P. C. Keng
xxx Jarbutto -> Thamnocalamus spathiflorus (Trin.) Munro subsp. nepalensis Stapleton
xxx Kada bans -> Bambusa tulda Roxb.
xxx Khare bans -> Chimonocalamus callosus (Munro) Hsueh & Yi
xxx Khare malingo -> Chimonocalamus callosus (Munro) Hsueh & Yi
xxx Koraincho bans -> Bambusa tulda Roxb.
Leiwa bans -> Ampelocalamus patellaris (Gamble) Stapleton
Malo -> Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. cupula Stapleton
Malu -> Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. cupula Stapleton
Mola -> Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. cupula Stapleton
Paryreng -> Himalayacalamus hookerianus (Munro) Stapleton
Sata (bans?) -> Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. nutans
xxx Sate bans -> Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. nutans
xxx Satei bans -> Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. nutans
xxx Singhane -> Himalayacalamus falconeri (J. D. Hooker ex Munro) P. C. Keng
Taru (bans?) -> Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. nutans
xxx Thudi nigalo -> Himalayacalamus falconeri (J. D. Hooker ex Munro) P. C. Keng
xxx Tite nigalo -> Himalayacalamus spp.
xxx Tite nigalo -> Drepanostachyum spp.
In order to facilitate the task of potential helpers here are a few translations and some very useful explanations provided by Dr. Chris Stapleton.
Bonu bans (large,wild fodder bamboo) - corruption of ban bans (forest bamboo), nearly always Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro
Chilei bans (rafter bamboo) - Bambusa nepalensis Stapleton
Choya bans - choya is a flexible tying strip, usally from Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro
Satei bans - Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. nutans
Dhuti nigalo - same as dhudi or thudi nigalo, see Himalayacalamus falconeri (J. D. Hooker ex Munro) P. C. Keng
Dungrei bans - same as dhungre (container) bans, any bamboo with large diameter culms, including Dendrocalamus hookeri Munro .
Gopi bans - from a complex allusion to flute playing by the God Krishna for his friends, gopi, hence used for bamboos used for making flutes (murali). See Ampelocalamus patellaris (Gamble) Stapleton, Cephalostachyum capitatum Munro & Cephalostachyum latifolium Munro.
Katha bans - katha just means wood so derogatory term for any bamboo with no special use.
Laurei bans - any foreign bamboo, possibly derived from Lahore, where invaders used to come from.
Leiwa bans - Ampelocalamus patellaris (Gamble) Stapleton
Malu or Mola or Malo - all derived from mal bans. See Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. cupula Stapleton
Nigalo - generic term for all small clump-forming bamboos Drepanostachyum spp. & Himalayacalamus spp.
Paryreng - Himalayacalamus hookerianus (Munro) Stapleton
Taru or Sata - Bambusa nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp. nutans
Tite nigalo - nigalos with bitter (tite) shoots, all Drepanostachyum spp. and some Himalayacalamus spp. as well.
The following names have been found in the literature only in a romanised form. We would welcome assistance in working out the correct script for those names.
Coyaa
baans (Choya bans) ->
Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et
Arn. ex Munro var. hamiltonii
Coyaa
baans (Coya bans) -> Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees et
Arn. ex Munro
Maalinge nigaalo (Malinge nigalo, Mali'nge nigalo) ->
Himalayacalamus
asper Stapleton
Maalingo nigaalo
(Malingo nigalo) -> Himalayacalamus
asper Stapleton
Rato nigale ? -> Thamnocalamus
spathiflorus (Trin.)
Munro
Raato nigaalo (Rato nigalo) -> Thamnocalamus
spathiflorus (Trin.)
Munro
Taru baans (Taru bans) -> Bambusa
nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp.
nutans
Tharu baans
(Tharu bans) -> Bambusa
nutans G. C. Wall. ex Munro subsp.
nutans
Tite nigalo -> Himalayacalamus
fimbriatus Stapleton
Tito nigalo -> Himalayacalamus
fimbriatus Stapleton
Date created: 18 / 04 / 2001
Authorised by Prof. Snow Barlow
Last modified: 22 / 09 / 2002
Access: No restriction
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Maintained by: Michel H. Porcher, E-Mail: m.porcher@landfood.unimelb.edu.au
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