10 - Officials' Titles in Burmese

Summary

This contribution stems from the suggestion that we should try to understand political attitudes by looking at some of the words used for fundamental political concepts in Southeast Asian languages, and pinning down some of the associations and connotations they may have as a result of earlier use, if any. It was suggested that rather than attempting to cover the whole range of politics and government, a useful start could be made on the specific topic of names for officials in the government and administration.

Before I deal with the subject matter, I would like to acknowledge the part played by Mr John Okell in the compilation of this paper. We had a long discussion, after which he drew up an outline for me, and it forms the basis of this talk.

The basic division suggested by the material is between the period of the monarchy and post-monarchy, that is, Professor Hugh Tinker's wheel-shaped form of government and triangular and later forms. As far as Burma is concerned, it is convenient to begin with the monarchy rather than the contemporary situation, as there are not a great many terms from that period relevant to our purpose, but they crop up frequently later. The overall tendency is for terms from the monarchic period to be used for most officials in the post-monarchic period, but for other less official organizations (committees and so on), and office-bearers, new terms were invented, some translated or borrowed from English or Pali. The present military government is explicitly anxious to avoid the feudal associations of the old terms, and has altered some titles. Its use of committees and councils also tends to bring newly named committee-type officials into prominence at the expense of the feudally named colonial hierarchy.

There are two suffixes often used in the titles I shall mention: -daw (or -taw) suffixed to words with royal or sacred connections; and -gyì (kyì) meaning “grand, great”.