[Assam] About the name Assam

Mon Mar 16 18:37:36 PDT 2009

Bodo is a Tibeto-Burman language. So far I know no Tibeto Burman language has the XO sound which is an Indo-European sound.
The Bodo might have taken some Assamese words and might now pronounce the XO sound. This I donot know for sure. The Bodos were in Assam for about 3000 years.

I have a small book, written in Assamese titled "Boro Bhaxa Xikhya" by Mr Sanokyo Brohmo.
The book does tell how to pronounce the Assamese letters, that is XO as SO or XO?.

Mr Baden Powel claims that the Bodo has the word "Ha-com" which mean low or level land. He states, " The name Assam is most probably traceable to the Boro 'Ha-Com' which mean low or level country. The Boro word for water (di) has remained in the names of the rivers e.g. Dihong etc". "The Indian Village Community" by Baden Powel (page 135).

I could not find the any Boro word 'Ha-Com' in the above book. However the book has the word Ha which mean land. There is also a word 'Com' (that is Som) which mean time. So we donot get anywhere. Even if we take Baden Powel's word, it again simply mean that Acam or Asam word is a local Assamese word and that it is earlier than Oxom. It also mean that Acam/Asam or Assam is  not an anglicised word.

Note, we will have to take the outside historians of Assam with a grain of salt because the same Baden Powel wrote in the same book the following statement>
 "The local dialect, Assamese, is a comparatively recent modification of Bengali"  
This how much this famous historian knows about Assam and the Assamese. 

After reading Gait and many other history books on Assam, I find one Assamese historian who wrote a really good autentic history of Assam. He is P.C. Choudhury (The Histroy of the Civilisation of the People of Assam). Anybody who wants to know about the past history of Assam should read it.

For our cultural past, one should read Dimbeswar Neog.

Rajen Barua

From: Dilip and Dil Deka 
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 10:57 AM
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
Subject: Re: [Assam] About the name Assam

The debaters on this subject are looking at only two facets - the Tai-Ahom connection and the possible Sanskritization. There is a third one to look at. The Bodo-Kacharis have been in Assam longer than anyone else and their people are spread all over Assam. 
What did they call the land? Many rivers in Assam still have their Bodo names.
What did they call the Tais who came to Assam in the 13th century?
Is there "xo" sound in Bodo language?
It is very possible that some words in Bodo were at the root of "Oxom", "Assam", "Asom" or whatever else. Please do not throw away Dr. A. Guha or Baden Powell(is that the name?) yet.

I don't know a word of Bodo language. Could someone who knows Bodo comment on the above?
I did go to the website http://www.bodoland.org/language1.htm and found some interesting words but not much that would help the debate. 
Dilip Deka

________________________________
From: Rajen Barua <barua25 at hotmail.com>
To: assamnet <assam at assamnet.org>
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 8:21:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] About the name Assam

Why would Mr Wahid confront anybody?

What Prof Amalendu Gauha wrote about 'Ha-Sam' was not based on his own research work. He simply borrowed the writing from Mr Baden Powell even without quoting Mr Powell. I also wrote about the word 'Ha-Sam' in my article but I quoted Mr Baden Powell. Also Prof Guha was writing based on his communistic outlook, not much as history of the word Assam. 

There are many ignorant educated people in Assam. There are again some educated intellectuals with different agendas. 

Let people read Mr. Wahid's writings and confront him if they have any problem.

Rajen Barua

> Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:03:37 -0500
> From: kjit.deka at gmail.com
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Subject: [Assam] About the name Assam
> 
> I am wondering what prevents Mr.Saleh from confronting people like
> Prof.Priyam Goswami of Gauhati University or Prof.Amalendu Guha with his
> newly-found Dutch document which will certainly make them laughter-evoking
> buffoons for being so ignorant about Assam's history ?
> KJD
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> assam at assamnet.org
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