Monpa
/ˈmɒn.pə/noun
A member of several Tibetic-speaking peoples living mainly in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and adjacent parts of Tibet and Bhutan.
Did you know?In Tibetan usage, mon could denote peoples living south of the Tibetan cultural world, so Monpa is an exonymic geographic label rather than a single ancient tribal name.
Etymological Timeline
Early Tibetan
Tibetic
mon
“A southern or non-Tibetan people; the term was used broadly in Tibetan geographical and cultural classification.”
Classical Tibetan
Tibetan
mon pa
“A person or people associated with Mon; pa is a Tibetan nominal suffix meaning a person associated with a place, group, or category.”
Medieval period
Tibetan
མོན་པ་ (mon pa)
“A Tibetan designation applied to communities south of Tibet, including populations in the eastern Himalayan borderlands.”
19th Century
English
Monpa
“An English ethnographic spelling for peoples encountered in the Himalayan regions bordering Tibet and Assam.”
Modern English
English
Monpa
“The established English name for several related Tibetic-speaking communities chiefly associated with Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet, and Bhutan.”