War, law & rule

lama

Tibetan bla ma, 'the superior one', is the title of a Buddhist teacher; it spread with Tibetan Buddhism to the Mongols, who coined the title Dalai Lama in 1578, and to China, and English took it in the mid-1600s. It has nothing to do with the llama, a Quechua word.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Tibetan to Mongolian, Russian

From Tibetan to Mandarin Chinese

From English to French

From English to German

From English to Japanese

800 CETibetan

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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