Definition request "Elabora Mansa"

Could you give us a context please? I tried searching E. Mansa (in case it was a plant) but came up with a lot of Portuguess sites. Mansa apparently means "tame" in Spanish (and possibly in Port. but I don't know for sure). My thought was that it was Latin.

Melinda

Mansa is one of the six famous tea mountains. There is an earlier thread 'Yunnan 6FTM Geography map' with the name of the six from NeoCathay and Danny. I'm clueless about the PinYin Elabora. Above that on the wrapper is the character Zhen1 meaning precious,valuable,rare and the character pin3 meaning product. That vendor sells the six mountains plus Nan Nou also clarified in a recent discussion 'Maybe seven famous Yunnan tea mountains'.

Jim

snipped-for-privacy@localnet.com wrote:

I cannot speak regarding "Mansa", however, "Elabora" translated from the Latin means "to slip away" or, broadly translated, "from".

Interesting isn't it? Friends and I have cracked our heads on this elusive "EIABORA" too.

Mansa is as what Jim said, it is one of the six famous tea mountains. It is situated close to the Loas border, southwards it joins YiWu mountain and westward it joins ManZhuan mountain.

EIABORA is a cryptic word. We have tried to offer several explanations for it:

1. ELABORA - elaborate, complex - that the tea is a elaborate piece of work

1. ELABORA - a pretty lady (I have not idea where this comes from, but a friend insist it is portugese or spanish or something)

We settle for the 3rd one: that it is a word in the Jinuo tongue (the local native) that means "Treasured" - if this is correct, then it corresponds well with the chinese characters above it, as Jim said - means Jin Pin,

precious piece, or treasured piece.

Danny

snipped-for-privacy@localnet.com wrote:

Hey Danny,

Thanks for the followup. I know PinYin is the Romanized pronunciation of the Han dialect. Are there other Romanized versions of other Chinese minority dialects or is it all rolled into PinYin? This one didn't have the look or feel of PinYin. Yeah like I am some expert.

Jim

snipped-for-privacy@uk2.net wrote:

snipped-for-privacy@uk2.net is ascribing a Latin word to a Chinese character. Keep that in mind as you look for answers.

The names Meng Hai, Meng La, etc, are the pin yin version of the Dai dialect. The translation through online translators have given us laughable names such as courageous seas and courageous wax. This might work if it is a chinese name, but these are not. Meng is far from courageous in the Dai dialect, it means 'Land'. Hai on the other hand, means 'The Courageous Ones'. Meng Hai means the land of the brave, and Meng La, Land of Tea leaves. Yup, in Dai dialect, La is tea.

Eiabora (not Elabora) is perhaps in minority tribe dialect that we are not familiar with, I believe the name is romanized, not in pin yin. Why that is so is a puzzle...

Danny

Hey Danny

I've always wondered why some Puer terms in PinYin have more strange translation than tea terms from other parts of China. For example, the translation of Yinzhen or BiLoChun is more meaningful than Puer. Tuo is another Puer term without much literal translated meaning. Even the term Chi Tze in a current thread goes through the convoluted translation of a stack of seven. Yeah Seven is obvious but getting a Stack from Sons is a stretch. So the Dai dialect in PinYin and other minorities from Yunnan is less meaningful than Han dialect in PinYin. I'm surprised terms like shu and sheng are more literally correct than not.

Thanks, Jim

PS I will say for Danny's posts he does fill > The names Meng Hai, Meng La, etc, are the pin yin version of the Dai

Hey back from across the Pacific...

nicer, poetic names than those from the south-west, worst still during the cultural revolution.

"Tuo" is an old name that has lost its meaning in a bunch of supposed meanings, some say it is named after the river which they drew water to make this tea, some say it is names after the shaped of a woman's breast, some say it is named after the shape of a ox-bow basin, some say its name is transformed from the shape of a top, and some say...

"Qi Zi Bing Cha" is, in my opinion, a name thought by a bunch of unimaginative Yunnan officials one day in 1971. Before this there was no such term, the Antique and Label class of Pu'er mostly went by the name "Yuan Cha bing" - Round Tea Cake. In 1971, this changed. The cakes were bundled 7 to a stack, each had their own wrapper. 12 stacks makes one 'zhi' or cargo, weighing 30kg, divide that by 84 cakes (12 X

Qi Zi was an auspicious term, the bingcha was once a wedding and other festive gifts in villages. Its round shape confers that all things in life be smooth and come full circle with happy endings, and Zi is the wish for a Son to carry on family tradition, and Seven is an auspicious number in chinese mythology. Unimaginative, but it seemed to serve a purpose...

Danny

More fill in the Chinese tea gaps from Danny. Excellent, excellent, excellent.

Thanks, Jim

Danny wrote:

...snipped excellent fill in the gaps