CHINS

Synonims. Cuci Khyang, Khyeng, Kookie, Kuki
ORIDENTATION. Identification: Although Chin speakers as a whole have no single name for themselves, many groups use what appear to be variant forms of one word, zo (yo, sho), as in laizo, Mizo, Hyou, Asho. Zo, according to Lehman, has the meaning “uncivilized”, contrasting with vai, “civilized”, and by implicatian, Burmese. The English name is derived from Burmese Chin, writeen Khyang. This word, meaning “friend”, according to Luce, and probably referring to the Chins, is recorded either as Khyang or Khlang from the thirteenth century A.D. Khyang is still current in Arakan and Chittagong for some of the Chins there. The older English form Khyang is obviously related to Khyang and Chin. In English, the name Chin is customarily applied to these people when they are discussed within the context of Burma. The earliest British contact occurred, however, from the direction of India, and within this context they were called Kookie or Cuci, earlier forms of what is today written Kuki. From these two names has arisen the combination Kuki-Chin. Kuki remains the most common general term for these people in India and East Pakistan, and at this general level it is equivalent to Chin.

Frank M. Lebar, Gerald C. Hickey, John K. Musgrave,
Ethnic Groups of Mainland South-East Asia,
Human Relations Area Fil Press, New Haven,1964, p.49