Nomenclature, Orthography and Etymology
This section details the origins and meaning of the title Chögyal and the name Namkhai Norbu (Tibetan: Chos-rGyal Nam-mkha’i Nor-bu).
Chögyal is a title most commonly associated with the monarchy of Sikkim, now a state in far-northern India. However, Chögyal (or Chos-rGyal) is a title also conferred upon a special class of temporal and spiritual rulers of the Kingdom of Bhutan, who were recognized mindstream emanations of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the 17th Century Tibetan-born founder of Bhutan. Norbu, recognized at the age of five as an emanation of Ngawang Namgyel, holds the title of Chögyal in this context.
Namkhai (Tibetan) holds the semantic field of "sky", "space" and "aether," and has the possessive case ending, thus it may be rendered into English as "...of the sky". Norbu (Tibetan) holds the semantic field of "jewel", "crystal", "gem", "cintamani". Therefore, Namkhai Norbu may be rendered in English as "Jewel of the Sky", "Gem of the Aether" or "Crystal of Space".
Read more about this topic: Namkhai Norbu
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“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
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