Editing Meitei language (section)

== Name ==
According to the [[Ethnologue]], the alternative names of Meitei language are ''Kathe, Kathi, Manipuri, Meetei, Meeteilon, Meiteilon, Meiteiron, Meithe, Meithei, Menipuri, Mitei, Mithe, Ponna''.<ref name="ethnologue_mni"/>

The name ''Meitei'' or its alternate spelling ''Meithei'' is preferred by many native speakers of Meitei over ''Manipuri.''<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2">Chelliah (1997: 2)</ref> The term is derived from the Meitei word for the language ''Meitheirón'' (''Meithei'' + ''-lon'' 'language', pronounced {{IPA|/mə́i.təi.lón/}}).<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=H. Surmangol |date=2006 |title=Learners' Manipuri-English dictionary. Meitei |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/sharma_query.py?qs=%EA%AF%83%EA%AF%A9%EA%AF%87%EA%AF%A9&searchhws=yes |access-date=30 July 2022 |website=dsal.uchicago.edu}}</ref> ''Meithei'' may be a compound from ''mí'' 'man' + ''they'' 'separate'.<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/> This term is used by most Western linguistic scholarship.<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/> Meitei scholars use the term ''Meit(h)ei'' when writing in English and the term ''Meitheirón'' when writing in Meitei.<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/> Chelliah (2015: 89) notes that the ''Meitei'' spelling has replaced the earlier ''Meithei'' spelling.<ref>Chelliah (2015: 89)</ref>

The language (and people) is also referred to by the loconym ''Manipuri.''<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/> The term is derived from the name of the state of [[Manipur]].<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/> ''Manipuri'' is the official name of the language for the [[India]]n government and is used by government institutions and non-Meitei authors.<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/> The term ''Manipuri'' is also used to refer to the different [[languages of Manipur]] and to the people.<ref name="Chelliah 1997: 2"/> Additionally, ''Manipuri,'' being a loconym, can refer to anything pertaining to the Manipur state.

Speakers of Meitei language are known as ''"Kathe"'' by the [[Burmese people]], ''"Moglie"'' or ''"Mekhlee"'' by the people of [[Cachar]], Assam ([[Dimasa people|Dimasas]] and [[Assamese people|Assamese]]) and ''"Cassay"'' by the [[Shan people]] and the other peoples living in the east of the [[Ningthee River]] (or Khyendwen River). ''"Ponna"'' is the Burmese term used to refer to the [[Meitei people|Meiteis]] living inside [[Burma]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gangte |first=Priyadarshini M.|url=http://www.thepeopleschronicle.in/daily/english/1781|title = Evolution of Meetei state- Emergence of Nongda Lairen Pakhangba |work=The People's Chronicle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119084314/http://www.thepeopleschronicle.in/daily/english/1781 |archive-date=19 January 2021 |access-date=21 March 2022}}</ref>