▪ I. mani1
(ˈmɑːnɪ)
Also 8 many, 9 mannee.
[a. Sp. mani (Pineda); prob. from some S. American language.]
1. A South American earth-nut (see quot. 1866).
| 1717 tr. Frezier's Voy. 186 They have..a Sort of Fruit there [at Pisco], which grows in a Cod that does not rise out of the Earth..The Inhabitants call it Many. Ibid., marg., Many Fruit. 1760–72 tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) I. 78 Another fruit, called mani, is produced by a small plant. It is of the size and shape of a pine cone. 1825 Gentl. Mag. XCV. i. 318 The Jack-fruit, sweet sops, sour sops, mannees [etc.]. 1866 Treas. Bot. 717/2 Mani,..a Spanish name of the Ground Nut, Arachis hypogæa. |
2. A South American tree (see quot. 1866).
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 757/1 M[oronobea] coccinea, the Hog Gum tree... In Guiana and Brazil, where it is called Mani or Oanani, the natives make torches with it. 1800 Asiat. Ann. Reg., Misc. Tr. 75 note, The mani-tree, which yields a timber that is almost imperishable. |
▪ II. ‖ mani2
(ˈmɑːnɪ)
[Tibetan máṇi, f. Skr. maṇ{iacu} precious stone (as in the jewel-lotus prayer om maṇ{iacu} padme hum ‘Oh the lotus-jewel, Amen’).]
In full, mani wall. A Tibetan ‘prayer wall’, covered with stones piously inscribed (see also quots.)
| 1863 E. Schlagintweit Buddhism in Tibet xiii. 196 Mani, originally a Sanskrit word meaning ‘a precious stone’,..is used to designate walls of about six feet in height and four to eight feet in breadth. 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 197/2 It [sc. the palace at Lé] is surrounded by poplar plantations, with manis and ch'hordtens beyond. Ibid., ‘Mani’, a long stone wall, several feet wide, running along the roadside, covered with loose stones deposited by the passers-by, inscribed with the prayer or ejaculation, ‘Om mani padme hom’. 1925 B. Beetham in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest, 1924 i. viii. 171 The mani-walls (prayer-stones) had once been of an unusually imposing nature. 1952 H. W. Tilman Nepal Himalaya iv. 39 The longest mani wall I have ever seen—nearly three hundred yards of it... On each side are flat stones with carved Buddhas or religious texts for the benefit of passers-by. 1953 Tsung-Lien Shen & Shen-Chi Liu Tibet v. 118 The approach to a village or monastery is marked by a Mani wall or by a pagoda. 1959 Times 23 May 7/6 The people here are Buddhist and there is abundant evidence of their faith—mani (or prayer) walls. |