maina

Mynah (also spelled myna or mina) derives from Hindi mainā (मैना), itself related to Sanskrit madanā and cognate with Malay maina. The word traveled into English primarily through both direct Indian contact during British rule in India and through the Malay-speaking world, where the bird was similarly known. English spellings have varied — myna, mina, mynah, mina bird — but the Hindi-Malay root has remained constant. The word appears in English records from the seventeenth century onward as European traders and colonists in South Asia and Southeast Asia encountered these remarkably vocal birds.

Mynahs (family Sturnidae, various genera) are members of the starling family, native to South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Central Asia. The most famous is the common hill mynah (Gracula religiosa), a Southeast Asian species distributed from the eastern Himalayas to the Greater Sunda Islands, including the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java. The hill mynah is the species most prized for its ability to mimic human speech — its vocal range and precision exceed that of parrots in many respects, and it can reproduce vowel quality and intonation with striking accuracy. It has been kept as a pet by the courts of Southeast Asian rulers, by Hindu and Buddhist temples (where it was considered sacred), and by sailors and traders who brought it on long voyages.

The common myna (Acridotheres tristis), a distinct species from the Indian subcontinent, has been one of the most successful bird introductions in history. Brought to Australia in the 1860s by European settlers who wanted familiar birds from home, and independently introduced to Hawaii, South Africa, New Zealand, and dozens of other locations, the common myna is now listed by the IUCN among the world's 100 worst invasive species. Its adaptability to urban environments and its aggressive competition with native cavity-nesting birds have made it a significant ecological problem. The hill mynah, by contrast, is now threatened in parts of its range by trapping for the pet trade.

In Southeast Asian culture the mynah occupies a long and layered cultural position. In Malay oral literature and shadow puppet theater (wayang), the maina bird appears as a messenger and witness. In Bali, the Bali myna (Leucopsar rothschildi) — a distinct white species — is the island's official bird, so rare in the wild (fewer than 100 individuals remain) that it exists primarily in captivity and in conservation programs. The name maina, in one form or another, has persisted in local languages across the region for millennia.