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manishee, manishie, managie, monishi, manishi, manshie, mainshie noun a woman; a wife, now also used by non-Gypsy speakers: Frankie and his manshie Sally had three just as big laddies, and two lassies. 19-. etymology: Romany, from Sanskrit mānusi, manasvini ‘proud woman’; form manishie attested by Galloway and Perthshire and Argyleshire Tinkler-Gypsies and collected by Rev John Baird and Joseph F G S Lucas from Kirk Yethokm Gypsies; form managie also collected by Simson (1865) and attested by six of his informants form manishee also attested by one of his informants; form manishi collected by EMcC/PS; form monishi attested in Shelta and collected by RD; forms mainshie, manshie, manishie attested by BS in TDITA and JS; form manishee attested by SR and ET note:

Perhaps a development from the name of a Hindu goddess Minakshi an earthly manifestation of the Goddess Parvati and has a temple dedicated to her at Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. Simson (1865) also suspected that the form Managie ‘...signifies the name of a person, such as John or James.’

Form manishie also attested by Canadian Paul Pope (2013) which he defines as: ‘a slang term for a woman’.