Entry: phuʔsiNmaʔ
Grammar: vr.
Meaning: (with mɛlluN 'dowry' as object complement and the bride as subject) claim one's dowry, take one's dowry from one's parental home (po:Nmaʔ him) to the home of one's husband (pe:kmaʔ him).
Derivation: [< phuʔmaʔ sever]
Comments: On her first visit to her parental home after her marriage, the bride, unaccompanied by her husband, takes a phakhɔk as a gift from her new household to her parental home where a festive repast takes place. A Phedāppe Limbu dowry does not include real estate, as women do not traditionally inherit real estate, but comprises an inordinate amount of wares and money. Until the dowry is given (which is traditionally supposed to occur on the occasion of the bride's coming home with the phakhɔk), the parental home retains financial liability for the high costs of the bride's burial or cremation in the event of her death. The debt of an unpaid dowry passes on to the male heirs or sammabahaʔ (q.v.), the bride's brothers, should their parents die.
