STEDT Etymon #670
1.0 The Body > 1.9 Reproductive System > 1.9.6 Womb
#670 PTB *s-b-rum WOMB / PLACENTA |
This etymon is not reconstructed in STC, but appears in VSTB pp. 225-6 and Matisoff 1983 [fn: “Translucent insights: a look at Proto-Sino-Tibetan through Gordon H. Luce’s Comparative Wordlist.” BSOAS 46.3:462-76.] #52.
This root occurs in the NE Indian Areal Group, Himalayish, and perhaps Lolo-Burmese (Ugong). There are possible Chinese comparanda (below). WT shows variation between -r- and -l-. The b- has been treated as a prefix and dropped everywhere but in WT and Chinese. For a similar doubly prefixed form set up for PTB, cf. *s-b-rul SNAKE. WT hlums reflects an alternant *s-lum. This *s- prefix seems to have preempted the initial consonant in Tsangla shum, wak◦tsa ɕum ‘placenta’.
We now consider this etymon to be independent of #680 PTB *s-lam WOMB / PLACENTA, even though they were treated as allofams in VSTB and Matisoff 1983.
| rn | analysis | lgid | reflex | gloss | gfn | language | grpid | grpno | grp | genetic | citation | srcabbr | srcid | rn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 514785 | 670 | 2012 | s-|brum | pregnant | *Tibeto-Burman | 2 | 0.1 | Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions) | 0 | Matisoff 03 HPTB | JAM-HPTB | 585 | 0 | |
| 305012 | 670 | 1470 | rəm | afterbirth | Tangkhul | 66 | 1.3.4 | Tangkhulic | 1 | Bhat 69 TNV | Bhat-TNV | 84 | 0 | |
| 116378 | 670 | 1472 | rəm | placenta | Tangkhul | 66 | 1.3.4 | Tangkhulic | 1 | Matisoff 87 BP | JAM-Ety | 0 | ||
| 144677 | 670 | 1476 | rəm | placenta | Tangkhul | 66 | 1.3.4 | Tangkhulic | 1 | Matisoff 78 VSTB | JAM-VSTB | 0 | ||
| 62063 | 670 | 1098 | shum | placenta | Tsangla (Central) | 22 | 2.1.2 | Bodic | 1 | Egli-Roduner | SER-HSLT | 35 16 | 0 | |
| 42233 | m,2727,670 | 1086 | wak◦tsa ɕum | placenta | Tsangla (Motuo) | 22 | 2.1.2 | Bodic | 1 | Sun H 80 MLD | SLZO-MLD | 0 | ||
| 220072 | 670 | 1550 | rəm | hatch | Tibetan (Amdo:Bla-brang) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Sun H 91 ZMYY | ZMYYC | 786.4 | 0 | |
| 31046 | 670 | 1572 | hlums | womb (resp.) | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Matisoff 83 TIL | JAM-TIL | 52 | 0 | |
| 164889 | 670 | 1565 | lhums | womb | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Luce 85 | GHL-PPB | X.213 | 0 | |
| 116418 | 670 | 1568 | lhums | womb | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Matisoff 87 BP | JAM-Ety | 0 | ||
| 144683 | 670 | 1574 | lhums | womb | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Matisoff 78 VSTB | JAM-VSTB | 0 | ||
| 164888 | 670 | 1565 | rum | womb | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Luce 85 | GHL-PPB | X.213 | 0 | |
| 116420 | 670 | 1568 | rum | womb | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Matisoff 87 BP | JAM-Ety | 0 | ||
| 31045 | 670 | 1572 | rum | womb | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Matisoff 83 TIL | JAM-TIL | 52 | 0 | |
| 144684 | 670 | 1574 | rum | womb | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Matisoff 78 VSTB | JAM-VSTB | 0 | ||
| 144685 | 670,s | 1574 | sbrum-pa | pregnant | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Matisoff 78 VSTB | JAM-VSTB | 1 | ||
| 172458 | 670,s | 1564 | sbrum◦pa | pregnant | Tibetan (Written) | 24 | 2.1.2.1 | Tibetan | 1 | Marrison 67 Naga | GEM-CNL | 0 | ||
| 173011 | 670,672 | 1618 | lọ̵̌ŋ◦yɛ́ʔ | placenta | Ugong | 48 | 6.1.2.3 | Southern Loloish | 1 | Bradley 93 Ugo | DB-Ugong | 10.4.11 | 0 | |
| 609814 | 670 | 2207 | 範 | casting mold | Chinese (Hanzi) | 52 | 9 | Sinitic | 1 | BaxterSagart 2011 | WHBLS-2011 | 662 | 0 | |
| 604152 | 670 | 2211 | 0626d | casting mold | Chinese (GSR #) | 52 | 9 | Sinitic | 1 | BaxterSagart 2011 | WHBLS-2011 | 662 | 0 | |
| 31044 | 670 | 475 | b'i̯wǎm | mould, matrix | Chinese (Old) | 53 | 9.0.1 | Old Chinese | 0 | Matisoff 83 TIL | JAM-TIL | 52 | 2 | |
| 600078 | 670 | 2210 | bomʔ {[b](r)omʔ} | casting mold | Chinese (Old) | 53 | 9.0.1 | Old Chinese | 0 | BaxterSagart 2011 | WHBLS-2011 | 662 | 0 | |
| 596004 | 670 | 2209 | bjomX | casting mold | Chinese (Middle) | 54 | 9.0.2 | Middle Chinese | 0 | BaxterSagart 2011 | WHBLS-2011 | 662 | 0 | |
| 591930 | 670 | 2208 | fàn | casting mold | Chinese (Mandarin) | 55 | 9.0.3 | Modern Chinese | 0 | BaxterSagart 2011 | WHBLS-2011 | 662 | 0 |
Luce 1981 (“A Comparative Word-List of Old Burmese, Chinese, and Tibetan”) compares this root with 範 OC *b'i̯wɑ̆m, Mand. fàn, glossed by him as ‘mould, matrix’. See Matisoff 1983: #52 (“Transclucent insights”). For the semantic connection, cf. Latin and English matrix ‘womb; a situation or surrounding substance in which something originates’, ult. < mater ‘mother’.
範 OC *bʼi̯wɑ̆m, GSR #626d ‘mould; rule, law’; Li 1971: *bjamx; Baxter 1992: (*bjamʔ / *b(r)jomʔ); Mand. fàn.
Baxter does not reconstruct this word. There are several possible reconstructions in his system, as indicated above. The Chinese word 範 may be related to 凡 ‘general rule, pattern’, Mand. fán and 法 ‘law, model’, Mand. fǎ, reconstructed *b(r)jom and *pjap respectively by Baxter.
[ZJH]
妊 OC *ńi̯əm, GSR #667i ‘pregnant’; Li 1971: *njəmh; Baxter 1992: *njɨms; Mand. rèn.
Gong (1995 #368) proposed that this Chinese word was cognate to WT sbrum < *smrum. However, the vowel and initial correspondences are not regular, and the comparison is not found in Gong’s later publications. Schuessler 2007:441 treats 妊 rèn ‘pregnant’ as an internal Chinese derivation from 任 rèn ‘carry on the shoulder, to load’.
[ZJH]
The word-family relationship between WT rum ‘womb’ and sbrum-pa ‘pregnant’ was already recognized by W. Simon (1975:250).
The credit for recognizing the cognacy of this Chinese word with forms in Tibetan belongs to G.H. Luce (1981). See Matisoff 1983 #52. The labial initial is paralleled in WT sbrum-pa ‘pregnant’.