STEDT
The Body  ›  Limbs, Joints, and Body Measures  ›  Hand, Arm, Wing
STEDT #1327

*pwaŋ

ARM (upper) / SHOULDER
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Reconstruction analysis

handlebOŋinitialbrhymea/oŋcoverP · N

Connections

Poss. allofam*dwaŋ ‘WING / HAND’

Notes

This root is well distributed in several subgroups, with a good Chinese comparandum. It frequently appears as the second member of compounds after reflexes of #695 PTB *lak HAND/LIMB. Semantically, it is firmly in the area of UPPER ARM rather than HAND.

Jingpho məbùʔ ‘wing’ (poetic couplet of sìŋkō) seems to point to an allofam with homorganic final stop, as is probably the case with the first syllable of Sangtam pük yang ‘arm’.

Reflexes of this root are divided between plausible prototypes with *-aŋ and those with a back vowel (*-oŋ or *-uŋ). Hence the reconstruction with *-w-. For similar outcomes, cf. #711 PTB *dwaŋ WING / HAND.

This root is phonosemantically similar to #745 PTB *ban ARM / HAND / SHOULDER, but should be kept distinct from it.

Chinese comparandum

膀 ‘upper arms’; GSR: not in #740; Li 1971: (*bangx); Baxter 1992: (*bangʔ); B & S 2011: (*[b]ˤaŋʔ); Schuessler 2007:170 (see below 膊); Mand. bǎng.

JAM: Yang 1980 cites 肩膀 ‘shoulder’ Mand. jiānbǎng and 翅膀 ‘wing’ Mand. chìbǎng, where the second element 膀 has the same phonetic as other members of GSR #740, with the basic meaning of SIDE. For instance:

房 OC *b’iwɑng, GSR #740y ‘side-room’; Mand. fáng
旁 OC *b’wɑ̂ng, GSR #740f’ ‘side, on all sides’; Mand. páng
傍 OC *b’wɑ̂ng, GSR #740m’ ‘at the side of; assist’; Mand. bàng.

ZJH: 膀 bǎng is not attested in early Chinese sources, which is the reason it is not found in GSR or the other sources for OC reconstruction (the reconstructions I have provided may therefore be anachronistic); it is either an old colloquial/dialectal term that was not recorded in texts, or a later development within Chinese. Schuessler (2007:170) raises the possibility that it derives from Chinese 膊 *pâk ‘shoulder blade’ (Mand. bó). But in terms of semantics and phonetics, 膀 bǎng is a good match for the TB root.

Reflexes & cognates186 reflexes · 31 subgroups

1NE Indian Areal Group1

Mijipʰaŋ ‘arm’Simon 79 Miji

1.1.1.1Western Tani22

1.1.1.2Eastern Tani4

Damuŋemorpheme-pəŋ ‘shoulder’Sun J 93 Tani

1.1.2Deng7

Iduiprefix◦ȴi#563 PTB *m/p-lyaŋ ‘SHOULDER’PKC *liaŋ ‘SHOULDER / WALL-PLATE’PKar *pleŋᴬ ‘SHOULDER’◦pã aprefix◦kumorpheme◦tumorpheme◦lumorpheme ‘shoulder(blade)’Pulu 78

1.2.1.2Southern Plains Chin2

Asho (Sandoway)ăˋprefixɓɔã¹ ‘arm’This form nicely confirms our reconstruction.Luce 85: N.35
Awa Khumisʻăprefix◦bɔ̃² ‘arm’Luce 85: N.35

1.3.1Central Naga (Ao Group)2

Ao (Mongsen: Mangmetong)[tə]prefix-umorpheme◦phaŋ n.‘shoulder’Coupe 07 Ao

1.3.2Angami-Pochuri Group6

Angami (Kohima)(u)prefix bo¹¹ ‘arm’Nienu 90 AngQ: 6.1
Angami (Kohima)uprefix◦bou ‘arm’Marrison 67 Naga
Chokri(u)prefix bo¹¹ ‘arm’Nienu 90 ChoQ: 6.1
Chokribo³¹ tso³¹morpheme thi¹¹morpheme ‘arm muscles / biceps’Nienu 90 ChoQ: 6.1.3
Chokriuprefix◦bo ‘arm’Marrison 67 Naga

1.6Mru2

Mrubong ‘arm’Løffler 66 Mru
Mrupɑŋ²kɔᵊt⁴morpheme ‘shoulder’Luce 85: R.26

1.7.3.1Jingpho2

Jingphomăprefix◦bùʔ ‘wing’Hanson 06 KcDc: 406
Jingpho (Hkauri)shingprefix◦bang ‘shoulderblade’Matisoff 87 BP

1.7.3.2Asakian1

Kadu ("Sak")taprefix◦paung ‘arm’Löffler 64 Chak

2.1.1Western Himalayish1

Bunanpum◦pasuffix ‘shoulder’Sharma, S.R. 91 Bu: 5.3

2.1.2Bodic11

Baimabo¹³ dzo³⁵morpheme ‘fist’Sun H 91 Baim: 6.1.7.3
Kaikepāmorpheme◦pung ‘arm’Hale 73 CSD: 66
Tsangla (Central)phang◦masuffix ‘shoulder’Egli-Roduner: 33 7a
Tsangla (Motuo)phaŋ◦masuffix ‘shoulder’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 250.7
Tsangla (Motuo)pʰaŋ⁵⁵ ma¹³suffix ‘shoulder’Zhang Jichuan 86
Tsangla (Motuo)pʰaŋ◦masuffix ‘shoulder’Sun H 80 MLD
Tsangla (Tilang)pʰaŋ-masuffix ‘shoulder’Zhang Jichuan 86
Tshona (Wenlang)pum⁵⁵ pɑ⁵⁵suffix ‘shoulder’Lu 86 CuoM
Tshona (Mama)pu⁵⁵ pᴀ⁵³suffix ‘shoulder’Sun H 80 MLD
Tshona (Mama)pu⁵⁵pᴀ⁵³suffix ‘shoulder’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 250.6
Motuo Menbaphaŋ masuffix n‘shoulder’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 0090.07

2.1.2.1Tibetan15

Tibetan (Batang)bõ⁵⁵ pa⁵⁵suffix ‘arm’Dai 89 Bata: 6.1
Tibetan (Jirel)pāmorpheme◦pung ‘arm’Hale 73 CSD: 66
Tibetan (Jirel)pung◦bāqsuffix ‘shoulder’Matisoff 87 BP
Tibetan (Lhasa)puŋ⁵⁵paː⁵⁵morpheme cheː⁵⁵morpheme v.‘shoulder’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1473.02
Tibetan (Lhasa)puŋ⁵⁵pa⁵³suffix ‘shoulder’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 250.2
Tibetan (Lhasa)puŋ⁵⁵pa⁵⁵morphemeche⁵⁵morpheme ‘carry on shoulder’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 593.2
Tibetan (Lhasa)puŋ⁵⁵pə⁵⁵suffix n‘shoulder’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 0090.02
Sherpapu◦muqmorpheme ‘shoulder’Matisoff 87 BP
Tibetan (Written)dpuṅ-pasuffix ‘shoulder’Marrison 67 Naga
Tibetan (Written)dpuṅ-pasuffix ‘shoulder’Matisoff 87 BP
Tibetan (Written)dpuṅ-pasuffix rkaṅ#336 PTB *r-k(y)aŋ ‘FOOT / LEG’MesorootsPKar *khaŋᴮ ‘LEG’Allofams1a #336 PTB *r-k(y)aŋ ‘FOOT / LEG’1b #338 PTB *r-kya-ŋ ‘FOOT’ ‘upper arm bone’Matisoff 87 BP
Tibetan (Written)dpuŋ pasuffix ‘shoulder’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 250.1
Tibetan (Written)dpuŋ parmorpheme ɦkhjermorpheme ‘carry on shoulder’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 593.1
Tibetan (Written)dpuŋ-pasuffix ‘shoulder’Zhang Liansheng 88: 30

2.2Newar2

Newarbwaː◦kwae̥morpheme ‘shoulder blade / scapula’Matisoff 87 BP

2.4Kham-Magar-Chepang2

Kham'po̥ ‘shoulder’Matisoff 87 BP
Kham'põː ‘shoulder’Watters 89 KhQ: 2.A.29

3.2Qiangic7

Pumi (Taoba)sa⁵⁵morpheme põ⁵⁵ ‘shoulder’Lu 83 Pumi
Pumi (Taoba)sa⁵⁵morphemepõ⁵⁵ ‘shoulder’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 250.10

6.1.1Burmish13

Hpun (Northern)kăprefix◦paŋ ‘shoulder’Henderson 86 Hpun

6.1.2.1Northern Loloish25

Yi (Dafang)bɯ²¹ pʰa³³morpheme ‘leg (thigh)’Chen 85 YiJZ
Yi (Dafang)bɯ²¹pʰa³³morpheme ‘thigh’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 264.22

6.1.2.2Central Loloish9

Sani [Nyi]bu³³ ‘shoulder’Wu 84: 25.2
Sani [Nyi]bu³³ tɕʰæ³³morpheme ‘shoulder’Wu 84: 25.3
Sani [Nyi]bu³³tɕhɛ³³morpheme ‘shoulder’Wu 84

6.1.2.3Southern Loloish9

9.0.3Modern Chinese2

Chinese (Mandarin)chìmorpheme◦bǎng ‘wing’Evans 91

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #1327, *pwaŋ ‘ARM (upper) / SHOULDER’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1327
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-1327,
  title  = {{*pwaŋ 'ARM (upper) / SHOULDER'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #1327},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1327}
}