*gaŋ

This etymon has solid reflexes in the NE Indian Areal Group (Garo, Karbi) and Himalayish (Lepcha, Manchati). Several Chinese comparanda suggest themselves: 雄 OC *gi̯ŭng, GSR #887l ‘male’; Mand. xióng, and/or 犅 OC *kɑ̂ng, GSR #697f-g, ‘bull’; Mand. gāng. A less plausible comparison is with 公 OC *kung, GSR #1173a-f ‘father; prince’; Mand gōng (although Karlgren notes that ‘some of these forms seem to suggest a phallic interpretation’). STC (n. 488, p. 190) suggests comparing this last Chinese morpheme to TB forms like Rawang əkhaŋ ‘grandfather’; WB pha’-khaŋ ‘father’, mi’-khaŋ ‘mother’, khaŋ-pwân ‘spouse’, and khaŋ-bhya ‘sir; madam’. It seems unlikely, however, that this group of forms has anything specifically to do with maleness; it seems rather to have been an honorific appellation for an elder or respected relative of either sex.

雄 OC *gi̯ŭng, GSR #887l ‘male’; Li 1971: *gwjəng; Baxter 1992 #1348: *wjɨng; Mand. xióng.

This proposed cognate is doubtful. The OC labialized initial plus schwa vocalism would normally correspond to a rounded vowel in PTB.
[ZJH]

犅 OC *kɑ̂ng, GSR #697f-g ‘bull’; Li 1971: *kang; Baxter 1992: *kang; Mand. gāng.

The proposed cognacy works phonetically, but one must also note a competing etymology with equally persuasive semantics that relates this Chinese word to WT glang ‘cow, elephant’. (Gong 1995 and 2001 instead relate WT glang to OC ‘elephant’ 象 *gljangx > *ljangx.)

Schuessler (2007:251) suggests that 犅 may come from earlier *klaŋ, and posits a relationship with Mru klaŋ ‘male’ and Lushai (Mizo) tlaŋ ‘male’, as well as with WT glang. He proposes a PTB root *laŋ with animal prefix *s- or *k-.¹

Note the parallel etymology with a homophonous member of the same phonetic series 岡 ‘ridge’ (Mand. gāng), which has been compared to WT sgang ‘hill, spur’ and WB khang ‘strip of high ground’ (see for example Coblin 1986:94-2).²
[ZJH]