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STEDT #1651

*tsyul ⪤ *tsywal

WOMB / PLACENTA / UMBILICAL CORD
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Reconstruction analysis

handletsyinitial(t)s(yrhymea/ulcoverTS · L

Intermediate reconstructions

Kuki-Chin*tshuul ‘WOMB / UTERUS’PKC #610

Notes

Some reflexes of this etymon have simple sibilant initials (e.g. Paangkhua sùul, Kham sal), while some have dental or palatal affricates, others have dental stops (e.g. Matupi and Maru) or even prefixed affricates (e.g. Pumi stʃuɑ⁵⁵). The vocalism of the reflexes ranges from -u- to -wa- to -o- to -a-. Semantically, this etymon varies in meaning from WOMB/PLACENTA to NEST and UMBILICAL CORD. This etymon is found throughout Chin and sporadically elsewhere in the NE Indian Areal Group (Mru); it also appears in Himalayish (often with the meaning UMBILICAL CORD and with -a- vocalism), and is also solidly attested in Qiangic. Inclusion of the Bai form is speculative.

Reflexes & cognates60 reflexes · 17 subgroups

1.2Kuki-Chin2

*Chintshuul ‘WOMB / UTERUS’VanBik 09 PKC: 610
Thanphumăˋprefixtʻuːn¹ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13

1.2.1.1Northern Chin6

Paitesul ‘womb, uterus’VanBik 09 PKC: 610
Thadosùul ‘womb’VanBik 09 PKC: 610
Tiddimsuːl³ ‘womb’VanBik 09 PKC: 610
Tiddimsʻul⁴ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13

1.2.1.2Southern Plains Chin1

Matupitʻul² ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13

1.2.2Central Chin16

Hwalngausʻuːl⁴ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13
Khualsimsʻuːl⁴ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13
Lai (Falam)sùul ‘womb, uterus’VanBik 09 PKC: 610
Lai (Hakha)sʻul² ‘womb’It is not clear what phonetic feature Luce was attempting to transcribe with his symbol <s'> (e.g. in Hakha, Hwalngau, Khualsim, Tiddim, and Zotung); a Hakha consultant in Berkeley pronounces this word with what sounds like an ordinary [s]. In general, PTB *s- > Proto-Chin *t(h)-, while PTB *ts- > Proto-Chin *s-.Luce 85: O.13
Lai (Hakha)tshǔul ‘womb, uterus’VanBik 09 PKC: 610
Lushai [Mizo]chhûl ‘placenta’Matisoff 87 BP
Lushai [Mizo]chhûl ‘womb; placenta’Matisoff 87 BP
Lushai [Mizo]chhùul n‘womb, the uterus, the placenta, the afterbirth’VanBik 09 PKC: 610
Lushai [Mizo]chʻuːl⁴ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13
Paangkhuamaprefix◦sùul ‘womb’Løffler 85 Paa

1.2.3Maraic8

Lailenpiməˊprefixcʻuʔ⁴ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13
Lakher [Mara]chhi<tshuul ‘womb’Contra Löffler 1966, I do not assign the Lushai (Mizo) and Mru forms to #661 PTB *s-tu VAGINA / VULVA.Løffler 85 Paa
Lothvo (Hiranpi)tsʻɤ⁴ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13
Meraăprefix◦tsʻiʔ¹ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13
Meraăprefix◦tsʻiʔ⁵ ‘womb’Luce 85: O.13
Zotungsʻwɛ⁵ ‘womb’Luce gives another Zotung form ʃɯ¹ for WOMB that I include under #1613 PTB *(t)s(i/u)p NEST / WOMB / SCROTUM.Luce 85: O.13

1.6Mru2

Mruthua ‘womb’Matisoff 87 BP
Mruthua ‘womb’Matisoff 78 VSTB

2.1.1Western Himalayish2

2.1.2.1Tibetan1

Tibetan (Written)śa-masuffix ‘placenta, afterbirth’The cognacy of WT śa is not certain, since WT does preserve final *-l. The first syllable is homophonous with śa (< #34 PTB *sya-n FLESH / MEAT / GAME ANIMAL), though Jäschke (p.556) does not include it under that lemma, evidently considering it to be a separate morpheme. The Newar form saː ‘placenta’ apparently means “house”, but Newar swa̩ ‘nest’ seems to be a genuine reflex of *tsywal.Jäschke 1881: 556

2.1.3Lepcha4

Lepchabammorpheme-tyól matmorpheme ‘copulate’Lepcha bam-tyól ‘concubine’ (Mainwaring 1898, p. 255).Matisoff 87 BP
Lepchakŭpmorpheme-tʻor ‘womb’This Lepcha syllable -t'or may in fact descend from a separate etymon than Lepcha -tyól (cf. Karbi tar ‘nest’).Matisoff 87 BP
Lepchatǎmorpheme-a'yŭmorpheme tyól ‘menses’Lepcha tǎ-a'yŭ ‘female’.Matisoff 87 BP

2.1.4Tamangish3

Chantyalsal ‘placenta’Noonan 92: 10.4.11
Thakali (Tukche)sāl ‘umbilical cord’Matisoff 87 BP

2.2Newar1

Newarswa̩/swa̩n- n‘nest’Hale 73 CSD: 03a.013

2.3.1Eastern Kiranti1

2.4Kham-Magar-Chepang2

Kham'sāl ‘umbilical cord’Matisoff 87 BP
Khamsal ‘umbilical cord’Watters 89 KhQ: 2.A.39

3.3rGyalrongic2

Ergong (Danba)mdʑo ‘nest’Qiangic shows evidence both for a nasal prefix (Ergong mdʑo, Ersu xuɑi⁵⁵ntʂhɛ⁵⁵) and prefixal *s- (Pumi Jinghua stʃuɑ⁵⁵).Sun H 91 ZMYY: 368.14
Ergong (Northern)tɕʰə⁵³ ‘placenta’Sun H 91 ErNQ: 10.4.11

3.3.1rGyalrong1

rGyalrongtaprefix lɟja ‘placenta’Dai 89 Jiar: 10.4.11

8Bai1

Bai (Bijiang)tso⁵⁵morphemetsheʴ⁴² ‘nest’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 368.37

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #1651, *tsyul ⪤ *tsywal ‘WOMB / PLACENTA / UMBILICAL CORD’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1651
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-1651,
  title  = {{*tsyul ⪤ *tsywal 'WOMB / PLACENTA / UMBILICAL CORD'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #1651},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1651}
}