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STEDT #1787

*(p/b)rat

BREAK / WEAN
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Reconstruction analysis

handlepratprefixNinitialprrhymeatcoverP · T

Connections

HPTB*brat ⪤ *prat ‘cut apart / cut open’p. 334
HPTB (PLB)*C-pratᴸ ⪤ *ʔ-bratᴸ ‘cut apart / cut into’p. 330

Notes

Jingpho pràt, šə pràt ‘bear, give birth’ are probably to be assigned to this etymon, the semantic connection being the separation of the child from the mother.

See *brat ⪤ *prat ‘cut apart, cut open’, HPTB:330,334.

Chinese comparanda

別 OC *pi̯ɑt, GSR #292a ‘divide, separate’; Li 1971: *pjiat; Baxter 1992: *prjat; Mand. bié.

There is a related Chinese word with voiced initial, GSR *b'i̯ɑt (ibid.), also written 別, meaning ‘to be different’. This voicing alternation is a common Old Chinese morphological process seen in transitive/intransitive verb pairs. Although the TB etymon also has a voicing alternation, this is likely to be an independent phenomenon.

The Chinese and PTB forms correspond perfectly. This cognate set has been proposed by Gong (1995 #209). Gong 2001 reconstructs the intransitive Chinese verb as *N-brjat > *brjat and the transitive counterpart as *s-brjat > *s-prjat > *prjat.

列 OC *li̯ɑt, GSR #291a ‘divide, distribute, arrange, rank’; Li 1971: *ljat; Baxter 1992: *C-rjat; Mand. liè.

裂 OC *li̯ɑt, GSR #291f ‘tear asunder, divide’; Li 1971: *ljat; Baxter 1992: *C-rjat; Mand. liè.

These two homophonous Chinese words are clearly related. Gong (2001) relates 裂 liè to the two words written with 別 bié, while Schuessler (2007:167) says that 別 bié is probably cognate to 列 liè.1 Gong reconstructs 裂 liè as *brjat > *rjat, treating it as the root from which the two words written with 別 bié are derived.

On Baxter’s *C-r-, see the discussion under #3438 PTB *(r/l)um EGG. The relationship to 別 bié suggests that in Baxter’s reconstruction the consonant represented by *C would most likely be reconstructed as *b.
[ZJH]

1 Schuessler gives the Baxter system reconstruction of 別 as *prjet. While this is a possible reconstruction, *prjat is more likely given the word-family connections.

Reflexes & cognates19 reflexes · 7 subgroups

0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)1

*Tibeto-Burmanbrat ⪤ prat ‘cut apart / cut open’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 585

1.7.3.1Jingpho2

Jingphopràt ‘bear, give birth’Matisoff 93 PC
Jingphošəprefix pràt ‘bear, give birth’Matisoff 93 PC

3.2Qiangic1

3.3.1rGyalrong3

rGyalrongkaprefix pr̥ɛt ‘wean’Dai 89 Jiar: 5.4.7
rGyalrong (Eastern)kaprefix◦səmorpheme◦pʰʃit ‘wean’Sun H 91 rEQ: 5.4.7
rGyalrong (Northern)nomorpheme◦prət ‘wean’Sun H 91 rNQ: 5.4.7

6.1Lolo-Burmese2

*Lolo-Burmese(ʔ-)brat ⪤ CⓋ-prat ‘cut (open)’Matisoff 85 GSTC: 027
*Lolo-BurmeseCprefix-pratᴸ ⪤ ʔprefix-bratᴸ ‘cut apart / cut into’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 585

6.1.1Burmish10

Burmese (Written)nuiʼmorpheme phrat ‘wean’Matisoff 93 PC
Burmese (Written)phjɑt⁴ v.‘cut off / sever (transitive)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1341.26
Burmese (Written)phrat v‘cut (with knife)’Marrison 67 Naga
Burmese (Written)phrat ‘cut something in two (causative)’Matisoff 85 GSTC: 027
Burmese (Written)phrat ‘cut in two’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)phrat ‘cut in two’LaPolla 87: 169
Burmese (Written)phrɑt⁴ ‘cut (paper, cloth)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1167.26
Burmese (Written)pjɑt⁴ v.‘cut off / sever (intransitive)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1341.26
Burmese (Written)prat be v.‘cut in two (simplex)’Matisoff 85 GSTC: 027
Burmese (Written)prat be v.‘cut in two’Benedict 76 WBur

6.1.2.2Central Loloish3

Lahu (Black)pèʔ ‘split, crack, get cracked’Matisoff 88 DL: 1072
Lahu (Black)phèʔ ‘cut open; perform a surgical operation’The Lahu expression cú phâʔ means ‘to wean’, but the second syllable descends from PLB *pak ‘take apart; dismantle; separate from’ (LTSR #64), not from *prat. (The regular Lahu reflex of *-at is -eʔ.)Matisoff 85 GSTC: 027
Lahu (Black)phᴀ⁵⁴ ‘cut open (fish)’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 636.33

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #1787, *(p/b)rat ‘BREAK / WEAN’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1787
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: Burmish, Qiangish, Geman
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-1787,
  title  = {{*(p/b)rat 'BREAK / WEAN'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #1787},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1787}
}