STEDT
Verbs of Motion, of Manipulation, and of Production  ›  Social action
STEDT #181

*s-nya-s ⪤ *s-nyan

PUNISH / OPPRESS / COERCE
Proto-Tibeto-Burman · exemplary

Reconstruction analysis

handlenyeninitialnyrhymeencoverM · N

Connections

HPTB*nye-s ‘punish’pp. 203, 291
HPTB*s-nyen ‘hurt / oppress’pp. 204, 290, 296

Notes

We are combining two roots set up separately in STC: *nye ‘punish’ (#252) and s-nyen ‘oppress, coerce’ (#193).

Chinese comparandum

The primary comparandum is:

蹍 OC *ni̯ɑn, GSR #201c ‘trample’; B & S 2011: *nranʔ {[n]r[a][n]ʔ}; Mand. niǎn.

But consider the following as well:

展 OC *ti̯ɑn, GSR #201a ‘roll over, unfold, develop’; B & S 2011: *trenʔ; Mand. zhǎn.
輾 OC *ti̯ɑn, GSR #201b ‘roll over and back, roll to the side’; B & S 2011: *trenʔ {tre[n]ʔ; Mand. zhǎn.
碾 OC (*ni̯ɑn), not in GSR #201, but attested in MC, ‘grind, crush, husk; stone roller’, Mand. niǎn.

All four of the above etyma have a common semantic focus, i.e. ‘roll over’. Moreover, the first three (and likely the last) belong to the same OC phonetic series, and show OC *alveolar initials differing only in manner. This strongly suggests an allofamic relationship between 蹍, 展, 輾, and possibly 碾, to be reconstructed as *ti̯ɑn ⪤ *ni̯ɑn or similar for Old Chinese, if not earlier.

Reflexes & cognates17 reflexes · 8 subgroups

0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)4

*Tibeto-Burmannyen ‘oppress / coerce’Benedict 72 STC: 193
*Tibeto-Burmans-nyen ‘hurt / oppress’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 605

1.1.1.1Western Tani1

Bokarȵeː◦pamorpheme v.‘punish’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1308.24

1.7.3.1Jingpho4

Jingphonyé ‘punish; cause woe’Benedict 72 STC: 252
Jingphonyèn ‘coax, defraud’Benedict 72 STC: 193
Jingphonyéʔ ‘call (when threatening pigs)’Dai 83 Jing: 652
Jingphośənyèn ‘take by force, coerce’Benedict 72 STC: 193

1.7.3.2Asakian1

Saksənaiŋ ‘rob’Huziwara 08 Sak: 163-1

2.1.2.1Tibetan3

Tibetan (Written)nye-źomorpheme ‘mishap’Benedict 72 STC: 252
Tibetan (Written)nyen-pă be v.‘pained, pinched, pressed hard; to toil and moil’Benedict 72 STC: 193
Tibetan (Written)nyes-pasuffix ‘calamity ; punishment’Benedict 72 STC: 252

3.1Tangut1

Tangut [Xixia]ŋjir (ŋjĩ) ‘disaster, calamity’Li 97 Tangut: 2444

3.2Qiangic1

Queyu (Xinlong)ȵe¹³ pə⁵⁵morpheme brə³³morpheme v.‘punish’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1308.13

6.1.1Burmish6

Burmese (Written)hñâñ ‘oppress, bully’Matisoff 74 TJLB: 234
Burmese (Written)hñâñ ‘hurt, oppress’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)hńàń ‘hurt, oppress, bully’Benedict 72 STC: 193
Burmese (Written)ñâñ ‘sigh, moan; grumble’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)ńàń ‘sigh, moan, groan; grumble / murmur at’Benedict 72 STC: 193

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #181, *s-nya-s ⪤ *s-nyan ‘PUNISH / OPPRESS / COERCE’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/181
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: cf. STC#193, HPTB pp.204, 290, 296
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-181,
  title  = {{*s-nya-s ⪤ *s-nyan 'PUNISH / OPPRESS / COERCE'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #181},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/181}
}