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STEDT #1811

*ʔ-bu ⪤ *pu

BORN / BIRTH / BUD / BLOOM
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Reconstruction analysis

handlebəwprefixʔinitialbrhymeəwcoverP · W

Connections

HPTB*s-bu ‘bud / open’p. 184

Notes

The basic meaning of this root seems to be ‘bloom, open up (as a flower), bud’, thence ‘give birth’. It is reconstructed in STC #260 as ‘open, bud’, with reflexes offered from WT, Nung, Jingpho, WB, and Karbi. The semantic connection between this root for ‘open, bloom’ and ‘bear a child’ was first suggested by W. T. French (1983:455), who reconstructs Proto-Northern Naga *ʔ-bəw. STC reconstructs both voiceless- and voiced-initial allofams (*bu ⪤ *pu), which we can now interpret as reflecting a simplex/causative opposition (‘bloom’ vs. ‘cause to bud’ [i.e. ‘give birth’]). A PLB reconstruction *ʔpu² (equivalent to *ʔbu²) is given in Matisoff 1988, The Dictionary of Lahu (p. 831), with the glottalization inferred from the very-low tone of the Lahu reflex pū. This reinforces French’s PNN reconstruction with *ʔ-, as does the a-chung [ḥ] in the WT reflex (ḥbu). The Phom form bəʔ cited by French (loc. cit.) has been reanalyzed as belonging under #3480 PTB *(p/b)(i/u)k BORN / GIVE BIRTH [q.v.].

Chinese comparandum

阜 OC *b’i̯ôg, GSR #1108a-c ‘big mound; big, fat; abundant; wealth’; Schuessler 2007:244-5 *buʔ ; B & S 2011: *buʔ {[b](r)uʔ}; Mand. fù.

Reflexes & cognates63 reflexes · 20 subgroups

0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)4

*Tibeto-Burmanbu ⪤ pu ‘open / bud’Benedict 72 STC: 260
*Tibeto-Burmansprefix-bu ‘bud / open’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 585

1.1.1.1Western Tani7

Apataniaprefix-pú ‘blossom’Sun J 93 Tani
Apataniomorpheme-bu v‘birth, give’Apatani preserves reflexes of both the voiceless and voiced allofams of this etymon (pù ‘bloom’; bu ‘give birth’).Sun J 93 Tani
Apataniomorpheme-bu-nɯsuffix ‘birth’Sun J 93 Tani
Apatanipù ‘bloom’Sun J 93 Tani
Galoaomorpheme be-namsuffix v‘birth’Das Gupta 63 Gal
Galoaomorpheme-be-nasuffix ‘fertile (of animal)’Das Gupta 63 Gal

1.3.1Central Naga (Ao Group)1

Lotha Nagapu◦pəmmorpheme- v.‘bud, be about to bloom’Bruhn 14 SuppCN

1.3.2Angami-Pochuri Group2

Chokripü ‘birth, give’Marrison 67 Naga
Ntenyipfüa ‘birth, give’Marrison 67 Naga

1.5Mikir [Karbi]3

Mikir [Karbi]iŋprefix◦pú ‘bud / swell’Weidert 87 TBTo: 264
Mikir [Karbi]iŋprefix◦pu ‘open, dilate’Benedict 72 STC: 260

1.7.2Northern Naga/Konyakian1

*Northern Nagaʔ-bəw v.‘bear a child’French 83: 455

1.7.2.2Konyak-Chang2

Konyakpu ‘birth, give’Marrison 67 Naga
Konyakpu v‘birth, give’French 83: 455

1.7.3.1Jingpho6

Jingphopu v.‘bloom, bud’Benedict 72 STC: 260
Jingphopu̱³¹ ‘flower (blossom of fruit)’Liu 84
Jingphopu̱³¹ v.‘blossom (of flowers)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1463.19
Jingphopu̱³¹ ‘bloom’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 789.47
Jingpho¹pu ‘bud / swell’Weidert 87 TBTo: 264
Jingphoəprefix◦pu ‘blossom, bud’Benedict 72 STC: 260

2.1.2.1Tibetan1

Tibetan (Written)ḥbu-basuffix ‘open (of flowers)’Benedict 72 STC: 260

2.2Newar1

Newarbu-yesuffix be v.‘born’Matisoff 93 PC

2.3.3Central Kiranti1

Khaling'bu-nemorpheme v‘birth, give’Hale 73 CSD: 03b.46

3.2Qiangic1

Xumibu³⁵ ‘bloom’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 789.20

5Tujia7

Tujia (Northern)kha⁵⁵morphemephu⁵⁵ ‘flower’Tian 86
Tujiakha⁵⁵morphemephu⁵⁵ nveg‘flower’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 0377.49
Tujiakha⁵⁵morphemephu⁵⁵ ‘flower’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 228.38
Tujia (Northern)kha⁵⁵morphemephu⁵⁵phu²¹ ‘bloom’Tian 86
Tujiaphu²¹ v.‘blossom (of flowers)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1463.49
Tujiaphu²¹ ‘bloom’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 789.38
Tujia (Southern)tsu³³morphemepu³⁵do⁵⁵morpheme ‘bloom’Tian 86

6.1Lolo-Burmese1

6.1.1Burmish16

Achang (Lianghe)ɑ³¹prefixpo³¹po³¹ ‘bloom’Dai 85 AcJZ
Bola (Luxi)pɔ³⁵ v.‘blossom (of flowers)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1463.32
Burmese (Rangoon)ɑ⁵³prefixphu⁵⁵ nveg‘bud’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 0381.27
Burmese (Written)ăprefix◦phù ‘bud, swelling’Benedict 72 STC: 260
Burmese (Written)aprefix◦phū: n‘bud’Marrison 67 Naga
Burmese (Written)phù ‘bud / swell into protuberance’Weidert 87 TBTo: 264
Burmese (Written)phû ‘bud, swell into protuberance’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)phù v.‘bud / swell into protuberance’Benedict 72 STC: 260
Burmese (Written)əprefix-phû n.‘bud; a pimple, boil’Benedict 76 WBur
Langsu (Luxi)pu⁵⁵ v.‘blossom (of flowers)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1463.31
Atsi [Zaiwa]pau²¹ ‘birth, give’Xu 84 Zaiwa
Atsi [Zaiwa]pau²¹ ‘birth, give’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 774.42
Atsi [Zaiwa]po⁵⁵ v.‘blossom (of flowers)’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1463.30

6.1.2.1Northern Loloish2

Noesubo²¹ ‘birth, give’Chen 86 Yi: 10.4.15
Yi (Mile)bu³³ ‘birth, give (taboo)’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 774.25

6.1.2.2Central Loloish7

Ahibu²² ‘birth, give’Chen 86 Yi: 10.4.15
Jinuo (Youle)po³³ ‘bloom’Gai 86
Jinuopɔ³³ ‘bloom’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 789.34
Lisubu²¹ ‘bloom’Matisoff 88 DL: 831
Sani [Nyi]a²¹prefix nɯ̱⁴⁴morpheme bu²¹ ‘birth, give’Wu 84: 25.4
Sani [Nyi]bu²¹ ‘birth, give’Wu 84

6.1.2.3Southern Loloish1

Haniby²¹ ‘bloom’Matisoff 88 DL: 831

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #1811, *ʔ-bu ⪤ *pu ‘BORN / BIRTH / BUD / BLOOM’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1811
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: STC#260, HPTB p.184
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-1811,
  title  = {{*ʔ-bu ⪤ *pu 'BORN / BIRTH / BUD / BLOOM'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #1811},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/1811}
}