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STEDT #198

*pʷa-n ⪤ *bʷa-n

GRANDMOTHER
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Intermediate reconstructions

Lolo-Burmese*bwa ‘GRANDMOTHER’STC p.24

Notes

HPTB:174 incorrectly gives “GSR 25q” as the source of the OC reconstruction. Actually, however, this character is not to be found in GSR, but is cited in STC:174 as well as in Benedict 1942 (“Tibetan and Chinese kinship terms”).

Chinese comparandum

婆 OC *b’wɑ̂, GSR #25q ‘saunter, dance’; Schuessler 2007:416 *buâ ‘old woman’; B & S 2011: *bˁaj {[b]ˁaj} ‘saunter, dance’; Mand. pó.

Karlgren cites 婆 pó as GSR #25q with the gloss “dance, saunter”; this meaning is attested in ancient sources such as Er Ya 爾雅, but is not relevant to the present comparandum. The meaning “old woman, grandmother, female relative”, which does concern us here, is attested for 婆 pó in post-Han times, and is the only meaning commonly associated with 婆 pó in modern standard Chinese. Of course, it is possible (and it is our assumption) that a Chinese etymon “old woman, ...”, reconstructed as OC *b’wɑ̂ or similar, existed in Han times or earlier. [SPB]

Reflexes & cognates17 reflexes · 4 subgroups

0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)2

*Tibeto-Burmanpʷa ⪤ bʷa ‘grandmother’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 608

6.1Lolo-Burmese1

6.1.1Burmish16

Burmese (Rangoon)phwɑ⁵⁵phwɑ⁵⁵ n‘grandmother’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 0217.27
Burmese (Spoken Rangoon)ɑprefix bwɑ⁵⁵ ‘grandmother’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 318.40
Burmese (Written)ăprefix◦bhwà / ăprefix◦phwà ‘grandmother’Benedict 72 STC: 174n463
Burmese (Written)aprefix◦bhwā: ‘grandmother’Marrison 67 Naga
Burmese (Written)bhwâ ‘grandmother’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)bhwɑ³bhwɑ³ n‘grandmother’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 0217.26
Burmese (Written)phwâ ‘grandmother’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)ɑ¹prefixbhwɑ³ ‘grandmother’Sun H 91 ZMYY: 318.39
Burmese (Written)ɑ̌prefix◦bhwɑ̀~ɑ̌prefix◦phwɑ̌ ‘grandmother’Chou 72: 25q
Burmese (Written)əprefix-bhwâ ‘grandmother’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)ʔəprefix◦phwâ ‘grandmother’Matisoff 74 TJLB: 195

9.0.1Old Chinese1

Chinese (Old/Mid)bʻwɑ̂/bʻuɑ̂ ‘old woman / grandmother’Chou 72: 25q

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #198, *pʷa-n ⪤ *bʷa-n ‘GRANDMOTHER’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/198
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: cf. STC p.24, HPTB pp. 174, 448
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-198,
  title  = {{*pʷa-n ⪤ *bʷa-n 'GRANDMOTHER'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #198},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/198}
}