STEDT #3421

*tyaŋ

PENIS / CLITORIS / LONG

Reconstruction analysis

handleteŋinitialtrhymeeŋcoverT · N

Notes

This etymon has been discovered in Himalayish (Chepang and Lepcha) and the NE Indian Areal Group (Karbi). A pair of superficially resemblant forms must be banished from this etymon:

Garo go'l-teng ‘penis’ is analyzed by Burling as STICK + LONG. The gloss of go'l or gol◦dik as ‘stick’ is confirmed in K. W. Momin’s English-Achikku Dictionary (n.d.:227). I have no independent evidence that teng means ‘long’ in Garo, although several other NE Indian Areal Group languages have similar forms with that meaning: Khoirao ka◦tang◦ba, Liangmei ka-theŋ-bu, Maram tang, Karbi ke◦ding, Rengma ka◦thong, Tangkhul ka◦sang, etc.

Lepcha tălam t'yeṅ ‘testicle’ must also be rejected. According to Mainwaring/Grünwedel (1898:164), the second element t'yeṅ actually means ‘the chief or most precious part’, as in să-bŭr t'yeṅ ‘the musk bag or gland of the musk-deer’. The true Lepcha cognate is probably the first syllable of čen̊ pă-tin̊.

Reflexes & cognates9 reflexes · 3 subgroups

1.5Mikir [Karbi]1

Mikir [Karbi]ingprefix teng ‘clitoris’Matisoff 87 BP

2.1.3Lepcha1

Lepchačen̊ pămorpheme-tin̊morpheme ‘penis’Lepcha pă-tin̊, seems to mean ‘small stick, switch’ (Mainwaring, pp. 127-8).Matisoff 87 BP

2.4Kham-Magar-Chepang7

Chepangtəiŋ ‘penis’Weidert 87 TBTo: 617a

Chepang (Eastern)təyŋ ‘genitalia / pudenda (male)’Caughley 90 CheQ: 10.1

Chepang (Eastern)təyŋ ‘penis’Caughley 90 CheQ: 10.3.1

Chepang (Eastern)təyŋ◦kliʔ#572 PTB *kləy ‘BODY DIRT / EXCREMENT’PKC *mik-khlii ‘TEARS’PCN *a-khləjʔ ‘FECES, EXCREMENT’TGTM *ᴬkli ‘FECES,SHIT’PKar *khrejᴮ ‘BODY DIRT’ ‘semen’Caughley 90 CheQ: 10.3.7

Chepang (Eastern)təyŋ◦taprefix◦laŋ#392 PTB *p-laŋ ‘HEAD / FOREHEAD’ ‘glans penis’Caughley 90 CheQ: 10.3.2

Chepang (Eastern)təyŋ◦thyomorpheme◦reŋ#781 PTB *ryaŋ ‘SKIN’ ‘foreskin’Caughley 90 CheQ: 10.3.3

Chepang (Eastern)təŋ ‘penis’Caughley 90 CheQ: 10.3.1

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #3421, *tyaŋ ‘PENIS / CLITORIS / LONG’.

Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/3421

Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].

BibTeX

@misc{stedt-3421,
  title  = {{*tyaŋ 'PENIS / CLITORIS / LONG'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #3421},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/3421}
}