*s(y)awk

This root is quite widespread, and covers a broad semantic range, from BREAST to SUCK to DRINK (any liquid). By a relatively recent extension of meaning, this root is also used for SMOKE (tobacco), and thence for TOBACCO itself (as in Lahu).¹

There is a promising Chinese comparandum 欶, Mand. shuò proposed by Coblin (1986:144). In Matisoff 1970 (#57) I suggested that WB sok (also transcribable as sauk) ‘drink, smoke’ and Lahu šú ‘tobacco’ were cognate. I still believe that to be correct, even though in Matisoff 1988:1192 (The Dictionary of Lahu) I entertained an alternative comparison with WB hrup ‘snuff up; sniff; sip; sup’. It now looks as if WB hrup might be related rather to Chinese 呷 (OC *hrap, Mand. xiā) ‘to drink in with a sucking movement’, cited in Coblin 1986:43. This seems preferable semantically and phonologically to Coblin’s comparison of the Chinese form to WB hap ‘bite at’ < PTB *hap [STC #89].

欶 OC *sŭk, GSR #1222o ‘suck’; Li 1971: *sruk; Baxter 1992: *srok; Mand. shuò.

Gong 1995 #279 reconstructed *rsuk. In Li’s system another possibility is *sthruk, by analogy with 束 ‘bundle’, Mand. shù which is reconstructed *sthjuk to account for the presence in this series of 誎 / 促 ‘urge on’, Mand. cù < *tshjuk. Schuessler 1987:567 reconstructed 束 shù ‘bundle’ as *?-juk to indicate that the initial is uncertain, and in 2007:473 suggests a pre-Old Chinese form *C-sok.

This comparison is made in Coblin 1986:144.

The vowel correspondence is problematic. OC *-uk (Li)/*-ok (Baxter) normally corresponds to PTB *-uk, as in 曲 ‘bend/crooked’, PTB *guk~*kuk, OC *khjuk (Li)/*kh(r)jok (Baxter), Mand qū, qǔ.
[ZJH]

呷 OC *χap (not in GSR #629), ‘to drink with a sucking movement’; Li 1971: *hrap; Baxter 1992: *xrap; Mand. xiā.

The Middle Chinese vocalism dictates an Old Chinese reconstruction with medial *-r-, but Schuessler 2007:526 has *hap, arguing that the MC vocalism may be due to “sound symbolism or archaistic colloquialism”. This enables him to make a comparison with PTB *hap [STC #89] as well as with Austroasiatic forms of similar shape.

Matisoff’s proposal that 呷 xiā is instead cognate to WB hrup ‘snuff up; sniff; sip; sup’ provides a better match for Chinese *-r-, but the vocalism is problematic. We would expect a Burmese cognate in -ap < PTB *-ap. Of course, given the likelihood of sound symbolism in words with these semantics, irregular correspondences are to be expected. It is therefore not an easy matter to decide if Chinese 呷 xiā is better compared to PTB *hap or WB hrup, or if the similarity of phonological shape is not due to cognacy at all.
[ZJH]