STEDT
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STEDT #3475

*yaŋ

LOVE / DESIRE / COPULATE
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Reconstruction analysis

handleyaŋinitialyrhymeaŋcoverL · N

Notes

This etymon is fairly well established, occurring in the NE Indian Areal Group, Baic, and Himalayish. This root is independent of #3470 PTB *ywa COPULATE above, with which it occurs in binomes (Konyak, Baima, Spiti). There is a longshot Chinese comparandum, 癢 OC *zi̯ɑng ‘itch’, GSR #732r, Mand. yǎŋ, though the semantic association is doubtful.

The root #3470 PTB *ywa COPULATE strongly resembles the present etymon, but the Konyak binome ya yiang seems to show that the roots are independent of each other.

Chinese comparandum

癢 ‘itch’ ⪤ 痒 ‘disease’, OC *zi̯ɑng, GSR #732i,732r; Li 1971: *rang(x); Baxter 1992: *(l)jang(ʔ); Mand. yǎng ‘itch’, yáng ‘disease’.

Setting aside the question of semantics, this is a plausible comparison.

For other members of this phonetic series, Baxter reconstructs *z(l)ang, *k(l)ang and *kh(l)ang. The presence of medial *-l- ties the pronunciation of these words together; but the medial is given in parentheses because it does not affect subsequent development and Baxter is probably doubtful about its presence. Li’s initial *r- has been revised to *l- by most scholars. Handel 1998 and Schuessler 2007 both reconstruct initial *j- in this situation.

This proposal parallels the comparison of Chinese 羊 *jang ‘sheep’ (Mand. yáng) with PTB *g-yaŋ.
[ZJH]

Reflexes & cognates20 reflexes · 8 subgroups

1.1.1.1Western Tani3

Bokaraprefix-jaŋ ‘genial, kind, gentle (loving)’Sun J 93 Tani
Bokaraprefix-jaŋ ‘love’Sun J 93 Tani
Bokaraprefix◦jaŋ ‘love / like’Huang and Dai 92 TBL: 1126.24

1.1.1.2Eastern Tani9

Milangaprefix-yan-masuffix ‘dear (beloved)’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix-yan-masuffix ‘love’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix-yan-myaŋmorpheme-pokmorpheme-ɟakmorpheme-kemorpheme ‘sympathize’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix◦yan-cumorpheme-pokmorpheme-masuffix ‘pity’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix◦yan-masuffix ‘beloved’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix◦yan-masuffix ‘loving’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix◦yan-masuffix-numorpheme ‘beneficient deity’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix◦yan-ɟakmorpheme-cemorpheme ‘kind’Tayeng 76 Mil
Milangaprefix◦yan-ɲimorpheme-kamorpheme ‘pious’Tayeng 76 Mil

1.3.3Zeme Group1

Khoiraonrimorpheme◦ye v‘love’Marrison 67 Naga

2.1.2Bodic3

Baimaʒɔ¹³#3470 PTB *ywa ‘COPULATE’PTani *yo ‘COPULATE’ iɔ¹³ v‘copulate’The binomial roots Spiti jo je ‘copulate’ and Konyak ya yiang ‘love (v.)’ suggest that Baima ʒɔ¹³ belongs with #3470 PTB *ywa COPULATE, while iɔ¹³ descends rather from #3475 PTB *yaŋ LOVE / DESIRE / COPULATE.The binomial roots Spiti jo je ‘copulate’ and Konyak ya yiang ‘love (v.)’ suggest that Baima ʒɔ¹³ belongs with #3470 PTB *ywa COPULATE, while iɔ¹³ descends rather from #3475 PTB *yaŋ LOVE / DESIRE / COPULATE.Sun H 91 Baim: 10.2
Tshona (Wenlang)ʑiŋ³⁵ ‘love’Lu 86 CuoM

8Bai1

Bai (Jianchuan)jæ̱̃⁴⁴ v.‘copulate’Zhao 90: 10.2

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #3475, *yaŋ ‘LOVE / DESIRE / COPULATE’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/3475
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: Bai, Milang, Bokar
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-3475,
  title  = {{*yaŋ 'LOVE / DESIRE / COPULATE'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #3475},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/3475}
}