*s-nwat ⪤ *s-nut
Reconstruction analysis
Connections
Notes
This reconstruction replaces *s-not ⪤ *s-nut (HPTB:381) and *s-not (STC:144-145, 150).
The variational pattern adduced here between medial *-wa- and *-u- parallels the better known alternation between *-ya- and *-i- to be found in etyma like #33 PTB *s-myak ⪤ *s-mik EYE. We cannot assume a single prototype *s-nwat, since that would have yielded WB hnwat.
This etymon is widely distributed with the meaning MOUTH in Burmish and Karenic, with good-looking cognates in Qiangic (Pumi) and Bai. The Tibetan cognate gives a clue to its more general meaning of VESSEL; the expression snod drug ‘the six vessels’ refers in traditional Tibetan anatomy to the gall-bladder, stomach, small and large intestines, urinary bladder, and uterus (in females) or spermatic vessels (in males) (see Jäschke 1881/1958, p. 319). The Tibetan compound bu-snod, literally “child-vessel”, refers specifically to the womb. See STC (pp. 144, 145, 150) for references to the Burmese, Karen, and Tibetan cognates.
The Burmish (see especially Lashi) forms bear a strong surface resemblance to Siamese nùat (< Proto-Tai *hn‑) ‘beard’, suggesting that this is a loan from Burmish into SW Tai. This word is not widely distributed in Tai. “Except Tay (a Central Tai dialect) nuôt D1L this word seems restricted to the SW dialects” (Li Fang Kuei 1977:116). The Northern and Central Tai dialects generally have forms descending from Proto-Tai *mum (HCT pp. 72-73), which bears an apparently coincidental resemblance to #2058 PTB *mum CHIN / BEARD.
Chinese comparandum
須 / 鬚 OC *si̯u, GSR #133a-c, d ‘beard’; Schuessler 2007:544 *sno; B & S 2011: *s.no ; Mand. xū.
Reflexes & cognates96 reflexes · 9 subgroups
0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)1
2.1.2.1Tibetan3
3.2Qiangic1
3.3.1rGyalrong2
4Nungic1
6.1.1Burmish67
6.1.2.2Central Loloish2
7Karenic23
8Bai1
Cite this entry
*s-nwat ⪤ *s-nut ‘MOUTH / VESSEL / WOMB’.https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/471BibTeX
@misc{stedt-471,
title = {{*s-nwat ⪤ *s-nut 'MOUTH / VESSEL / WOMB'}},
author = {STEDT},
year = {2017},
note = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #471},
url = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/471}
}