STEDT
STEDT #471

*s-nwat ⪤ *s-nut

MOUTH / VESSEL / WOMB

Reconstruction analysis

handlenu/oprefixsinitialn(rhymeu/o)tcoverM · T

Connections

HPTB*s-not ⪤ *s-nut ‘womb / mouth / vessel’p. 381

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

/ OC *si̯u, GSR #133a-c, d ‘beard’; Schuessler 2007:544 *sno; B & S 2011: *s.no ; Mand. .

Reflexes & cognates96 reflexes · 9 subgroups

0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)1

*Tibeto-Burmans-nots-nut ‘womb / mouth / vessel’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 605

6.1.1Burmish67

Achang (Lianghe)n̥ut⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Dai 85 AcJZ
Achang (Longchuan)ȵ̥ot⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Dai 85 AcJZ
Achang (Luxi)nut⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Dai 85 AcJZ
Achang (Xiandao)n̥ut⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Dai 89 Xian: 107
Bolanɔ̱t⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Dai 89 Bola: 107
Burmese (Modern)nhut ‘mouth, snout’Luce 85: V.109
Burmese (Written)hnut ‘mouth / womb’Matisoff 87 BP
Burmese (Written)hnut ‘mouth; womb’Benedict 76 WBur
Burmese (Written)nhut ‘mouth, snout’Luce 85: V.109
Lashinua̱t⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Dai 89 Lash: 3.7
Lashinua̱t⁵⁵ ‘beak / bill’Dai 89 Lash: 3.9.3
Maru [Langsu]na̱t⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Dai 89 Lang: 3.7
Maru [Langsu]na̱t⁵⁵ ‘beak / bill’Dai 89 Lang: 3.9.3
Atsi [Zaiwa]nu̱t⁵⁵ ‘mouth’Xu 84 Zaiwa

7Karenic23

*Karen (Pwo)nòʔ ‘mouth’Jones 61: 668
*Karen (Pwo)nòʔ ‘beak / bill’Jones 61: 691
*Karen (Sgaw)nɔ̀ʔ ‘beak / bill’Jones 61: 691
Pwo (Bassein)nòʔ ‘beak / bill’Jones 61: 691
Pwo (Bassein)nòʻ ‘beak / bill’Matisoff 87 BP
Pwo (Moulmein)noʔ ‘beak / bill’Matisoff 87 BP
Pwo (Moulmein)noʔ ‘beak / bill’Jones 61: 691
Sgaw (Bassein)nɔ̀ʔ ‘beak / bill’Matisoff 87 BP
Sgaw (Bassein)nɔ̀ʔ ‘beak / bill’Jones 61: 691
Sgaw (Moulmein)nɔ̀ʔ ‘beak / bill’Matisoff 87 BP
Sgaw (Moulmein)nɔ̀ʔ ‘beak / bill’Jones 61: 691
Karen (Sgaw/Yue)nɔ̱ʔ⁵⁵ pʰoʔ⁵⁵morpheme ‘lip’Dai 89 KarA: 111

8Bai1

Bai (Jianchuan)ne̱²¹ ‘mouth’Zhao 90: 3.7

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #471, *s-nwat ⪤ *s-nut ‘MOUTH / VESSEL / WOMB’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/471
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: cf. HPTB p. 381, STC p.144
BibTeX
@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}
}