STEDT
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STEDT #511

*m-(t)sin

NAIL / CLAW
Proto-Tibeto-Burman · exemplary

Reconstruction analysis

handlesinprefixminitialsrhymein ~ m-tcoverS · VNT

Intermediate reconstructions

Central Naga (Ao Group)*m-[z/ʒ]a[ː]n ‘NAIL (bodypart)’PCN #176

Connections

Allofams
HPTB*m-(t)sin ‘nail / claw’p. 291
Poss. allofam*m-(t)syen ‘NAIL / CLAW’

Notes

This root was originally reconstructed as *m-(t)sin in STC #74, with the remark that the PTB initial was “uncertain”. The reconstruction was revised to *m-tsyen in note 24, expanded in note 122 (p. 37).

Several allofams must be posited: one with final *-l (#514 PTB *m-tsyal NAIL / CLAW), one with an open syllable (#515 PTB *m-tsyey NAIL / CLAW), and one where the nasal prefix seems to have preempted the affricate initial (#513 PTB *m-(y/r)in NAIL / CLAW).

A number of languages have reduced the initial affricate to a simple fricative, hence the parentheses around the t in the PAF.

Reflexes & cognates3 reflexes · 2 subgroups

0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)6

*Tibeto-Burmanm-(t)sin ‘fingernail’Weidert 87 TBTo: 761
*Tibeto-Burmanm-(t)sin ‘nail / claw’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 617
*Tibeto-Burmanm-(t)sin ‘fingernail, toenail, claw’Benedict 72 STC: 74
*Tibeto-Burmanm-(t)sin=*m-tsyen ‘fingernail’LaPolla 87: 207

1.3.1Central Naga (Ao Group)4

*Central Nagamprefix-[z/ʒ]a[ː]n ‘NAIL (BODYPART)’Bruhn 14 PCN: III.176
Sangtammuprefix◦zi ‘nail’Kumar 73 Sang
Yimchungrünüprefix◦zan ‘nail’Kumar 73 Yim: 63
Yimchungrü²mɯprefix◦²zan [¹] ‘nail’Weidert 87 TBTo: 290

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #511, *m-(t)sin ‘NAIL / CLAW’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/511
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: STC#074; an earlier version of #512
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-511,
  title  = {{*m-(t)sin 'NAIL / CLAW'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #511},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/511}
}