*kyak

This root is abundantly attested in Lolo-Burmese and in Qiangic. It is reconstructed as PLB *ʔkyak in LTSR #58, with the meaning ROPE/STRING; LTSR also tentatively assigns several forms for NAVEL to this etymon.

There are two Chinese candidates for relationship to this etymon: 弋 *di̯ək/i̯ək, GSR #918a-b ‘shoot with arrow with string attached; such an arrow’ ⪤ 繳 OC *t̑i̯ak/tśi̯ak, GSR #1258e [OC form not cited in GSR] ‘string attached to arrow’. STC (p. 176) attempts to relate these Chinese words to PTB *b-la ‘arrow’ [STC #449], via a hypothetical intermediate form **pli̯ak. I consider this to be far-fetched phonologically and unsatisfying semantically. The semantic association between an umbilical cord and an arrow with string attached is irresistible. The metaphor is still alive today, e.g. in spacecraft, where the lifeline attaching a space-walking astronaut to the mother ship is commonly called an umbilical cord. For more discussion of these Chinese words, see ZJH’s note below.

See HPTB, pp. 318, 319.

弋 OC *di̯ək GSR #918a, ‘shoot arrow (with string attached)’; Li 1971: *rək; Baxter 1992 #467: *ljɨk; Mand. yì.

There is considerable disagreement about the reconstruction of words with MC initial j- which appear in phonetic series with words having dental initials. While Karlgren’s *d- (GSR) is no longer accepted, variations of *r-, *l-, and *j- are proposed by a number of scholars.

This Chinese word does not appear to be directly cognate to the PTB form, as there is no evidence of a velar initial. Gong (2001) revives Benedict’s (STC p. 176) comparison with PTB *b-la ‘arrow’, reconstructing OC *blək, with the regular development *bl- > *l-. Gong’s system would also admit the possibility of reconstructing *glək.

A more likely candidate for cognacy is 繳 ( Mand. zhuó); see below.

Cf. 射 OC *mljaks Baxter 1992 #1357, 1393, ‘shoot with bow’ (Mand. shè), with revision of *L- to *ml-. This may also be etymologically related to 弋 and/or PTB *b-la.

繳 OC (see below), GSR #1258e ‘string attached to arrow’; Li 1971: (*krjakw?) Baxter: (*kjewk?); Mand. zhuó.

This character has two Middle Chinese readings, one with velar initial and no coda, and one with palatal initial and velar coda. Based on internal Chinese evidence, the Old Chinese reconstruction cannot be determined with certainty. Karlgren placed this word in series #1258, which is not a phonetic series at all but a collection of words that Karlgren deemed unreconstructible for lack of evidence. Other characters that appear to have the same phonetic element appear in GSR #1162, all of which are reconstructed as open syllables with velar initial.

The character 激 ‘dam up and cause (water) to rush up’ (Mand. jī), found in GSR #1162 and apparently sharing a phonetic element with 繳 zhuó, is reconstructed *kewk by Baxter 1992 and *kiakw by Li 1971, suggesting that in Baxter’s system, 繳 should be reconstructed *kjewk and *kewʔ to account for the two Middle Chinese pronunciations. An *a vocalism in Baxter’s system cannot be completely discounted, but it would make it difficult to explain the subsequent palatalization of the initial velar in one of the Middle Chinese forms.

All of the possible Old Chinese reconstructions present problems in terms of the Chinese/PTB vowel correspondence. Old Chinese coda *-kw (Li)/*-wk (Baxter) regularly corresponds to TB rounded vowels.

Given the difficulty of determining the Old Chinese reconstruction of 繳, this proposed cognate set must be considered tentative.
[ZJH]