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STEDT #6002

*twaŋ

RAINBOW
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Notes

This root is hesitantly set up on the basis of a number of scattered forms, including one from Chinese.

According to Marrison, this Meithei binome means either ‘rain’ or ‘rainbow’.

Chinese comparandum

蝀 OC *tung, GSR #1175h ‘rainbow’; apparently not in Li 1971 or B & S 2011; Schuessler 2007:278; Mand. dōng.

In Chinese, 蝀 dōng is typically seen in the synonym compound 螮蝀 or 蝃蝀 dìdōng ‘rainbow’, where 螮 or 蝃 dì by itself can also mean ‘rainbow’ (cf. 蝃 OC *tiɑd/tiei-, GSR #295k).

Schuessler 2007:278 reconstructs 蝃蝀 dìdōng as OCM *tê(t)s-toŋ < *tloŋ, with later stages LH *tes-toŋ and MC *tieiC-tuŋ. He notes “The wide range of forms, incl. dì-dōng, speaks for a non-ST source for this etymon. <> Kam-Tai: Zhuang lgs. have tu2-tuŋ2 ‘rainbow’ and the like, where tu2 is a prefix added to animals and persons. Li Xu-lian (1997) reconstructs this prefix as PT *ta, among others based on forms like Wuming ta6 and Bama tiə6. Luó Yǒngxiàn (MKS 27:1997:272) reconstructs PTai *Druŋ: S. ruŋC2 ‘rainbow’.” [JAM, SPB]

Reflexes & cognates5 reflexes · 4 subgroups

1.4Meithei2

Meitheichummorpheme◦thang n‘rain’Marrison 67 Naga
Meitheichummorpheme◦thang ‘rainbow’Marrison 67 Naga

6.1.2.3Southern Loloish1

9.0.1Old Chinese1

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #6002, *twaŋ ‘RAINBOW’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/6002
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: see 6009
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-6002,
  title  = {{*twaŋ 'RAINBOW'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #6002},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/6002}
}