STEDT
STEDT #6713

*(p/b/h)(w/y)a(ː)(r/l/n/t)

FIRE / BURN / SHINE / BRIGHT / LIGHT / WHITE

Connections

Notes

This etymon has an impressive number of variants, motivating an extreme pan-allofamic formula like #6713 PTB *(p/b/h)(w/y)a(ː)(r/l/n/t) FIRE / BURN / SHINE / BRIGHT / LIGHT / WHITE. The sub-roots fall into several categories: some of the reflexes derive from prototypes with final *liquids; others point to earlier final *nasals; while still others derive from *open syllables. For convenience’s sake, we will present the allofams in that order.

The semantic developments of this root are also quite varied, ranging from FIRE / BURN / KINDLE / ROAST to SHINE / LIGHT / BRIGHT to HEAT UP / SWEAT to WHITE / YELLOW. Less this be thought implausible, cf. Proto-Indo-European *bhel- “shine; flash; burn; shining white and various bright colors” which give us English reflexes including ‘black’, ‘blank’, ‘blanch’, ‘bleak’, ‘bald’, ‘bleach’, ‘blue’, ‘blaze’, ‘blind’, ‘blend’, ‘blond’, ‘blink’, etc. See HPTB 428-430.

Chinese comparandum

OC *bʻwɑ̂r~pwɑ̂r, GSR #195r ‘white’; Schuessler 2007:416 *bâi; B & S 2011: *bˁar {[b]ˁar} ; Mand. .
458k S286
571q giwer 571j giwer

Reflexes & cognates1 reflex · 2 subgroups

0.1Tibeto-Burman (previously published reconstructions)1

*Tibeto-Burmanhwan/t ‘shine / bright / light’Matisoff 03 HPTB: 593

9.0.1Old Chinese1

Chinese (Old/Mid)bʻwɑ̂r~pwɑ̂r/bʻuɑ̂~puɑ̂ ‘white’Chou 72: 195r

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #6713, *(p/b/h)(w/y)a(ː)(r/l/n/t) ‘FIRE / BURN / SHINE / BRIGHT / LIGHT / WHITE’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/6713
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: PAF; HPTB pp.428-30
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-6713,
  title  = {{*(p/b/h)(w/y)a(ː)(r/l/n/t) 'FIRE / BURN / SHINE / BRIGHT / LIGHT / WHITE'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #6713},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/6713}
}