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STEDT #674

*pʷam

WOMB / PLACENTA / BELLY / STOMACH / NEST
Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Connections

Allofams
HPTB*pʷam ‘belly’pp. 47, 61
HPTB (PLB)*p-wam² ‘belly / stomach’pp. 46, 253

Notes

The most general form of this complex word family is reconstructed as #163 PTB *s-bʷa(m/p) SWELL / SWOLLEN / FAT / THICK / ROUNDED PART.

Like #1168 PTB *pʷu EGG / BIRD / ROUND OBJECT, some of the reflexes of *pʷam have initial w- #2108 PTB *wam BELLY / WOMB / PLACENTA / NEST, while others have an initial labial stop or derivative thereof #673 PTB *pam WOMB / PLACENTA / NEST. All these forms meaning ‘womb / placenta / nest / belly’ clearly represent the same etymon as *p-wam BELLY, presented separately as #137 PTB *pʷam BELLY / STOMACH / WAIST. A further group of forms with nasal initials #3444 PTB *mam WOMB / PLACENTA / NEST may also be brought into this word family. Finally, there is a strong likelihood that #680 PTB *s-lam WOMB / PLACENTA is also allofamically related.

Some languages (e.g. Jingpho, Lashi, Zaiwa) show internal variation between stop and semivowel. The semantic association between WOMB and BELLY is too obvious to belabor. Belly was used frequently in early Mod. Eng. to mean WOMB: “As yet my wife hath not laid her belly” (Plumpton Correspondence 1549-50); “My belly did not blab, so I was still a Mayde” (William Warner, Albion’s England, 1592); “Why, she may plead her belly at worst” (John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, 1728).1

Still another related form is #3 PTB *pum BODY / BELLY, found especially in Kuki-Chin, with a meaning which goes beyond the visceral / gastric area to cover the whole body.

Cf. also #2111 PTB *pwa(ŋ/n) BELLY / CENTER.

1 In former times, a pregnant female criminal condemned to death was allowed to bring the baby to term before being executed. This practice was known as “pleading one’s belly”. See OED 1971:789.

No attested reflexes are linked to this etymon.

Cite this entry

STEDT etymon #674, *pʷam ‘WOMB / PLACENTA / BELLY / STOMACH / NEST’.
Stable link: https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/674
Data: STEDT v1.0 (2017). Accessed: [date].
References: PAF
BibTeX
@misc{stedt-674,
  title  = {{*pʷam 'WOMB / PLACENTA / BELLY / STOMACH / NEST'}},
  author = {STEDT},
  year   = {2017},
  note   = {Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) v1.0, etymon #674},
  url    = {https://larc-iu.github.io/stedt/etymon/674}
}