Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/g-sum
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This Proto-Sino-Tibetan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence. |
Proto-Sino-Tibetan[edit]
Etymology[edit]
- Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *g-sum (Coblin, 1986)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *g-sum (Matisoff, STEDT; Benedict, 1972; Chou, 1972; LaPolla, 1987)
This is perhaps the most stable numeral in Proto-Sino-Tibetan, with virtually no daughter language failing to show some reflex of this root. This stability can be attributed to various factors: the stability of the consonants "s" and "m", and the saliency of the numeral THREE itself. The velar prefix g/k- is the only prefix reconstructable for this root (another manifestation of well-preservedness); this is of course disregarding other prefixes in modern languages which resulted from an innovative prefix run in all of the lower numerals, for example Jingpho (m- in 3-5).
Some languages also show /a/ vocalism (e.g. Chinese), which some dismiss (somewhat unconvincingly) as secondary development. It is very likely that ablaut of *u ~ *a existed in the proto-language, i.e. *g-sum ⪤ *g-sam, analogous to *b-suŋ ~ b-saŋ (“fragrance”) (Matisoff, 1997).
Numeral[edit]
*g-sum
| Proto-Sino-Tibetan numerals | |
|---|---|
| ONE | *ʔit *kat *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik |
| TWO | *g/s-ni-s |
| THREE | *g-sum |
| FOUR | *b-ləj |
| FIVE | *l/b-ŋa |
| SIX | *d-k-ruk |
| SEVEN | *s-ni-s |
| EIGHT | *b-r-gjat ~ b-g-rjat |
| NINE | *d/s-kəw |
| TEN | *gip *ts(j)i(j) ~ tsjaj |
| TWENTY | *m-kul |
| HUNDRED | *b-r-gja |
| THOUSAND | *s-tawŋ |
Descendants[edit]
- Old Chinese: 三 /*srum/ ("three"), /*s.rəm-s/ ("thrice")
- Note: The initial *sr- in Old Chinese irregularly developed into Middle Chinese *s- (not the expected *ʃ-), possibly due to influence by the next numeral 四 (sì) (*s.l- > s-) (⇒ *b-ləj), FOUR.
- Middle Chinese: 三 (sɑm, sɑmH)
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**:
→ Japanese: 三 (さん, san)
Korean: 삼 (三, sam)
Vietnamese: tam (三)