< Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/ʔit

This Proto-Sino-Tibetan entry contains reconstructed words 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

Etymology
  • Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *ʔjit (Coblin, 1986)
    • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *ʔit (Matisoff, STEDT); *it (Benedict, 1972)

There is no single general root for ONE in Sino-Tibetan languages, in sharp contradistinction to the cases of numerals 2-9, for each of which a single etymon overwhelmingly predominates. This root is only found at the periphery of the Sino-Tibetan area and may therefore be quite old. The more common root for ONE is *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik.

Benedict (1972) set up this etymon on the basis of only two forms: Kanawari and Written Burmese, and identified it as cognate to Old Chinese.

Matisoff (1997) posits *-i- ~ -ya- variational pattern in this etymon (akin to *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik (“one”), *gip ~ gjap (“ten”) and perhaps *riŋ ~ rjaŋ (“ten”), op. cit.) and considers this root to be etymologically cognate with *kat (“one”).

Some Min Dong dialects of Chinese use 蜀 as the colloquial word for the numeral one, e.g. Fuzhou /soʔ⁵/, Fuqing /θyo⁵³/. Min Nan also has a similar-shaped word, e.g. Amoy /t͡ɕit̚⁵/.

Numeral

*ʔit

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-toŋ
  1. one

Descendants
  • Old Chinese: 一 (*ʔit (B-S); *qlig (ZS))
    (in the oracle bone script)

    →   Proto-Hmong-Mien:  *ʔɨ (“one”)
          (White Hmong (RPA):  ib)

    • Middle Chinese: 一 /ʔiɪt/

    • →   Japanese:  一 (いち, ​ichi)
            Korean:  일 (一, il)
            Vietnamese:  nhất

      →   Thai:  เอ็ด (èt, “one (used as final digit, as in สิบเอ็ด (sìp-èt))”)
            Lao:  ເອັດ ('et, “one (used as final digit, as in ສິບເອັດ (sip ’et))”)

      • Modern Mandarin
        • Beijing: 一 (yī, /i⁵⁵/)
      • Cantonese
        • Guangzhou: 一 /jɐt̚⁵/
      • Wu
        • Shanghai: 一 /ʔiɪ̆ʔ⁵⁵/
    • Min
      • Min Nan
        • Taiwan: 一 /ʔit̚³/
  • Himalayish
    • Tibeto-Kanauri
      • Western Himalayish
        • Kinnauri: id (“one”)
    • Mahakiranti
      • Kham-Magar-Chepang-Sunwar
        • Chepang: यात्‌ (jat, “one”)
  • Tangut-Qiang
    • Northern Tangut
      • Tangut: 𘂪 (dzjij, /*d͡zʲɪj³⁵/, “one, single”); 𗖌 (gjɨ, /*ɡʲʏ³⁵/, “one, some, a”)
  • Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
    • Lolo-Burmese
      • Burmish
        • Written Burmese: အစ် (ac, “unit, one”) (Benedict, 1976, RDWB)
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