Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/ma

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *mjaɣ (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *ma (Matisoff, STEDT; LaPolla, 1987)

Possible derivative: *ba-j ~ ma-j (“what”).

*ma

1. no, not, negative, not have, none

• Old Chinese:

  無 /*ma/ (B-S; ZS) ("not have")

  微 /*məj/ (B-S); /*mɯl/ (ZS) ("not, no")

  毋 /*mo/ (B-S); /*ma/ (ZS) ("do not")

  勿 /*mut/ (B-S); /*mɯd/ (ZS) ("not, don't")

  未 /*mət-s/ (B-S); /*mɯds/ (ZS) ("not yet, haven't")

  靡 /*majʔ/ (B-S); /*mralʔ/ (ZS) ("not, no")

  亡 /*maŋ/ (B-S; ZS) ("not have; to flee, to disappear, to die")

  ＞ 罔 /*maŋʔ/ ("no, not"), 荒 /*m̥ˤaŋ/ ("to waste (a land)"), 喪 /*s-mˤaŋ/, /*s-mˤaŋ-s/ ("to lose, to die"), 忘 /*maŋ/, /*maŋ-s/ ("to lose, to abandon, to forget")

  沒 /*mɯːd/ (ZS) ("to end, to disappear, to drown")

  莫 (*mˁak (B-S); *maːg (ZS), “none, nobody, nothing; do not; cannot”)

  • Middle Chinese: 無 (mɨo), 微 (mʉi), 毋 (mɨo), 勿 (mɨut), 未 (mʉiH), 靡 (mɣiᴇX), 亡 (mʉɐŋ), 罔 (mʉɐŋX), 荒 (hwɑŋ), 喪 (sɑŋ, sɑŋH), 忘 (mʉɐŋH), 沒 (muət), 莫 (mɑk)
    • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: all of the above, in particular:

        沒 (méi, /meɪ̯³⁵/, "not, haven't, none, nothing")

        無 (wú, /u³⁵/, "not have, un-")

        and perhaps 嗎 (ma, /ma/, "interrogative particle")

        什麽 (shénme, /ʂən³⁵ mə³/, "what")

    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: all of the above, also:

        唔 /m̩²¹/ ("not")

        冇 /mou̯¹³/ ("not, haven't, none, nothing")

        未 /mei²²/ ("not yet")

        乜 /mɐt̚⁵/ ("what")

    • Wu
      • Shanghai: all of the above, also:

        嘸 (obsolete) /ɦm̩²³/, 嘸沒 /ɦm̩²² mə̆ʔ⁴⁴/ ("not have, not, no")

        勿 /v̻ə̆ʔ¹²/ ("not, no")

        ＞ 覅 (v̻iɔ²³, “do not”), 勿會 (v̻ᴇ²³, “cannot”)

  • Min
    • Min Nan
      • Taiwan: all of the above, in particular:

        未 /be³³/, /bue³³/ ("not, no") (colloquial)

• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: མ (ma, “not”), མི (mi, “not”), མེད (med), མེད་པ (med pa, “not have”)
• Tangut-Qiang
  • rGyalrongic
    • Japhug: mɯ
    • Situ: ma
    • Tshobdun: mə/mɐ
    • Zbu: mɐ
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Burmese: မ (ma., “not”)
    • Loloish
      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꂸ (map, “no, not, none (literary)”)

• *ta (“negative imperative”)
• Arabic ما‎ (“not; what”)