< Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/mej

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: *myəy ~ sməy/smyəy (Coblin, 1986)
    • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *mey (Matisoff, STEDT; Weidert, 1987; LaPolla, 1987; Benedict, 1972)

Comparing Chinese 火 with Proto-Tibeto-Burman *mey is problematic. Sagart (1999) reconstructed the Chinese word as /*m̥ˤɨjʔ/, citing its variant 𤈦 (an ancient Wu dialect word) as the basis for reconstructing a voiceless bilabial initial. This was however revised to a uvular initial in the Baxter-Sagart (2011) system, perhaps in accordance with Zhengzhang (2003). Li (1980) reconstructed it as *hwərX, and commented that it likely came from an earlier *hmərX. The word "fire" is classified by some to belong to the same family as some words meaning "to destroy", represented by 毁. Compare Written Tibetan སྨྱེ་བ (smye ba, “(archaic) damaged, impaired, poor quality”).

Confer Proto-Tai *ʰmajᶜ (“to burn (intr.)”) (Thai ไหม้ (mâi), Lao ໄໝ້ (mai)).

Fire.

Noun

*mej

  1. fire

Descendants
  • Old Chinese:
    火 /*qʷʰˤəjʔ/ (B-S); /*qʰʷaːlʔ/ (ZS) ("fire") (see note)
    and perhaps dialectally
    𤈦 /*m̥əjʔ/ (B-S); /*m̥ɯlʔ/ (ZS) ("(ancient Wu dialect) fire")
    燬 /*m̥ajʔ/ (B-S); /*m̥ralʔ/ (ZS) ("(ancient Qi dialect) fire")
    (火 in the oracle bone script)
    • Middle Chinese: 火 (huɑX)

    • →   Japanese:  火 (か, ​ka)
            Korean:  화 (火, hwa)
            Vietnamese:  hoả (火)

      • Mandarin
        • Beijing: 火 (huǒ, /xu̯ɔ²¹⁴/)
        • Chengdu: 火 /xo⁵³/
      • Cantonese
        • Guangzhou: 火 /fɔː³⁵/
        • Taishan: 火 /fu̯ɔ⁵⁵/
      • Hakka
        • Meixian: 火 /fo³¹/
        • Sixian: 火 /fo³¹/
      • Wu
        • Shanghai: 火 /hɯ³⁴/
    • Min
      • Min Bei
        Jian'ou: 火 /xo²¹/
      • Min Dong
        Fuzhou: 火 /huoi³³/ (colloquial), /huo³³/ (literary)
      • Min Nan
        Hokkien:
        Xiamen, Taipei: 火 /he⁵³/ (colloquial), /hɔ̃⁵³/ (literary)
        Zhangzhou: 火 /hue⁵³/ (colloquial), /hɔ̃⁵³/ (literary)
        Quanzhou: 火 /hə⁵⁵⁴/ (colloquial), /hɔ̃⁵⁵⁴/ (literary)
        Teochew: 火 /hue⁵²/
  • Himalayish
    • Tibeto-Kanauri
      • Bodic
        • Tibetan
          • Written Tibetan: མེ (me, “fire, flame”)
      • Lepcha: ᰕᰧ (mi, “fire”)
  • Tangut-Qiang
    • rGyalrongic
  • Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
    • Lolo-Burmese
      • Burmish
      • Loloish
        • Northern Loloish
          • Yi (Liangshan): ꃆꄔ (mup dut, “fire”)
  • Karen: *hmeᴮ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
    • Sgaw: မ့ၣ် (mè), မ့ၣ်အူ (mèxū, “fire”)

See also
  • *bʷar ~ pʷar (“to burn, to ignite; fire”)
  • *hwa-t (“to shine; light”)
  • *m-t(w)əj ~ m-ti-s (“water, liquid, fluid”)
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