Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/nja-ŋ/k

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *nryak (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *nya-ŋ/k (Matisoff, STEDT); *nya (Matisoff, 2003)

This root is reconstructed on the base of Tibetan and Chinese. Maybe Lai ŋaaknuu (“maiden”) also belongs to this root.

Matisoff (2003: 173-174) reconstructs *nya and identifies a form with a *-k suffix, which has both ཉ་མ (nya ma, “housewife”) and ཉག་མོ (nyag mo, “woman”). In the STEDT, Chinese 娘 (MC ɳɨɐŋ, “woman”) is listed under this root, pointing to an allofamic variant with a *-ŋ, but according to Coblin (1994) this is a later word, unattested before the Tang dynasty [618 - 907 AD], and is better regarded as a graphical fusion of 女 (MC ɳɨʌ^X) and 良 (MC lɨɐŋ). Some authors think that 娘 (MC ɳɨɐŋ) is related to Proto-Turkic *ana ~ *eńe (“mother”) and, thus, should not be considered a genuine descendant of this root (Vovin and McCraw, 2011).

Perhaps a better Old Chinese comparandum is 女 (OC *naʔ, “woman”), with a final glottal stop. This word, however, may belong either to this root or to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k/m-na (“mother, female”).

*nja-ŋ/k

1. woman

• Old Chinese: 女 /*nraʔ/ (B-S), /*naʔ/ (ZS) ("woman")

  (in the oracle bone script)

  • Middle Chinese: 女 (nrjoX /ɳɨʌ^X/)

• • →   Japanese:  女 (にょ, ​nyo)
          Korean:  녀, 여 (女, nyeo, yeo)
          Vietnamese:  nữ (女)

• • • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing Mandarin: 女 (nǚ, /ny²¹⁴/, “woman”)
    • Cantonese: 女 (/nɵy̯¹³/)
    • Hakka: 女 (/ŋ̍³¹/)
  • Min
    • Min Nan
      • Xiamen: 女 (/lu⁴¹/)
• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: ཉ་མ (nya ma, “housewife”), ཉག་མོ (nyag mo, “woman”)

• *mow (“mother”)
• *k/m-na (“mother, female”)
• *n(j)u (“female, woman”)