Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/s-na ~ s-naːr

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: ?
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *s-na ⪤ *s-naːr (Matisoff, STEDT); *s-na (LaPolla, 1987; French, 1983; Benedict, 1972)

A convincing Chinese comparandum appears to be lacking. The Chinese word for "nose" 鼻 (bí < OC *m-bit-s, "nose; to smell; loop handle, handling loop (of a utensil); origin, basis") < 自 (zì < OC *S.bit-s, "nose > self (?); to follow") is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bi (“nose”). Zhou Jixu has proposed that Chinese 紐, 鈕 (niǔ < OC *n‹r›uʔ, "(*protruding part?) > knot (used as handle), button, fastener; origin, basis"), 䶊, 衄 (nǜ < OC *nuk, njuk, "nose bleeding") (all containing the phonetic component 丑 (chǒu < OC *n̥ruʔ)) are reflexes of this root. The connection between "knot" and "nose" is also seen in Korean 코 (ko, "nose; snivel; tip, cap; stitch, link, knot").

Note that Proto-Sino-Tibetan has the same root *na for "ear" and "nose", distinguishing their meanings only with prefixes ("ear": *r/g-na). A parallelism exists in Chinese 聞 (wén < OC *mun, "to smell; to hear").

Compare Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s- ~ *nh₂es- (“nose, nostril”) (possibly < **sna ("nose")) and various nose-related words in English: snout, snort, sniff, snuff, sniffle, snuffle, snivel, snore, sneer, snitch, sneeze, snot, etc. These resemblances suggest onomatopoeic origin rather than cognacy; the sn- of sneeze and snore is, in fact, secondary.

*s-na ~ s-naːr

1. nose

• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: སྣ (sna, “nose”)
    • Tamangic

      *ᴬʰna, *ᴮʰnaː, *ᴬʰnaː (Mazaudon, 1994)

      • Tamang (Sahu): १ना (¹na, “nose”)
  • Newar
    • Newar (Dolakhali): नास् (nās, “nose”)
    • Newar (Kathmandu): न्हे (nhae, “nose”)
• Tangut-Qiang
  • Northern Tangut
    • Tangut: 𗮮 (nji, /*ɲɪː³⁵/, “nose”)
  • rGyalrongic
    • Situ: (tə)ʃna
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Burmese: နှာ (hna, “nose; errhine, snuff”)
    • Loloish
      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꅲ (hna, “nose”) (in compounds also ꅳ (hnap))
• Karenic:
  • Sgaw: နါဒ့ (nāde, “nose”)

• *s-nap (“snot”)

• *m/s-nam (“to smell”)
• *b-suŋ ~ b-saŋ (“smell, scent, fragrant”)