Reconstruction:Proto-Kartvelian/loḳ-

This Proto-Kartvelian 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-Kartvelian

Etymology

According to most scholars, this root has an onomatopeic origin (Klimov, 1998; Fähnrich, 2007). The phonosemantic nature of the action of licking is visible in a large number of languages across the globe, which have the proto-type *lVp ~ *lVk ~ *lVt for the verb “to lick” and the noun “tongue”:

Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”)
> English lick
> Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō, “to lick up”)
> Latin lingō (“to lick, lap”)
> Sanskrit रिहति (riháti, “to lick”) (Vedic), लिहति (lihati, “to lick”) (Classical)
Proto-Semitic *laqq- (“to lick”)
> Hebrew לִקֵּק‎ (likék, “to lick, lap”)
> Arabic لَعِقَ‎ (laʿiqa, “to lick”)
Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s/g-ljak (“to lick; tongue”)
> Old Chinese 食 (OC *ɦljɯɡ, “to eat”), 舐 (OC *ɦljeʔ, “to lick, lap”), 舌 (OC *ɦbljed, “tongue”)
> Tibetan ལྡག (ldag, “to lick”), ལྗགས (ljags, “tongue”) (formal)
> Burmese လျက် (lyak, “to lick”), လျှာ (hlya, “tongue”)
→ (likely) Proto-Hmong-Mien *mblet (“tongue”)
> White Hmong nplaig (“tongue”)
Proto-Mon-Khmer *liət ~ lit (“to lick”)
> Khmer លិទ្ធ (lɨt, “to lick”)
Proto-Dravidian *nāyk- (“to lick”)
> Tamil நக்கு (nakku, “to lick, lap; licking”), நக்கல் (nakkal, “food taken by licking”)
> Telugu నాకు (nāku, “to lick”)
Proto-Austronesian *dilat ~ *dilap ~ *dilaq (“to lick”)
> Paiwan djilaq (“to lick”)
> Malay jilat (“to lick up”), lidah (“tongue”)
> Tagalog dila (“tongue”), mandila (“to stick out the tongue”)

Root

*loḳ-

to lick

Descendants

Georgian-Zan:
- Laz: ოლოკუ (oloḳu), ოლოსკუ (olosḳu)
- Mingrelian: ლოკუა (loḳua), ლოტკუა (loṭḳua)
- Georgian: ლოკვა (loḳva), ალოკვა (aloḳva); (possibly) ლოკოკინა (loḳoḳina, “snail”)
Svan: ლილო̂კე (lilôḳe)

References

Fähnrich, Heinz (2007) Kartwelisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch [Kartvelian Etymological Dictionary] (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.18) (in German), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 270
Klimov, G. A. (1998) Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (Trends in linguistics. Documentation; 16), New York, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, page 110
Starostin, S. A. (2005), “*loḳ-”, in Kartvelian etymological database compiled on the basis of G. Klimov's and Fähnrich-Sarjveladze's etymological dictionaries of Kartvelian languages