< Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic
Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic/modun
 | This Proto-Mongolic 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-Mongolic
Reconstruction
Due to unexplained vowel length in Mongghul, Dagur and East Yugur, some authors posit a primary vowel length (as opposed to secondary lengths from -VxV- sequences) for Proto-Mongolic, however this idea hasn't reached wide acceptance.
Equally perplexing is the retroflex segment found in Bonan and Kangjia.
One possible explaination for the length is analogy with hypothetical unsuffixed *mo, which would be regularly lengthened.
Etymology
Analyzable as *mo + *-dun by internal reconstruction, no doubt related by inheritance or ancient borrowing with Proto-Tungusic *mō, see Evenki мо̄ (mō). Another interesting comparison is Chinese 木 (MC muk̚).
Noun
*modun
- tree
- wood
Descendants
- Middle Mongolian:
- Arabic: مودون (modun) (Muqaddimat)
- Chinese: 莫多 (modu) (Beilu Yiyu), [script needed] (modun), [script needed] (mudun), moči (“carpenter”) (Secret History)
- Phags-Pa: ꡏꡡ ꡊꡟ ꡋꡟ (mo-du-nu, genitive) ꡏꡡꡊ (mod, plural)
- Uyghur: ᠮᠣᠳᠤᠨ (modun), ᠮᠣᠳ (mod, plural)
- Mongolian:
- Classical: ᠮᠣᠳᠤ (modu)
- Khalkha: мод (mod)
- Ordos: /mʊdʊ/
- Buryat: модо(н) (modo(n))
- Khamnigan Mongol: modo(n)
- Kalmyk: модн (modn)
- Daur: mood
- Eastern Yugur: muudin, moodin (Qinglong)
- Monguor:
- Mangghuer: motu
- Mongghul: muudi
- Bonan:
- Gansu: mutung
- Qinghai: murtun, murton, murtung
- Kangjia: mürtün
- Dongxiang: mutun
- Mogholi: modu
Further reading
- Nugteren, Hans (2011) Mongolic phonology and the Qinghai-Gansu languages (dissertation), Utrecht: LOT, page 444-445
- Francis Woodman Cleaves (1951) The Sino-Mongolian Inscription of 1338 in Memory of Jigüntei, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1/2, page 99