Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/guŋ

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: *kjəngw ~ *gjəngw (Coblin, 1986)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *guŋ (Matisoff, STEDT; Benedict, 1972; Chou, 1972); *gung (LaPolla, 1987; Coblin, 1986)

Despite the phonetic resemblance between this root, Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(k/g)um (“body, back”) and Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(k/ʔ)uk (“back, crooked”), the three are probably unrelated.

Noun

*guŋ

body
back

Descendants

Old Chinese: 躬 /*k(r)uŋ/ (B-S), /*kuŋ/ (ZS) ("body")
- Middle Chinese: 躬 (/kɨuŋ/, “body”)

- →   Japanese:  躬 (く, きゅう, ku, kyū)
        Korean:  궁 (躬, gung)
        Vietnamese:  cung, còng (躬)

- - Modern Mandarin
    - Beijing: 躬 (gōng, /kʊŋ⁵⁵/, “body”)
  - Wu
    - Shanghai: 躬 (/kʊŋ⁵³/, “body”)
  - Yue
    - Cantonese: 躬 (/kʊŋ⁵⁵/, “body”)
- Min Nan
  - Xiamen: 躬 (/kiɔŋ⁴⁴/, “body”)
Tangut-Qiang
- Northern Tangut
  - Tangut: 𗧍 (kow, /*kõ⁵⁵/, “body”)
Jingpho–Luish:
- Jingpho: gong (“physical body”)
Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
- Lolo-Burmese:
  *guŋ¹ (“body, person”) (Matisoff, 2003)
  - Loloish
    - Yi: ꇭꀧ (gop bo, “body”), ꈯꄿ (ggur dda, “body”)
  - Burmish
    - Burmese
      - Written Burmese: အကောင် (a.kaung)
Nungish:
- Trung/Derung/Drung: gong (“back; body; health”)