Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/r-mi(j)-n
Proto-Sino-Tibetan
Etymology
- Proto-Sino-Tibetan: ?
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *r-mi(y)-n (Matisoff, STEDT); *r-miy (Chou, 1972)
A collective suffix *-n is found in Burmese and Chinese branches of Sino-Tibetan (Matisoff, 2003; Schuessler, 2007), although in the case of Chinese may in fact reflect an earlier velar coda *-ŋ, which palatalized after *-i-, as pointed out by Sagart (1999: 135). He compares Chinese 民 (OC *min, “people”) with 氓 (OC *mraːŋ, “population”), which, according to him, belong to the same word-family, but the latter retained the velar coda *-ŋ because of the preceding low vowel *-a-. Palatalization of velar codas *-ŋ and *-k preceded by *-i- appears to be well attested (Baxter, 1992), and caused the merging of *-iŋ, *-ik rhymes with *-in, *-it respectively.
Noun
*r-mi(j)-n
- man, person, human being
Descendants
- Old Chinese: 民 /*miŋ/ (B-S), /*min/ (ZS) ("people, folk, civilian")
- Middle Chinese: 民 /miɪn/
→ Japanese: 民 (みん, min)
Korean: 민 (民, min)
Vietnamese: dân (民)
- Modern Mandarin
- Beijing: 民 (mín, /min³⁵/)
- Cantonese
- Guangzhou: 民 /mɐn²¹/
- Modern Mandarin
- Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
- Bodic
- Tibetan
- Written Tibetan: མི (mi, “person, man, human being”)
- Tibetan
- Bodic
- Tibeto-Kanauri
- Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
- Lolo-Burmese
- Burmish
- Written Burmese: မိန်းမ (min:ma., “woman, female”)
- Burmish
- Lolo-Burmese