Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/rus

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: ?
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *s/m/g/-rus (Matisoff, STEDT); *rus (Weidert, 1987 TBTo; Michailovsky, 1991 Kr; LaPolla, 1987; Benedict, 1972 STC)

A Chinese reflex appears to be lacking. Chinese 骨 (gŭ < OC *kˁut, "bone") is sometimes compared with this root. Although Lepcha a-hrǎt ("bone") and Karen k(h)rut ("bone") show a final -t, the correspondence is still problematic as there is no medial *-r- in the Chinese word. Interestingly, there is a Chinese cognate to Written Tibetan rus ("clan"): 類 (lèi < OC *rut-s, "category, clan"); note that the sense "clan" is likely a secondary derivation from "bone" > "lineage, family". Compare also Chinese 骸 (hái < OC *ɡˁrə, "bones, skeleton") and 頄 (kuí < OC *ɡʷru, "cheekbone").

Noun

*rus

bone

Descendants

Kuki-Chin: /*ruʔ/ (VanBik, 2009)
- Central Chin
  - Mizo: ruh (“bone”)
Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
  - Bodic
    - Tibetan
      - Written Tibetan: རུས་པ (rus pa, “bone; lineage, family”)
Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
- Lolo-Burmese
  - Burmish
    - Written Burmese: ရိုး (rui:, “bone; lineage, family”), အရိုး (a.rui:, “bone; stalk; hilt, haft; lineage, tradition”)