Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/s-naːj ~ s-nej

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: *nyɨy (Coblin, 1986)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *s-naːy ⪤ *s-ney (Matisoff, STEDT); *ney (Benedict, 1972; Weidert, 1987; Chou, 1972)

Adjective

*s-naːj ~ s-nej

to be near, close

Descendants

Old Chinese: 邇 (*neʔ (B-S); *njelʔ (ZS)); 昵 (*nrit (B-S); *nig (ZS))
- Middle Chinese: 邇 (ȵiᴇX); 昵 (ɳɣiɪt)
  - Modern Mandarin
    - Beijing: 邇 (“near”) (ěr, /ˀɤɻ²¹³/); 昵 (“close, intimate; relatives”) (nì, /ni⁵¹/)
Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
  - Bodic
    - Tibetan
      - Written Tibetan: ཉེ་བ (nye ba, “near”)
Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
- Lolo-Burmese
  - Burmish
    - Written Burmese: နီး (ni:, “near”)