Appendix:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/b-ləj

This entry contains Proto-Sino-Tibetan 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: *blyid (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *b-ləy (Matisoff, STEDT); *b-ləy, *b-liy (Chou, 1972; Weidert, 1987); *b-liy (LaPolla, 1987; Benedict, 1972)

Numeral

Proto-Sino-Tibetan numerals
ONE	*ʔit *kat *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik
TWO	*g/s-ni-s
THREE	*g-sum
FOUR	*b-ləj
FIVE	*l/b-ŋa
SIX	*d-(k-)ruk
SEVEN	*s-ni-s
EIGHT	*b-r-gjat ~ b-g-rjat
NINE	*d/s-kəw
TEN	*gip *ts(j)i(j) ~ tsjaj
TWENTY	*(m-)kul
HUNDRED	*b-r-gja
THOUSAND	*s-toŋ

1. four

Descendants

• Old Chinese: 四 /*s.lij-s/ (B-S), /*hljids/ (ZS) ("four")

  (in the oracle bone script)

  • Middle Chinese: 四 /siɪH/

    →   Japanese:  四 (し, shi)
          Korean:  사 (四, sa)
          Vietnamese:  tứ

    • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 四 (sì, /sz̩⁵¹/)
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 四 /sei³³/, /ɕiː³³/
    • Wu
      • Shanghai: 四 /sz̩³⁴/
  • Min
    • Min Nan
      • Taiwan: 四 /ɕi³¹/ (colloquial), /su³¹/ (literary)
• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: བཞི (bzhi) (“four”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Written Burmese: လေး (le:) (“four”)
    • Loloish
      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꇖ (ly) (“four”)
• Karenic:

  /*lwiᴬ/ (Luangthongkum, 2013)

  • Sgaw: လွံၢ် (lwî) (“four”)