Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/m/s/g-ljak

This Proto-Sino-Tibetan entry contains reconstructed terms 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: *liek (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *m-lyak ⪤ *s-lyak ⪤ *g-lyak (Matisoff, STEDT); *(m-)lyak ~ (s-)lyak (Benedict, 1972; Weidert, 1987; Coblin, 1986); *m-lyak ⪤ *s-lyak (LaPolla, 1987; Michailovsky, 1991)

Other cognate roots in STEDT:

• *m/s-laj ~ s-lej (“tongue”)
• *s-l(j)a (“tongue”)
• *s-ljam (“tongue, flame”)
• *s-ljaːw (“to lick, tongue”)

The words for "to lick" and "tongue" in many languages have similar shapes, compare:

• Indo-European
  • Proto-Indo-European: *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue”) (English tongue, Latin lingua; the change *dn̥- to l- occured in three branches: Lithuanian, Armenian, Latin)
  • Proto-Indo-European: *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”) (English lick, Latin lingō)
• Hmong-Mien
  • Proto-Hmong-Mien: *mblet (“tongue”) (Hmong RPA nplaig)
• Tai-Kadai
  • Proto-Tai: *liːnᶜ (“tongue”) (Thai ลิ้น (lín), Lao ລີ້ນ (līn))
  • Proto-Tai: *Ĉ.lwiəᴬ (“to lick”) (Thai เลีย (lia), Lao ເລັຽ (līa), ລວບ (lūap))
• Austroasiatic:
  • Vietnamese: lưỡi (“tongue”), liếm (“to lick”), lời (“word”), lém (“glib”)
  • Khmer: លិឍ (lɨt, “to lick”)
• Austronesian:
  • Proto-Malayo-Polynesian: *dilaq (“tongue”) (Malay lidah)
  • Malay: jilat/dilat ("to lick")
• Afroasiatic: *lis- ("tongue"), *lVḳ- ("to lick")
  • Proto-Semitic: *lišān- (“tongue”) (Arabic لِسَان (lisān), Hebrew לשון (lāšôn))
  • Arabic: لَحِسَ (laḥisa, “to lick”), لَعِقَ (laʕiqa, “to lick”)
  • Hebrew: לִקֵּק (likek, “to lick”)
• Kartvelian:
  • Proto-Kartvelian *loḳ- (“to lick”) (Georgian: ლოკვა (loḳva, “to lick”))

Verb

*g-ljak

1. to lick

Noun

*g-ljak

1. tongue

Descendants

Descendants listed hereafter are mainly for words with the sense "to lick" only. Words with the sense "tongue" in daughter languages are mostly cognate to these and can be found at *m/s-laj ~ s-lej.

• Old Chinese:

  舐 (shì), 舓 (shì), 咶, 𦧇, 𦧧 (*Cə.leʔ (B-S), *ɦljeʔ (ZS), “to lick”)

  餂／𱃺 (*l̥ʰeːmʔ, “to entice”)

  食 (*mə-lək (B-S), *ɦljɯɡ (ZS), “to eat”)

  蝕／蚀 (*mə-lək (B-S), *ɦljɯɡ (ZS), “to eat away, to erode; eclipse”)

  食/飼／食/饲 (*s-m-lək-s (B-S), *ljɯ (ZS), “to feed, to rear”)

  • Middle Chinese: 舐 (shì), 舓 (shì), 咶, 𦧇, 𦧧 (ʑiᴇX); 餂／𱃺 (tʰemX); 食, 蝕／蚀 (ʑɨk); 飼／饲 (zɨH)

**:

→ Japanese: 食 (しょく, ​shoku)
Korean: 식 (食, sik)
Vietnamese: thực (食)

• • • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 舐 (shì), 舓 (shì), 咶, 𦧇, 𦧧 (shì, /ʂʐ̩⁵¹/); 餂／𱃺 (tiǎn), 舔 (tiǎn) (tiǎn, /tʰi̯ɛn²¹⁴/); 食, 蝕／蚀 (shí) (shí, /ʂʐ̩³⁵/); 飼／饲 (sì) (sì, /sz̩⁵¹/)
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 舐 (shì) /lɑːi³⁵/ (colloquial: 𦧺／𫇘); /sɑːi³⁵/ (literary); 餂／𱃺 (tiǎn), 舔 (tiǎn) /lɛːm³⁵/ (colloquial); /tʰiːm³⁵/ (literary); 食, 蝕／蚀 (shí) /ɕɪk̚²/; 飼／饲 (sì) /t͡ɕiː²²/
• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: ལྡག་པ (ldag pa, “to lick”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Burmic
        • Burmese: လျက် (lyak, “to lick”)
      • Maruic
        • Pela: jaʔ³¹ (“to lick”)
    • Loloish
      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꑽ (yot, “to lick, to lap up”)
• Proto-Karen: *hlajᴮ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
  • S'gaw Karen: လ့ၣ် (laỳ, “to lick; to lap”)
• Proto-Kuki-Chin: *liak
  • Khomic
    • Khumi Chin: bäleite (“to lick”)

See also

• *dz(j)a-k/n/t/s (“to eat”)