སེང་གེ

Tibetan

Etymology

Borrowed from a Central Asian substrate language. Compare Zhang-Zhung [script needed] (saṅgo), Chinese 狻猊 (OC * swar ŋe), 獅 (OC *sri), Proto-Iranian *cárguš (whence Middle Persian 𐫢𐫃𐫡 (šgr /⁠šagr, šēr⁠/, “lion; (astronomy) Leo”)), Sanskrit सिंह (siṃha), Tocharian A śiśäk, Tocharian B ṣecake and Chechen цӏокъ (cʼoqʼ), among other Caucasian cognates.

Pronunciation

• Old Tibetan: /*seŋ.ɡe/
• Lhasa: /seŋ˥˥.ke˥˥/

---

• Old Tibetan:
  • IPA^(key): /*seŋ.ɡe/ (reconstructed)
• Ü-Tsang
  • Tibetan pinyin: seng^f-ge^f
  • (Lhasa) IPA^(key): /seŋ˥˥.ke˥˥/

Noun

སེང་གེ • (seng ge)

1. lion
2. (astronomy) The constellation Leo