Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/m-hla

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: ?
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *m-hla (Matisoff, STEDT); *(m-)hla (Benedict, 1972; LaPolla, 1987)

Noun

*m-hla

1. soul
2. god
3. demon
4. beautiful

Descendants

• Kamarupan
  • Kuki-Chin

    /*khlaa/ (VanBik, 2009)

    • Central Chin
      • Lushai [Mizo]: thla (“spirit, soul; god; ghost; shadow, image”)
• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: ལྷ (lha, “god, deity”)
          • Modern Tibetan (Lhasa): /ɬa˥˧/
    • Tamangic

      *ᴬʰla, ᴬʰlu, ᴬHla, ᴬHlaː (Mazaudon, 1994)

      • Tamang (Sahu): १ला (¹la), १लु (¹lu, “god”)
• Jingpho-Nung-Asakian
  • Jingpho
    • Jingpho [Kachin]: minla (“ghost”), numla (“spirit, image, soul”), sumla (“picture”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Burmese: လှ (hla., “pretty, beautiful”)
    • Loloish

      /*ʔ-la¹/ ("soul") (Bradley, 1979)

      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꆠ (hla, “soul, spirit”) (> ꒌꆠ (yyr hla, “ghost, soul, spirit”))
      • Central Loloish
        • Lisu (Northern): ꓦꓻ (h̃ɑ, “soul”) (> ꓞꓳꓻ ꓦꓻ (tsʰo h̃ɑ, “soul (of a dead person)”))

See also

• Old Chinese: 帝 (dì) /*Tˤek-s/ ("god")
• Proto-Indo-European: *deywós (“god”) (Zhou Jixu, 2003)
• Proto-Semitic: *ʾil- (“god, deity”)