Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic/modun

This Proto-Mongolic 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-Mongolic

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Reconstruction

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Due to unexplained vowel length in Mongghul, Dagur and East Yugur, some authors posit a primary vowel length (as opposed to secondary lengths from -VxV- sequences) for Proto-Mongolic. However, this idea hasn't reached wide acceptance.

One possible explaination for the length is analogy with hypothetical unsuffixed *mo, which would be regularly lengthened.

Equally unexplained is the retroflex segment found in Bonan and Kangjia, where the *-d- is reflected as -(r)t-.

Etymology

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Analyzable as *mo +‎ *-dun by internal reconstruction. *-dun possibly reflects a suffix denoting countable and individualizable objects: compare *nidün (eye), *sidün (tooth), *sodun (quill), *xödün (feather), and *xodun (star).[1]

Perhaps related by borrowing (either between each other or a common source) with Proto-Tungusic *mō, see Evenki мо̄ (). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) Another interesting external comperandum is Chinese (MC muwk).

Noun

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*modun

  1. tree
  2. wood

Descendants

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Further reading

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  • Nugteren, Hans (2011) Mongolic phonology and the Qinghai-Gansu languages (dissertation)‎[1], Utrecht: LOT, pages 444-445
  • Francis Woodman Cleaves (1951) The Sino-Mongolian Inscription of 1338 in Memory of Jigüntei, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1/2, page 99

References

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