Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic/modun
Proto-Mongolic
editReconstruction
editDue 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
editAnalyzable 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 (mō). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) Another interesting external comperandum is Chinese 木 (MC muwk).
Noun
edit*modun
Descendants
edit- Middle Mongol:
- Mongolian: ᠮᠣᠳᠤᠨ (modun), ᠮᠣᠳ (mod, plural)
- Arabic: مودون (modun) (Muqaddimat)
- Chinese: 莫多 (modu) (Beilu Yiyu), [script needed] (modun), [script needed] (mudun), moči (“carpenter”) (Secret History)
- Phags-Pa: ꡏꡡ
ꡊꡟ
ꡋꡟ (mo-du-nu, genitive) ꡏꡡꡊ (mod, plural)
- Mongolian:
- Buryat: модо(н) (modo(n))
- Khamnigan Mongol: modo(n)
- Kalmyk: модн (modn)
- Daur: mood
- East Yugur: muudin, moodin (Qinglong)
- Monguor:
- Bonan:
- Kangjia: mürtün
- Dongxiang: mutun
- Mogholi: modu
Further reading
edit- 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