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 edit

Reconstruction edit

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.

Equally perplexing is the retroflex segment found in Bonan and Kangjia.

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

Etymology edit

Analyzable as *mo +‎ *-dun by internal reconstruction, no doubt 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 comparison is Chinese (MC muwk).

*-dun possibly reflects a suffix denoting countable and individualizable objects, compare *nidün (eye), *sidün (tooth), *sodun (quill), *xödün (feather), and *xodun (star) [1]

Noun edit

*modun

  1. tree
  2. wood

Descendants edit

Further reading edit

  • Nugteren, Hans (2011) Mongolic phonology and the Qinghai-Gansu languages (dissertation)‎[1], Utrecht: LOT, page 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 edit