Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/g/s-ni-s

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

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Etymology

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  • Proto-Sino-Tibetan: ?
    • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *g/s-ni-s (Matisoff, STEDT); *g-nis (Benedict, 1972; Chou, 1972; LaPolla, 1987); *g-ni-s (Weidert, 1987)

Alongside the root for "three" (*g-sum), this root for "two" is one of the most lexemically and phonologically stable numerals in Sino-Tibetan languages, and lexical replacement of this etymon is excessively rare: e.g. Jingpho /ləkhôŋ/ which has not been successfully connected to anything else. The Jingpho word for "one" has a similar shape, /ləŋâi/, and is also etymologically unclear.

This root appears unmistakably cognate with *s-ni-s (seven). See there for more.

The Burmese form seems to suggest a proto-language velar final variant: *-ik.

Numeral

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*s-ni-s

  1. two

Descendants

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  • Old Chinese: (*njis)
    • Middle Chinese: (ȵiɪH)
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**:

Japanese:  (, ​ni)
Korean:  (, i)
Vietnamese: nhị ()

      • Modern Mandarin
        • Beijing: (èr) (èr, /ˀɤɻ⁵¹/)
      • Cantonese
        • Guangzhou: (èr) /jiː²²/
      • Wu
        • Shanghai: (ȵi²³) (colloquial) /ɦəɻ²³/ (literary)
  • Old Chinese: (*sn̥ʰis, second; next; the following)
    • Middle Chinese: (t͡sʰiɪH)
      • Cantonese
        • Guangzhou: (/t͡sʰiː³³/)
      • Hakka
        • Sixian: (/t͡sʰɨ⁵⁵/)
      • Modern Mandarin
        • Beijing: (/t͡sʰz̩⁵¹/)
  • Himalayish
    • Tibeto-Kanauri
  • Tangut-Qiang
    • Northern Tangut
      • Tangut: 𗍫 (*njɨ̱¹, two)
    • rGyalrongic
    • Namuyi: nyî
  • Sal
  • Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
    • Lolo-Burmese
      • Burmish
      • Loloish
        • Northern Loloish
          • Yi (Liangshan): (nyip, two)
  • Proto-Karen: *k-hnejᴬ (Luangthongkum, 2013)