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

Etymology

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

*s-ni-s

Proto-Sino-Tibetan numerals
ONE	ʔit kat *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik
TWO	*g/s-ni-s
THREE	*g-sum
FOUR	*b-ləj
FIVE	*l/b-ŋa
SIX	*d-k-ruk
SEVEN	*s-ni-s
EIGHT	*b-r-gjat ~ b-g-rjat
NINE	*d/s-kəw
TEN	gip ts(j)i(j) ~ tsjaj
TWENTY	*m-kul
HUNDRED	*b-r-gja
THOUSAND	*s-tawŋ

two

Descendants

Old Chinese: 二 (*njis)
- Middle Chinese: 二 (ȵiɪ^H)

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**:

→ Japanese: 二 (に, ni)
Korean: 이 (二, i)
Vietnamese: nhị (二)

- - Modern Mandarin
    - Beijing: 二 (èr) (èr, /ˀɤɻ⁵¹/)
  - Cantonese
    - Guangzhou: 二 (èr) /jiː²²/
  - Wu
    - Shanghai: 二 (ȵi²³) (colloquial) /ɦəɻ²³/ (literary)
Old Chinese: 次 (*sn̥ʰis, “second; next; the following”)
- Middle Chinese: 次 (t͡sʰiɪ^H)
  - Cantonese
    - Guangzhou: 次 (/t͡sʰiː³³/)
  - Hakka
    - Sixian: 次 (/t͡sʰɨ⁵⁵/)
  - Modern Mandarin
    - Beijing: 次 (/t͡sʰz̩⁵¹/)
Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
  - Bodic
    - Tibetan
      - Written Tibetan: གཉིས (gnyis, “two”)
      - Sikkimese: ཉི (nyi)
Tangut-Qiang
- Northern Tangut
  - Tangut: 𗍫 (*njɨ̱¹, “two”)
- rGyalrongic
  - Situ: kəɲes
- Namuyi: nyî
Sal
- Bodo-Garo
  - Garo: gini, gining
Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
- Lolo-Burmese
  - Burmish
    - Burmese: နှစ် (hnac, “two”)
  - Loloish
    - Northern Loloish
      - Yi (Liangshan): ꑍ (nyip, “two”)
Proto-Karen: *k-hnejᴬ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
- S'gaw Karen: ခံ (khee)