Reconstruction:Proto-Tungusic/samān

This Proto-Tungusic 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-Tungusic

Etymology

Several possibilities:

1. Generally accepted to be a derivation from *sā- (“to know”).
2. Unlike the first section, EDAL derives it from an unknown stem *samā-, to make a compare with Proto-Mongolic *süme. Compare also Evenki самасик (samasik, “shamanic robes”) which could actually be from *samā-.
3. Could be a loanword from Tocharian B ṣamāne (“monk”) or Chinese 沙門／沙门 (shāmén, “Buddhist monk”), from Pali samaṇa from Sanskrit श्रमण (śramaṇa, “ascetic, monk, devotee”), from श्रम (śrama, “weariness, exhaustion; labor, toil; etc.”).

Noun

*samān

1. shaman

Descendants

• Jurchenic:
  • Manchu: ᠰᠠᠮᠠᠨ (saman)
• Tungusic:
  • North Tungusic:
    • Evenki: сама̄н (samān), шама̄н (şamān), хама̄н (hamān)
      • → Russian: шаман (šaman)
    • Even: хама̄н (hamān)
    • Negidal: саман (saman)
  • South Tungusic:
    • Central:
      • Oroch: сама(н) (sama(n))
      • Udihe: сама(н) (sama(n))
    • South-Eastern:
      • Nanai: сама̄н (samān)
      • Orok: сама (sama)
      • Ulch: сама̄(н) (samā(n))

References

• Cincius, V. I. (1977) Сравнительный словарь тунгусо-маньчжурских языков [Comparative Dictionary of Tungus-Manchu Languages] (in Russian), volume 2, Leningrad: Nauka, page 59