Middle Vietnamese

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Attested in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary based chiefly on the Northern dialects. As with other words with this initial, the Northern dialects depalatalized this initial ([ðj- > ð- > z-] in the modern dialects) while the Southern dialects defricativized it ([ðj- > j-] in the modern dialects).

The Middle Vietnamese form ancestral to the modern Southern Vietnamese form, although technically unattested, should be phonologically identical to the Northern Middle Vietnamese form here. The modern Southern form is listed as a "descendant" in this entry for convenience.

Alternative forms

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  • da (Northern form with depalatalization)

Noun

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dĕa

  1. skin
    dĕa lợnpig skin
    lột dĕato peel the skin, to skin
Descendants
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  • Northern Vietnamese: da
  • Southern Vietnamese: da

Etymology 2

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Attested in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary based chiefly on the Northern dialects. The common modern form đa is not a reflex of this form, but spread from a Central dialect that did not undergo lenition in this case.

Noun

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dĕa

  1. (botany) banyan

References

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