White Hmong
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Pronunciation
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Etymology 1
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From Proto-Hmong *kowᴰ (“to gnaw”).[1]
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This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “The Hmong-Mien reconstructions page lists Old Chinese 咬 (OC *kreːw, *ŋɡreːwʔ, *qreːw, “to bite”) as a potential cognate; however, the Hmong-Mien form is reconstructed with a checked D tone, which isn't suggested by the Old Chinese form. A better match, both formally (checked tone) and semantically ("gnawing" connotations), is 齧 (OC *ŋeːd, “to gnaw, bite”). The nasal initial in the Chinese form seems problematic, however. In either case, the word is probably of sound-symbolic origin.”
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kaws
- to gnaw, to chew upon
- Dev kaws pob txha. ― The dob gnaws the bone.
- Nees kaws kaws zaub. ― The horse nibbles on the grass.
Etymology 2
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kaws
- used in qav kaws (“toad”)
- (slang) toad
References
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- Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary[1], SEAP Publications, →ISBN, page 79.
- ^ Ratliff, Martha (2010) Hmong-Mien language history (Studies in Language Change; 8), Camberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics, →ISBN, page 275.