toàn

See also: toan

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

(originally common between all dialects, latter Southern Vietnam, obsolete) tuyền

Etymology

The expected reflex of the Middle Chinese form would be tuyền (cf. 緣 (MC ywen) > duyên, 川 (MC tsyhwen) > xuyên, 專 (MC tsywen) > chuyên); đen tuyền (“deep black”) is the singular case where its usage persists in all dialects. The now dominant form toàn is a Northern innovation, displaced the earlier common form tuyền. Aside from the aforementioned exception, the form tuyền was still used to some extent in the Southern dialects until the 20th century (both as a stand-alone morpheme and in compounds such as vẹn tuyền).

toàn (tŏàn) as a reading of 全 (MC dzjwen) is attested once, in quan tŏàn ſát (“supreme judicial officer”) in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary chiefly based on the Northern dialects, while tuyèn is attested thrice (once as header, twice in ſao᷄ tuyèn, an indirect predecessor of modern song toàn). In Dictionarium Anamitico-Latinum (1838), a dictionary based chiefly on the Southern dialects, the form toàn has no entry, while tuyền is abundantly attested.

The Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651) has this about the similar sounding word tiền:

1651, Alexandre de Rhodes, Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum:

[…] quia quædam Gubernatrix exempli cauſa habuit ab infantia nomen, tién^[sic], quòd monetam ſignificat, non licet in domo illius, neque extra domum, eius domeſticis vti nomine, tièn, ſed debent dicere, tŏàn […]

[…] because a certain Governor, for example, had from her childhood the name tién^[sic], which means "money", neither in her house nor outside of it, is it allowed for [other people] to use the name tièn, but they must say tŏàn […]

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [twaːn˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [twaːŋ˦˩]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [t⁽ʷ⁾aːŋ˨˩]

Adverb

toàn

nothing but
toàn nước là nước ― nothing but water

Prefix

toàn

pan-; all; entire; whole
toàn khu vực ― the whole/entire area

toàn công ti ― the whole/entire company

Derived terms