Jump to content

Appendix:Vietnamese words derived from historically affixed forms

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Modern Vietnamese contains a number of lemmas and forms derived from historically affixed forms.

This article excludes the animate prefix *ʔa- since it did not produce new words.

Instrumental infix *-rn-

[edit]

Proto-Vietic infix *-rn- derived nouns from verbs. As some verbs in Vietnamese also became nouns through semantic extension, the meaning of the infixed words and the uninfixed nouns sometimes became synonymous.

Affixed form Unaffixed form Note
1. nan (bamboo slat, bamboo tape) đan (to weave)
2. nẹp (clip, nipper) kẹp (to pinch, to clamp)
3. nút (bung, cork) đút (to plug, to insert)
4. nải (hand of banana) chải (to comb) Compare the relationship between Khmu [Cuang]
criəs ("to comb") and cntriəs ("clf. for a hand of bananas"),
Khmer សិត (sət) and ស្និត (snət).
5. nếp (fold) xếp (to fold)
6. nệm (mattress) đệm (to back, to put under)
7. nọc (venom, stinger; stake) chọc (to prick, to poke) The infixed form now mainly means "venom".
8. niền (rim) viền (to hem, to edge)
9. nĩa (fork) xỉa (to pick, to jab)
10. nạo (curette, scraper) cạo (to scrape) The infixed form is now mostly used as verb.
11. nước (move, step) bước (to step)
12. nuộc (turn of bamboo tape) buộc (to bind, to tie)
13. nâng (to raise, to lift) dâng (to rise, to offer) The infixed form is now used as verb.
14. nêu (bamboo pole) bêu (to raise, to expose)
15. nụ (flower bud) (to suckle) The infixed form probably originally meant "nipple",
cf. Maleng Bro prnuːʔ ("breast").
16. nét (line) quét (to sweep, to paint, to coat)
quẹt (to rub, to wipe)
17. níu (to pull back) víu, bíu (to cling to) The infixed form is now used as verb.
18. nêm (wedge) chêm (to wedge)
19. nịt (belt) rịt (to fasten; to tie)
or thít (to fasten)
20. nơm (a fishing tool) đơm (to catch fish with nơm)
21. nau (birth pang, belly pain) đau (to be painful, to be hurt)
22. nạy (to pry, to prize) cạy (to pry, to prize) The infixed form is now used as verb.
23. nứng (horny, aroused) cứng (to be hard)
24. nắp (lid) đắp (to cover)
25. nuốc (broom) xuốc (to sweep) Both words are only found in certain North Central dialects.
Cf. Santali ᱡᱚᱜ (jôk’, to sweep) and ᱡᱚᱱᱚᱜ (jônôk’, broom).
26. neo (anchor) xeo (to row) xeo is archaic, glossed as remo de iangada
in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum.
27. nạng (crutches) chạng, giạng (to spread out, to split diagonally)
28. nợ (debt) bợ (to borrow)

Cases where roots were nouns

[edit]

These cases are fewer and it is harder to pinpoint their history.

Affixed form Unaffixed form Note
1. non (young, tender) con (child)
2. nết (custom, manner, conduct) vệt (streak, long trace)
vết (stain, spot)
3. nấc (rung, grade, notch) bậc (rung, stair, step)

Causative prefix *pr-

[edit]

Proto-Vietic prefix *pr- ~ *p- derived verbs from verbs.

Affixed form Unaffixed form Note
1. mướn (to rent, to hire) mượn (to borrow)
2. dựng (to set up, to erect) đứng (to stand)
3. tràn (to overflow) lan (to spread)
4. giết (to kill) chết (to die) cf. Phong pceːt⁷ "to kill" (< *k-pr-ceːt) was probably independently formed.
5. giuống (to put down) xuống (to go down) giuống is obsolete in the mainstream dialects.

Affixes with unknown or unclear function

[edit]
Affixed form Unaffixed form Presumed affix
1. trên (on, above) lên (to go up) *k-
2. làm (to do, to make) (to be) *-m
3. trộn (to stir, to blend) lộn (to mix up) *g-
4. quê (hometown (< village)) về (to return) *k-
5. mọi (barbarian, savage
(originally human being < dibbler)
)
mói (to dig out, to dibble) Unknown
6. nay (now) này (this) Unknown
7. mặt (face) mắt (eye) Unknown
8. mốt (the day after tomorrow) một (one) Unknown
9. miếng (piece, mouthful) miệng (mouth) Unknown
10. dấy (to raise) dậy (to wake up, to rise) Unknown. Possibly the aforementioned causative prefix.
11. tròng (to insert, to put in) trong (inside) Unknown. The causative prefix might be possible,
but phonetically and semantically (the root is not a verb), it is not straightforward.
12. ngôi (throne < seat) ngồi (to sit) Unknown.
13. cấy (to transplant) cây (tree, plant) *-ʔ
14. (breast) (to suckle) A parallel pair is seen in Pnar bu (to suckle) vs. Pnar ymbu (breast) (although the prefixal elements were likely not cognates for "breast").