Reconstruction:Proto-Japonic/pitunsi
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Proto-Japonic
[edit]Etymology
[edit]According to Martin (1987), possibly a compound of *pi (unknown, perhaps the same pi found in *pinkay (“beard”)) + *tu (completion particle) + *-n- (possibly a contraction of the genitive particle の (no)) + *-(u)si (related to animals, as in 肉 (shishi, “meat”, obsolete), 獣 (shishi, “animal (used for meat)”, obsolete), or possibly 牛 (ushi, “cow, ox”)).
That said, Martin's suggested compound is problematic.
- Completion suffix -tu only attaches to verbs.
- There is genitive particle tu, but this is never followed by genitive no.
- The case for unreduplicated si is weak; the "meat" sense is only ever attested as sisi, never as si.
Noun
[edit]*pitunsi