Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/ʔit

This Proto-Sino-Tibetan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Etymology

Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *ʔjit (Coblin, 1986)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *ʔit (Matisoff, STEDT); *it (Benedict, 1972)

There is no single general root for “one” in Sino-Tibetan languages, in sharp contradistinction to the cases of numerals 2-9, for each of which a single etymon overwhelmingly predominates. This root is only found at the periphery of the Sino-Tibetan area and may therefore be quite old. The more common root for “one” is *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik.

Benedict (1972) set up this etymon on the basis of only two forms: Kanawari and Written Burmese, and identified it as cognate to Old Chinese.

Matisoff (1997) posits *-i- ~ -ya- variational pattern in this etymon (akin to *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik (“one”), *gip ~ gjap (“ten”) and perhaps *riŋ ~ rjaŋ (“ten”), op. cit.) and considers this root to be etymologically cognate with *kat (“one”).

Some Eastern Min dialects use 蜀 as the colloquial word for the numeral one, e.g. Fuzhou /soʔ⁵/, Fuqing /θyo⁵³/. Hokkien also has a similar-shaped word, e.g. Amoy /t͡ɕit̚⁵/.

Numeral

*ʔit

**Proto-Sino-Tibetan numbers ^(edit)**
	10^{[a], [b]}
	1	2 →	10 → ^{[a], [b]}
Cardinal: ʔit, kat, *(g-)tek

one

Descendants

Old Chinese: 一 (*ʔit (B-S); *qlig (ZS))
(in the oracle bone script)

→ Proto-Hmong-Mien: *ʔɨ (“one”)
(White Hmong (RPA): ib)
- Middle Chinese: 一 /ʔiɪt/
  - ^{The template Template:Sinoxenic does not use the parameter(s): 5=il
    Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.}**:
    → Japanese: 一 (いち, ichi)
    Korean: 일 (一, il)
    Vietnamese: nhất (一)
  → Thai: เอ็ด (èt, “one (used as final digit, as in สิบเอ็ด (sìp-èt))”)
  Lao: ເອັດ (ʼet, “one (used as final digit, as in ສິບເອັດ (sip ʼet))”)
  - Mandarin
    - Beijing: 一 yī, /i⁵⁵/
    - Northeastern
      - Harbin: 一 /i⁴⁴/
      - Jilin: 一 /i⁴⁴/
      - Changchun: 一 /i⁴⁴/
      - Shenyang: 一 /i³³/
    - Jilu
      - Tianjin: 一 /i⁴²/
      - Jinan: 一 /i²¹³/
    - Jiaoliao
      - Qingdao: 一 /i⁵⁵/
      - Dalian: 一 /i²¹³/
      - Weihai: 一 /i⁵³/
    - Zhongyuan
      - Xi’an: 一 /i²¹/
      - Zhengzhou: 一 /i²⁴/
      - Yinchuan: 一 /i¹³/
    - Jin
      - Taiyuan: 一 /ieʔ²/
    - Southwestern
      - Chengdu-Chongqing: 一 yi2 /i²¹/
      - Wuhan: 一 /i²¹³/
      - Guiyang: 一 /i²¹/
      - Kunming: 一 /i⁴²/
    - Jianghuai
      - Nanjing: 一 i5 /iʔ⁵/
      - Hefei: 一 /ieʔ⁴/
      - Yangzhou: 一 /ieʔ⁴/
  - Yue
    - Guangzhou-Hong Kong: 一 jat1 /jɐt̚⁵/
    - Taishan: 一 /zit̚⁵/
  - Hakka
    - Meixian: 一 yid5 /it̚¹/
  - Gan
    - Nanchang: 一 /it̚⁵/
  - Xiang
    - Changsha: 一 /i²⁴/
    - Shuangfeng: 一 /i¹³/
  - Wu
    - Shanghai: 一 iq7 /iɪʔ⁴/
    - Suzhou: 一 iq7 /iəʔ⁴³/
    - Ningbo: 一 iq7 /iɪʔ⁵/
    - Hangzhou: 一 iq7 /iəʔ⁵/
    - Taizhou: 一 iq7 /iəʔ⁵/
    - Wenzhou: 一 iai7 /iai³²³/
- Min
  - Southern
    - Hokkien: 一 it /it̚³/
    - Teoswa: 一 ig4 /ik̚²/
  - Eastern
    - Hokchiu: 一 ék /eiʔ²³/
  - Northern
    - Jian’ou: 一 ĭ /i²⁴/
Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
  - Western Himalayish
    - Kinnauri: id (“one”)
- Mahakiranti
  - Kham-Magar-Chepang-Sunwar
    - Chepang: यात् (jat, “one”)
Tangut-Qiang
- Northern Tangut
  - Tangut: 𘂪 (*dzjij², “one, single”); 𗖌 (*gjɨ², “one, some, a”)
Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
- Lolo-Burmese
  - Burmish
    - Written Burmese: အစ် (ac, “unit, one”) (Benedict, 1976, RDWB)