Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/l(j)ak

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

Alternative forms

• *l(j)aŋ

Etymology

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *lek (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *l(j)ak ⪤ *l(j)aŋ (Matisoff, STEDT)

This root appears to be related with Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-tjak/ŋ ~ tik/ŋ, showing a very common alternation between *d and *l. As Matisoff (2013) points out, this *l ~ *d alternation is attested in many natural languages, even outside the Sino-Tibetan language family.

Alternatively, Tibetan ལེགས་པོ (legs po, “good, beautiful”) and ཡག་པོ (yag po, “good, fine”) could come from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lwa(ː)j (“easy”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Adjective

*l(j)ak

1. good
2. beautiful
3. real
4. straight

Adverb

*l(j)ak

1. very
2. really

Descendants

• Old Chinese: 良 /*[r]aŋ/ (B-S); /*raŋ/ ("good, virtuous")
  • Middle Chinese: 良 /lɨɐŋ/

**:

→ Japanese: 良 (ろう, ​rō)
Korean: 양 (良, yang)
Vietnamese: lương (良)

• • • Modern Chinese
      • Beijing: 良 (liáng, /li̯ɑŋ³⁵/) ("good")
      • Cantonese: /lœːŋ²¹/
      • Hakka: /li̯oŋ¹¹/
  • Min
    • Min Nan: /liɔŋ²⁴/
• Tani
  • Western Tani
    • Bokar: /lak/ ("good")
• Himalayish
  • Bodic
    • Tibeto-Kanauri
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: ལེགས་པོ (legs po, “good”), ཡག་པོ (yag po, “good, nice”), འཇག་པོ ('jag po, “calm, quiet”)
• Tangut-Qiang
  • Northern Tangut
    • Tangut: 𘝷 (*lia¹) (lia, /*li̯a⁵⁵/) ("beautiful")
• Lolo-Burmese
  • Burmish
    • Achang: /liɑŋ⁵⁵pɑ⁵⁵/ ("beautiful")
  • Loloish
    • Naxi: /lə²¹/ ("beautiful")