Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/na-ŋ

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: *njaɣ (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *na-ŋ (Matisoff, STEDT); *naŋ ⪤ **na (LaPolla, 1987)

Compare Old Japanese な (汝 (na, “you”)), Middle Korean 너 (neo, “you”).

Pronoun

*na-ŋ

1. you (second-person singular pronoun)

Descendants

• Old Chinese:

  女, 汝 /*naʔ/ (B-S); /*njaʔ/ (ZS) ("you (sg.)")

  乃 (*nɯːʔ) /*nˤəʔ/ (B-S); /*nɯːʔ/ (ZS) ("your (sg.)")

  爾 (*njelʔ) /*neʔ/ (B-S); /*njelʔ/ (ZS) ("you (sg. & pl.)")

  而 (*njɯ) /*nə/ (B-S); /*njɯ/ (ZS) ("you, your")

  你 (*nɯʔ) /*nɯʔ/ (ZS) ("you") (colloquial variant)

  戎 (*njuŋ) /*nuŋ/ (B-S); /*njuŋ/ (ZS) ("you")

  若 /*nak/ (B-S); /*njaɡ/ (ZS) ("you")

  • Middle Chinese: 女, 汝 (ȵɨʌX), 乃 (nʌiX), 爾 (ȵiᴇX), 而 (ȵɨ), 你 (ɳɨX), 戎 (ȵɨuŋ), 若 (ȵɨɐk)

    (All of these survive as readings in compounds or in literary texts in modern dialects. Listed below are the colloquial words for "you" which are ultimately from this PST etymon.)

    • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 你 (nǐ) (nǐ, /ni²¹⁴/) ("you, thou")
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 你 (nei⁵) /nei¹³/ ("you, thou")
    • Wu
      • Shanghai: 儂／侬 (⁶non) /nʊ̆ŋ²³/ ("you, thou")
  • Min
    • Min Nan
      • Taiwan: 你, 汝 /li⁵¹/ ("you")
• Kamarupan
  • Proto-Kuki-Chin: *naŋ
    • Central Chin
      • Mizo: nang
    • Khomic
      • Khumi Chin: nang
• Tangut-Qiang
  • rGyalrongic
    • Japhug: nɤ-
    • Situ: no
    • Tshobdun: nɐ-ɟiʔ
    • Zbu: nə-jeʔ
• Jingpho-Asakian
  • Jingpho
    • Jingpho [Kachin]: nang (“you”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese

    /*naŋ¹/ ("2nd person pronoun")

    • Burmish
      • Mranmaic
        • Burmese: နင် (nang, “you (intimate, impolite)”), နင့် (nang., “your; you (intimate, impolite)”), ညည်း (nyany:, “you (used among women)”)
      • Northern Burmic
        • Zaiwa: nang /naŋ⁵¹/
        • Lashi: nang /naŋ³¹/
        • Lhao Vo: nao /nɔ̃³¹/
        • Pela: nɔ̃⁵⁵
    • Loloish

      /*naŋ¹/ (Bradley, 1979)

      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꆏ (ne, “you (sg.)”), ꆍ (nop, “you (pl.)”)
      • Central Loloish
        • Lisu (Southern): ꓠꓴꓻ (nu, “you”)
    • Naic
      • Namuyi: nuò
• Karenic:
  • S'gaw Karen: နၤ (nā), န (na)
  • Western Pwo: နၧၩ, န
  • Western Kayah: ꤔꤟꤢꤧ꤬ (nà̤e)

See also

• *ŋa (“I (first-person singular pronoun)”)