Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/r-maj ~ m-raj

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: ?
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *r-may ⪤ *m-ray, *r-mi, *r-mey (Matisoff, STEDT); *r-may (Weidert, 1987; Michailovsky, 1991; Benedict, 1972); *r-may ~ mey (LaPolla, 1987); *r-mǎy (Matisoff, 1985); *r-mɑy (Chou, 1972)

Noun

*r-maj ~ m-raj

1. tail
2. penis

Descendants

• Old Chinese: 尾 /*məjʔ/ (B-S); /*mɯlʔ/ (ZS) ("tail, end; to copulate")
  • Middle Chinese: 尾 (mʉiX)

**:

→ Japanese: 尾 (び, ​bi)
Korean: 미 (尾, mi)
Vietnamese: vĩ (尾)

• • • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 尾 (wěi, /u̯eɪ̯²¹⁴/) (literary); (yǐ, /i²¹⁴/) (colloquial)
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 尾 /mei¹³/
• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: རྨེད (rmed, “tail, crupper of saddle”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Proto-Lolo-Burmese: *ʔ-m(r)aj²
    • Burmish
      • Burmese: မြီး (mri:, “tail”), အမြီး (a.mri:, “tail, tail-end”)
    • Proto-Loloish: *ʔmri²
      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꂪ (hmy, “tail; end”)
    • Naic
      • Namuyi: mä̆kŭ (“tail”)
• Proto-Karen: *meᴮ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
  • S'gaw Karen: မဲၢ် (meẖ, “tail”)
• Proto-Kuki-Chin: *C-maj
  • Central
    • Mizo: mei

See also

• *r-ŋa (“tail”)
• *m-ley ~ m-li (“penis”)
• *r-lik (“testicle; egg; penis”)