Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/t/duŋ

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: *t/duŋ ⪤ *ts(y)uːŋ (Matisoff, STEDT); *tsyuːŋ (Benedict, 1972) (later revised to *tuːŋ); *tuuŋ (LaPolla, 1987)

Secondary affricativisation conditioned by medial /-u-/ occurred in many cases, a phenomenon reminiscent of modern Japanese つ /tu/, [t͡sɯ]. The original initial was a plain or perhaps palatalised (?) plosive.

Noun

*duŋ

1. navel
2. centre

Descendants

• Old Chinese: 中 /*truŋ/ (B-S), /*tuŋ/ (ZS) (“centre”); 中 /*truŋ-s/ (B-S), /*tuŋs/ (ZS) (“to hit the centre, to match, to suffer”); 仲 /*ɴ-truŋ-s/ (B-S), /*duŋs/ (ZS) (“to be in the middle, second”)

  → Vietnamese: đúng (“exact, accurate, correct, right”) (?)

  (中 (in the oracle bone script))

  (中 (in bronzeware inscriptions))

  • Middle Chinese: 中 /ʈɨuŋ/,中 /ʈɨuŋH/; 仲 /ɖɨuŋH/

**:

→ Japanese: 中 (ちゅう, ​chū)
Korean: 중 (中, jung)
Vietnamese: trung, trúng (中)

• • • Mandarin:
      • Beijing: 中 (zhōng) /ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵⁵/, 中 (zhòng) /ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵¹/, 仲 (zhòng) /ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵¹/
    • Cantonese:
      • Guangzhou-Hong Kong: 中 (zung¹) /t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵/, 中 (zung³) /t͡sʊŋ³³/, 仲 (zung⁶) /t͡sʊŋ²²/
• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: གཞུང (gzhung, “centre, core, middle; government; (main) text, scripture, literature”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Burmese: အတွင်း (a.twang:, “inside”); တွင် (twang, “in, within”)

See also

• *m/s‑la(ː)j (“navel, centre, self”)