dĕấu

Middle Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• dấu (Northern form with depalatalization)

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *k-toːʔ (“trace, footprint”). Attested in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary based chiefly on the Northern dialects. As with other words with this initial, the Northern dialects depalatalized this initial ([ðj- > ð- > z-] in the modern dialects) while the Southern dialects defricativized it ([ðj- > j-] in the modern dialects).

The modern North Central form đấu is not a reflex of this form, but from an earlier form that did not undergo lenition.

Pronunciation

• (Đông Kinh) [ðjəw^B1] (conservative)
• (Đông Kinh) [ðəw^B1] (innovative)

Noun

dĕấu

1. mark; sign

Descendants

• Northern Vietnamese: dấu
• Southern Vietnamese: dấu