mai gầm

Vietnamese

Etymology

The element mai is either inherited from Proto-Vietic, or, more likely, borrowed from another Austroasiatic language. In any case, cognate with Muong Bi màl (“banded krait”) and Proto-Khmuic *maːr (“snake”) (whence Phong-Kniang maːr ("snake")).

Since cognates of this word in other Austroasiatic branches mean "to crawl" (cf. Pacoh môr), and only developed the meaning of "snake" in Vietic and Khmuic, if Vietnamese mai was borrowed and not inherited, it could only have had borrowed from a fellow Vietic language (such as a Muong lect) or from Khmuic.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [maːj˧˧ ɣəm˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [maːj˧˧ ɣəm˦˩]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [maːj˧˧ ɣəm˨˩]

Noun

(classifier con) mai gầm

1. banded krait

   Synonyms: rắn cạp nong, rắn mai gầm