toàn
Vietnamese
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- (originally common between all dialects, latter Southern Vietnam, obsolete) tuyền
Etymology
[edit]Sino-Vietnamese word from 全.
The expected reflex of the Middle Chinese form would be tuyền (cf. 緣 (MC ywen) > duyên, 川 (MC tsyhwen) > xuyên, 專 (MC tsywen) > chuyên); đen tuyền (“deep black”) is the singular case where its usage persists in all dialects. The now dominant form toàn is a Northern innovation, displaced the earlier common form tuyền. Aside from the aforementioned exception, the form tuyền was still used to some extent in the Southern dialects until the 20th century (both as a stand-alone morpheme and in compounds such as vẹn tuyền).
toàn (tŏàn) as a reading of 全 (MC dzjwen) is attested once, in quan tŏàn ſát (“supreme judicial officer”) in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651), a dictionary chiefly based on the Northern dialects, while tuyèn is attested thrice (once as header, twice in ſao᷄ tuyèn, an indirect predecessor of modern song toàn). In Dictionarium Anamitico-Latinum (1838), a dictionary based chiefly on the Southern dialects, the form toàn has no entry, while tuyền is abundantly attested.
The Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651) has this about the similar sounding word tiền:
- […] quia quædam Gubernatrix exempli cauſa habuit ab infantia nomen, tién[sic], quòd monetam ſignificat, non licet in domo illius, neque extra domum, eius domeſticis vti nomine, tièn, ſed debent dicere, tŏàn […]
Pronunciation
[edit]Adverb
[edit]toàn
- nothing but
- toàn nước là nước ― nothing but water
Prefix
[edit]toàn
- pan-; all; entire; whole
- toàn khu vực ― the whole/entire area
- toàn công ti ― the whole/entire company