< Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/g-sum

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: *g-sum (Coblin, 1986)
    • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *g-sum (Matisoff, STEDT; Benedict, 1972; Chou, 1972; LaPolla, 1987)

This is perhaps the most stable numeral in Proto-Sino-Tibetan, with virtually no daughter language failing to show some reflex of this root. This stability can be attributed to various factors: the stability of the consonants "s" and "m", and the saliency of the numeral THREE itself. The velar prefix g/k- is the only prefix reconstructable for this root (another manifestation of well-preservedness); this is of course disregarding other prefixes in modern languages which resulted from an innovative prefix run in all of the lower numerals, for example Jingpho (m- in 3-5).

Some languages also show /a/ vocalism (e.g. Chinese), which some dismiss (somewhat unconvincingly) as secondary development. It is very likely that ablaut of *u ~ *a existed in the proto-language, i.e. *g-sum ⪤ *g-sam, analogous to *b-suŋ ~ b-saŋ (“fragrance”) (Matisoff, 1997).

Numeral

*g-sum

Proto-Sino-Tibetan numerals
ONE*ʔit
*kat
*tjak ~ g-t(j)ik
TWO*g/s-ni-s
THREE*g-sum
FOUR*b-ləj
FIVE*l/b-ŋa
SIX*d-k-ruk
SEVEN*s-ni-s
EIGHT*b-r-gjat ~ b-g-rjat
NINE*d/s-kəw
TEN*gip
*ts(j)i(j) ~ tsjaj
TWENTY*m-kul
HUNDRED*b-r-gja
THOUSAND*s-tawŋ
  1. three

Descendants
  • Old Chinese: 三 /*srum/ ("three"), /*s.rəm-s/ ("thrice")
    Note: The initial *sr- in Old Chinese irregularly developed into Middle Chinese *s- (not the expected *ʃ-), possibly due to influence by the next numeral 四 (sì) (*s.l- > s-) (⇒ *b-ləj), FOUR.
    • Middle Chinese: 三 (sɑm, sɑmH)

      → Japanese: 三 (さん, ​san)
      Korean: 삼 (三, sam)
      Vietnamese: tam (三)

      → Proto-Tai: *saːm (“three”) (whence Thai สาม (sǎam), Lao ສາມ (sām))

      • Mandarin
        • Beijing: 三 ("three") (sān, /san⁵⁵/)
        • Chengdu: 三 /san⁵⁵/
      • Cantonese
        • Guangzhou: 三 /säːm⁵⁵/
        • Taishan: 三 /ɬam³³/
      • Hakka
        • Sixian: 三 /sam²⁴/
        • Meixian: 三 /sam⁴⁴/
      • Wu
        • Shanghai: 三 /se̞⁵³/
    • Min
      • Min Bei
        Jian'ou: 三 /saŋ⁵⁴/
      • Min Dong
        Fuzhou: 三 /saŋ⁵⁵/
      • Min Nan
        Hokkien:
        Quanzhou: 三 /sã³³/ (colloquial), /sam³³/ (literary)
        Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Kaohsiung, Taipei: 三 /sã⁴⁴/ (colloquial), /sam⁴⁴/ (literary)
        Teochew: 三 /sã³³/ (colloquial), /sam³³/ (literary)
  • Kamarupan
    • "North Assam"
      • Tani
        /*ɦum/ ("three") (Sun, 1993)
    • Kuki-Chin
      /*thum/ ("three") (VanBik, 2009)
      • Central Chin
        • Lushai [Mizo]: thum (“three”)
    • "Naga"
      • Northern Naga/Konyak
        *C̬-sum (“three”) (French, 1983)
      • Tangkhulic
        /*tʰum/ ("three") (Mortensen, 2012)
  • Himalayish
    • Tibeto-Kanauri
      • Bodic
        • Tibetan
          • Written Tibetan: གསུམ (gsum, “three”)
            • Modern Tibetan (Lhasa): /sum˥˥/
      • Lepcha: ᰠᰦᰮ (sám, “three”)
      • Tamangic/West Bodish
        *ᴮsom (“three”) (Mazaudon, 1994)
        • Tamang (Sahu): २सोम (²som, “three”)
    • Newar
      • Newar (Dolakhali): सों (sõ, “three”)
      • Newar (Kathmandu): सो (swɔ, “three”)
    • Mahakiranti
  • Tangut-Qiang
    • Northern Tangut
      • Tangut: 𘕕 (*sọ¹, “three”)
    • rGyalrongic
  • Jingpho-Asakian
    • Jingpho
      • Jingpho [Kachin]: masum (“three”)
  • Sal
    • Bodo-Garo
      • Garo: gittim (“three”) (probably)
      • Kokborok: tham (“three”)
  • Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
    • Lolo-Burmese
      • Burmish
      • Proto-Loloish: *C-sum² (“three”) (Bradley, 1979)
        • Northern Loloish
          • Yi (Liangshan): ꌕ (suo, “three”)
        • Central Loloish
          • Lisu (Southern): ꓢꓺ (sɑ̱, “three”) (ꓢꓽ (sɑ̀) / ꓢꓼ (sɑ̱̀) before most mid tone classifiers)
  • Proto-Karen: *səmᴬ (“three”) (Luangthongkum, 2013)
  • Baic
    • Bai: sanl (“three”)
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