Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/kjaŋ

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: ?
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *kyaŋ (Matisoff, STEDT)

There is perhaps a codaless variant, which may be an allofam or a product from the confusion with other species of Zingiberaceae (e.g. galangal); compare Tibetan སྒ (sga) (whence སྒེའུ (sge'u), སྒ་སྐྱ (sga skya)) ~ ལྒ (lga) ~ རྒ (rga) ("ginger"), Japanese 生姜 (shōga, “ginger”), Proto-Bahnaric *kjaː₁ (“ginger”), Thai ข่า (kha, “galangal”), Lao ຂ່າ (khā, “galangal”).

It is unknown how this relates to

• Proto-Vietic *s-gəːŋ ~ s-kəːŋ (“ginger”)

  > Vietnamese gừng / gầng

• Proto-Hmongic *qʰinᴮ ("ginger")

  > White Hmong qhiav

• Proto-Mienic *kʰjuŋᴬ ("ginger") (possibly a Chinese loan)
• Proto-Tai *χiːŋᴬ (“ginger”)

  > Thai ขิง (kǐng), Lao ຂີງ (khīng), Shan ၶိင် (khǐng)

• Proto-Hlai *kʰɯːŋ (“ginger”)
• Proto-Kam-Sui *kaŋ (“ginger”) (possibly a Chinese loan)
• Lakkia ɦiŋ² (“ginger”)
• Khmer ខ្ញី (kɲəj, “ginger”).
• Proto-Dravidian *cinki (“ginger”)

  > Tamil இஞ்சி (iñci), Sanskrit शृङ्गवेर (śṛṅgavera), Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερῐς (zingíberis), English ginger

[1] Ginger, root of Zingiber officinale.

*kjaŋ

1. ginger

• Old Chinese: 䕬 /*kaŋ/ (B-S; ZS) ("ginger")
  • Middle Chinese: 䕬, 薑／姜 (jiāng), 𧅁 /kɨɐŋ/

    → Japanese: 姜 (きょう, ​kyō)
    Korean: 강 (薑, gang)
    Vietnamese: khương (薑)

    → Japanese: 生姜 (しょうが, ​shōga)
    Korean: 생강 (生薑, saenggang)
    Vietnamese: sinh khương (生薑)

    • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 薑／姜 (jiāng) (jiāng, /t͡ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵⁵/)
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 薑／姜 (jiāng) /kœːŋ⁵⁵/
    • Wu
      • Shanghai: 薑／姜 (jiāng) /t͡ɕiã⁵³/
  • Min
    • Min Nan
      • Taiwan: 薑／姜 (jiāng) /kiũ⁵⁵/
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Written Burmese: ချင်း (hkyang:, “ginger”)
• Proto-Bodo-Garo: *hai²-ciŋ
  • Bodo (India): हायजें (hayzeŋ)
  • Dimasa: hajing
  • Rabha: চিংকু (ciŋ-kú)
• Proto-Kuki-Chin: *thiŋ
  • Northern
    • Zou: sing