Reconstruction:Proto-Japonic/mui

This Proto-Japonic 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-Japonic

Etymology

Compare Old Korean 身萬 (*MUma, “body”) and Proto-Indo-European *mḗms (“flesh, meat”).

Noun

*mui

1. body
2. flesh, meat (not necessarily animal)
3. seed, fruit

Descendants

• Old Japanese: 身 (mi₂, mu, “body; meat”), 実 (mi₂, “seed, fruit”)
  • Japanese: 身 (mi, mo, mu, “body; meat”), 実 (mi, “seed, fruit”)
• Proto-Ryukyuan: *mi
  • Northern Ryukyuan:
    • Kikai: 身 (mī)
    • Kunigami: 身 (mi, in compounds)
    • Northern Amami-Oshima: 身 (mī)
    • Okinawan: 身 (mi, “body; meat”, in compounds), 実 (mī, “seed, fruit”)
    • Oki-No-Erabu: 身 (mī)
    • Southern Amami-Oshima: 身 (mī)
    • Toku-No-Shima: 身 (mī)
    • Yoron: 身 (mi, in compounds)
  • Southern Ryukyuan:
    • Miyako: 身 (m, miz)
    • Yaeyama: 身 (mïï)
    • Yonaguni: 身 (mī)

See also

• *sisi (“flesh, meat (particularly animal)”)

Further reading

• Pellard, Thomas. "A (more) comparative approach to some Japanese etymologies." Studies in Japanese and Korean historical and theoretical linguistics and beyond (2017): 55-64.