Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/k/r/s-wa

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: *rɣwjaɣ  (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *k/r/s-wa, *rwa-s (Matisoff, STEDT); *r-wa (Benedict, 1972; Weidert, 1987)

The Chinese word family 隕 / 殞 / 霣／陨 / 殒 / 𫕥 (“to fall, to die, to rain”) is said to represent a rare ST parallel stem *(r)we (Schuessler, 2007). Compare also 雲／云 (yún) (/*ɢʷən/, "cloud").

Compare Proto-Tai *kraːᴮ (“gust (of rain)”) (Thai ห่า (hàa), Lao ຮ່າ (hā)).

Noun

*s-wa

1. rain

Descendants

• Old Chinese: 雨 (*C.ɢʷaʔ (B-S), *ɢʷaʔ (ZS), “rain”); 雨 (*ɢʷaʔ-s (B-S), *ɢʷas (ZS), “to rain”); 雩 (*ɢʷa (B-S), *ɢʷla (ZS), “sacrifice with prayer and dance for rain”)
  • Middle Chinese: 雨 (ɦɨoX, ɦɨoH), 雩 (ɦɨo)
    • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 雨 (yǔ, /y²¹⁴/, "rain"), 雨 (yù, /y⁵¹/, "to rain (literary)"), 雩 (yú, /y³⁵/, "sacrifice with prayer and dance for rain")
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 雨 /jyː¹³/ ("rain"), 雨 /jyː²²/ ("to rain (literary)"), 雩 /jyː²¹/ ("sacrifice with prayer and dance for rain")
    • Wu
      • Shanghai: 雨 /ɦy²³/
  • Min
    • Min Nan
      • Taiwan: 雨 /hɔ³³/ (colloquial), /u⁵¹/ (literary)
• Himalayish
  • Mahakiranti
    • Kiranti
      • Western Kiranti
        • Khaling: वो़ (wö, “rain”)
        • Dumi: हु (hu, “rain”)
• Sal
  • Bodo-Koch
    • Bodo-Garo
      • Garo: waa
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Written Burmese: ရွာ (rwa, “(of rain) to fall”)
    • Loloish
      • Northern Loloish
        • Yi (Liangshan): ꉐ (hxa, “rain”) (literary) (> ꂷꉐ (ma hxa, “rain”))