Reconstruction:Proto-Mon-Khmer/(ʔ)boʔ

This Proto-Mon-Khmer 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-Mon-Khmer

Etymology

• Proto-Mon-Khmer: *(ʔ)boʔ (Shorto, 2006, #113)

Likely a nursery word, although its distribution throughout the various branches of Mon-Khmer suggests that it could be genuinely ancient.

Shorto (2006) and Blust & Trussel (ACD) relate Javanese ibu and Malay ibu to a language, which may be of Austroasiatic descent, ancestral to Indonesia prior to the arrival of Western Malayo-Polynesian speakers.

Noun

*(ʔ)boʔ

1. mother

Descendants

• Aslian:
  • Temiar: bo
  • Jehai: baboʔ
• Khasic:
  • Pnar: bei, be
• (?) Nicobaric:
  • Car Nicobarese: popo (interjection)
• Monic:
  • Mon: ၝောံ (bɜ̀ˀ, “female of animals”)
• Pearic:
  • Pear: pè
  • Western:
    • Chong: peː
• Proto-Vietic: *-bəːʔ (“wife”) (Ferlus, 2007) (see there for further descendants)
• >? Old Javanese: babu
  • > Javanese: ꦧꦧꦸ (babu) (inherited)
    • → Brunei Malay: babu
    • → Malay: babu
    • → Indonesian: babu
  • → Balinese: ᬩᬩᬸ (babu)