Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic/-sun

Proto-Mongolic

Alternative forms

• *-sün

Etymology

Unclear meaning. Doerfer and Poppe suggests it was a singularity marker for countable concepts in Pre-Proto-Mongolian since it was dropped when the plural affix *-d was added in words such as *nugasun (“duck”). However, it is also present in many uncountable words, especially after a monosyllabic root such as *cïsun (“blood”), *casun (“snow”), and *hüsün (“hair”), leading to its interpretation as a collective suffix by Han Nugteren or a class suffix for uncountable homogeneous substances by Juha Janhunen.

Most likely a Mongolic morphological innovation since it is only present in Mongolic languages and absent in Para-Mongolic languages, compare Khitan 烏 (u, “water”) vs. *usun (“water”), Tuoba tʰaʁ (“dirt, soil, earth”) vs. *toxusun (“dust”), and Xianbei 俟汾 (ɨbun, “grass”) vs. *ebesün (“grass”). Lexical correspondences in neighboring languages also suggest Mongolic innovation such as in Proto-Turkic *bialïk (“city, fortress”) vs. *balgasun (“city”), Manchu ᡶ᠋ᡠᡨ᠋ᠠ (futa, “rope; string”) vs. *hutasun (“string”), and Manchu ᠠᠨᠵᠠ (anja, “plough”) vs. *anǰasun (“plough”).

Suffix

*-sun

1. Suffix creating noun

Related terms

• *anja-sun (“plough”)
• *ara-sun (“skin”)
• *burga-sun (“elm”)
• *ca-sun (“snow”)
• *cï-sun (“blood”)
• *dabu-sun (“salt”)
• *dara-sun (“wine”)
• *ebe-sün (“grass”)
• *gada-sun (“stake”)
• *kadaa-sun (“nail”)
• *huta-sün (“string”)
• *hüne-sün (“ash”)
• *hü-sün (“hair”)
• *möl-sün (“ice”)
• *nï-sun (“snot”)
• *neüre-sün (“coal”)
• *noxa-sun (“wool”)
• *nuga-sun (“duck”)
• *to-sun (“oil”)
• *u-sun (“water”)
• *ü-sün (“milk”)
• *ya-sun (“blood”)
• *ye-sün (“nine”)
• *yo-sun (“custom, habit”)
• *ara-sun (“skin”)