Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic/ebür

This Proto-Mongolic 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-Mongolic

Alternative forms

• *(h)öber
• *eber

Etymology

Possibly related to Proto-Mongolic *ebcexün (“chest”), whence Mongolian өвчүү (övčüü), or Proto-Mongolic *emüne (“front, south, anterior”) possibly as a result of secondary nasalization of *b, paralleling the pair *gadar and *gadana.

Noun

*ebür

1. (anatomy) breast, bosom
2. inside, internal part
3. front side
4. sunny spot, southern slope

Descendants

• Middle Mongol:
  • Uyghur: ᠡᠪᠦᠷ (ebür)
  • Chinese: 額卜兒 (e-bu-er /⁠ebur⁠/) (Secret History)
• Mongolian:
  • Classical Mongolian: ᠡᠪᠦᠷ (ebür)
    • → Evenki: овур (owur)
    • → Tuvan: өвүр (övür)
  • Khalkha Mongolian: өвөр (övör)
  • Ordos Mongolian: /ɵwɵr/
• Oirat:
  • Kalmyk: өвр (övr)
• Buryat: үбэр (über)
• Daur: heur (with secondary /h-/), eur
• Qinghai-Gansu:
  • East Yugur: wer
  • Monguor:
    • Mongghul: yer
  • Bonan: ver
  • Kangjia: ver
  • Dongxiang: o

References

• Sun Zhu (1990) 蒙古语族语言词典 [Dictionary of Mongolic Languages] (in Chinese), Qinghai, page 537.
• Nugteren, Hans (2011) Mongolic phonology and the Qinghai-Gansu languages (dissertation)‎^[1], Utrecht: LOT.
• Haenisch, Erich (1939) Wörterbuch zu Mangḥol un Niuca Tobcaʼan (Yüan-Chʼao Pi-shi) (in German), Leipzig: Harrassowitz, page 41