Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/rus

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: ?
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *s/m/g/-rus (Matisoff, STEDT); *rus (Weidert, 1987 TBTo; Michailovsky, 1991 Kr; LaPolla, 1987; Benedict, 1972 STC)

A Chinese reflex has been difficult to find. Chinese 骨 (gŭ < OC *kˁut, "bone") is sometimes compared with this root. Although Lepcha a-hrǎt ("bone") and Karen k(h)rut ("bone") show a final -t, the correspondence is still problematic as there is no medial *-r- in the Chinese word. Interestingly, there is a Chinese cognate to Written Tibetan rus ("clan"): 類／类 (lèi) (lèi < OC *rut-s, "category, clan"); note that the sense "clan" is likely a secondary derivation from "bone" > "lineage, family". Compare also Chinese 骸 (hái) (hái < OC *ɡˁrə, "bones, skeleton") and 頄／𬱓 (kuí < OC *ɡʷru, "cheekbone"). A more recent theory by Sagart (2014) and Hill (2019) compares Chinese 律 (lǜ) (lǜ < OC *[r]ut, "pitch pipe"), apparently as early pitch pipes would be made of bone.

Noun

*rus

1. bone

Descendants

• Proto-Kuki-Chin: *ruʔ
  • Central
    • Mizo: ruh
  • Khomic
    • Khumi Chin: ähu
  • Northern
    • Zou: gu
• Proto-Tani:
  • Galo: aloo
• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Written Tibetan: རུས་པ (rus pa, “bone; lineage, family”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Written Burmese: ရိုး (rui:, “bone; lineage, family”), အရိုး (a.rui:, “bone; stalk; hilt, haft; lineage, tradition”)