ba ba

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

(hypercorrection) baba

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “This distrubution is a bit bizarre. These AA languages probably borrowed the word from Austronesian, but only in Taiwan that reflexes of *qaCipa mean "soft-shell turtle" and the ACD also notes the word probably originally meant "hawksbill turtle" and was borrowed among Austronesian languages themselves. It is unlikely that the proto-languages of these branches ever had contacts with the AN languages of Taiwan.”

From Proto-Mon-Khmer *t₁paʔ (“turtle”). Cognate with Proto-Bahnaric *tpaː (“turtle”) (whence Bahnar tơpa), Proto-Katuic *tpaa (“soft-shelled turtle”), Samre m̩pʰaː, Khmu [Cuang] tmpaʔ and Mang maː¹ paː². Compare Proto-Austronesian *qaCipa (“soft-shelled turtle”).

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaː˧˧ ʔɓaː˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaː˧˧ ʔɓaː˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɓaː˧˧ ʔɓaː˧˧]

Noun

(classifier con) ba ba

soft-shell turtle

Usage notes

Sometimes spelled baba due to incorrect assumption that this is a recent loanword.