phân bua

Vietnamese

Etymology

The Northern Middle Vietnamese form phân ꞗua (“to the king”) is attested in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum; this form would regularly yield *phân vua in the modern Northern dialects. The modern form with unlenited bua thus indicates that this form spread from a Central dialect without lenition and displaced the regular reflex in the mainstream dialects.

Equivalent to phân (“to distribute”) +‎ vua (“king”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [fən˧˧ ʔɓuə˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [fəŋ˧˧ ʔɓuə˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [fəŋ˧˧ ʔɓuə˧˧]

Verb

phân bua

1. to explain