祖語

Chinese

		ancestor; forefather; grandparents	speech; language; dialect speech; language; dialect; tell to
trad. (祖語)		祖	語
simp. (祖语)		祖	语

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): zǔyǔ

(Zhuyin): ㄗㄨˇ ㄩˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): zou² jyu⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: zǔyǔ [Phonetic: zúyǔ]
  - Zhuyin: ㄗㄨˇ ㄩˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: zǔyǔ
  - Wade–Giles: tsu³-yü³
  - Yale: dzǔ-yǔ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzuuyeu
  - Palladius: цзуюй (czujuj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡su²¹⁴⁻³⁵ y²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: zou² jyu⁵
  - Yale: jóu yúh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: dzou² jy⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: zou² yu⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sou̯³⁵ jyː¹³/

Noun

祖語

(linguistics) proto-language

Japanese

Kanji in this term
祖	語
そ Grade: 5	ご Grade: 2
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
(kyūjitai)

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) そご [sóꜜgò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
IPA^(key): [so̞ɡo̞]

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 祖語 (MC tsuX ngjoX, literally “ancestor + words, language”).

Noun

祖(そ)語(ご) • (sogo)

(Buddhism) the words of the founder of a particular sect

Etymology 2

Appears to be a repurposing of the earlier Buddhist term as a calque of English proto-language.

Noun

祖(そ)語(ご) • (sogo)

(linguistics) a proto-language from which later daughter languages evolve
Synonym: (uncommon) 母語 (bogo)

References

^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN