Reconstruction:Proto-Japonic/inai

This Proto-Japonic 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.

This Proto-Japonic entry contains original research. The reconstruction in this entry is based on published research, but the specific form presented here is not found in prior works.

Proto-Japonic

Alternative forms

*jinaC-^[1]

Reconstruction

Unknown *-C- consonantal segment which Whitman reconstructs seems unlikely considering [a ~ e] vowel alternation seen in mostly bound and seldom free form ina and free form ine.

Etymology

Related to *yənəi (“cereal grain”).

Noun

*inai

rice plant

Descendants

Old Japanese: 稲 (ine, ina)
- Japanese: 稲 (ine, ina)
Proto-Ryukyuan: *ine
- Northern Ryukyuan:
  - Kikai: 稲 (ï, ini, inï)
  - Kunigami: 稲 (nī)
  - Northern Amami Ōshima: 稲 (nī, nyā)
  - Okinawan: 稲 (nni)
  - Okinoerabu: 稲 (inī)
  - Southern Amami Ōshima: 稲 (inïï, 'ini, 'inī)
  - Tokunoshima: 稲 (inïï)
- Southern Ryukyuan:
  - Miyako: 稲 (ini)
  - Yaeyama: 稲 (ini)
  - Yonaguni: 稲 (nni)

References

^ Whitman, John (2012). "Northeast Asian Linguistic Ecology and the Advent of Rice Agriculture in Korea and Japan, Rice, Volume 4, Issue 3–4, pp 149–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12284-011-9080-0