Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/ʔit

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

Reconstruction

Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *ʔjit (Coblin, 1986)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *ʔit (Matisoff, STEDT); *it (Benedict, 1972)

There is no single general root for “one” in Sino-Tibetan languages, in sharp contradistinction to the cases of numerals 2-9, for each of which a single etymon overwhelmingly predominates. This root is only found at the periphery of the Sino-Tibetan area and may therefore be quite old. The more common root for “one” is *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik.

Benedict (1972) set up this etymon on the basis of only two forms: Kanawari and Written Burmese, and identified it as cognate to Old Chinese.

Matisoff (1997) posits *-i- ~ -ya- variational pattern in this etymon (akin to *tjak ~ g-t(j)ik (“one”), *gip ~ gjap (“ten”) and perhaps *riŋ ~ rjaŋ (“ten”), op. cit.) and considers this root to be etymologically cognate with *kat (“one”).

Some Eastern Min dialects use 蜀 as the colloquial word for the numeral one, e.g. Fuzhou /soʔ⁵/, Fuqing /θyo⁵³/. Hokkien also has a similar-shaped word, e.g. Amoy /t͡ɕit̚⁵/.

Numeral

*ʔit

**Proto-Sino-Tibetan numbers ^(edit)**
	10^{[a], [b]}
	1	2 →	10 → ^{[a], [b]}
Cardinal: kV-tek, ʔa, ʔit, kat

one

Descendants

Chinese: 一 (OC *ʔit (B-S); *qlig (ZS)) (see there for further descendants)
Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
  - Western Himalayish
    - Kinnauri: id (“one”)
- Mahakiranti
  - Kham-Magar-Chepang-Sunwar
    - Chepang: यात् (jat, “one”)
rGyalrongic
- West rGyalrongic
  - Tangut: 𘂪 (*dzjij², “one, single”); 𗖌 (*gjɨ², “one, some, a”)
Lolo-Burmese
- Burmish
  - Burmese: အစ် (ac, “unit, one”) (Benedict, 1976, RDWB)
Chepangic
- Chepang: यात्