Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/guŋ

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: *kjəngw ~ *gjəngw (Coblin, 1986)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *guŋ (Matisoff, STEDT; Benedict, 1972; Chou, 1972); *gung (LaPolla, 1987; Coblin, 1986)

Despite the phonetic resemblance between this root, Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(k/g)um (“body, back”) and Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(k/ʔ)uk (“back, crooked”), the three are probably unrelated.

Noun

*guŋ

body
back

Descendants

Old Chinese: 躬 (gōng) /*k(r)uŋ/ (B-S), /*kuŋ/ (ZS) (“body”)
- Middle Chinese: 躬 (gōng /⁠kɨuŋ⁠/, “body”)
  → Japanese: 躬 (く, きゅう, ku, kyū)
  Korean: 궁 (躬, gung)
  Vietnamese: cung (躬)
  - Modern Mandarin
    - Beijing: 躬 (gōng, /kʊŋ⁵⁵/, “body”)
  - Wu
    - Shanghai: 躬 (/kʊŋ⁵³/, “body”)
  - Yue
    - Cantonese: 躬 (/kʊŋ⁵⁵/, “body”)
- Min Nan
  - Xiamen: 躬 (/kiɔŋ⁴⁴/, “body”)
rGyalrongic
- West rGyalrongic
  - Tangut: 𗧍 (*kow¹, “body”)
Jingpho–Asakian:
- Jingpho: gong (“physical body”)
Lolo-Burmese: *guŋ¹ (“body, person”) (Matisoff, 2003)
- Loloish
  - Yi: ꇭꀧ (gop bo, “body”), ꈯꄿ (ggur dda, “body”)
- Burmish
  - Achang: gungs
  - Burmese: အကောင် (a.kaung)
  - Pela: kauŋ⁵⁵ tɔ⁵¹ (“body”)
Nungish:
- Trung/Derung/Drung: gong (“back; body; health”)