Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/kV-sum

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: *g-sum (Coblin, 1986)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *g-sum (Matisoff, STEDT; Benedict, 1972; Chou, 1972; LaPolla, 1987)

This is perhaps the most stable numeral in Proto-Sino-Tibetan, with virtually no daughter language failing to show some reflex of this root. This stability can be attributed to various factors: the stability of the consonants "s" and "m", and the saliency of the numeral THREE itself. The velar prefix g/k- is the only prefix reconstructable for this root (another manifestation of well-preservedness); this is of course disregarding other prefixes in modern languages which resulted from an innovative prefix run in all of the lower numerals, for example Jingpho (m- in 3-5).

Some languages also show /a/ vocalism (e.g. Chinese), which some dismiss (somewhat unconvincingly) as secondary development. It is very likely that ablaut of *u ~ *a existed in the proto-language, i.e. *g-sum ⪤ *g-sam, analogous to *b-suŋ ~ b-saŋ (“fragrance”) (Matisoff, 1997).

Numeral

*kV-sum

**Proto-Sino-Tibetan numbers ^(edit)**
← 2	3	4 →
Cardinal: *kV-sum

three

Descendants

Old Chinese: 三 /*srum/ ("three"), /*s.rəm-s/ ("thrice")
Note: The initial *sr- in Old Chinese irregularly developed into Middle Chinese *s- (not the expected *ʃ-), possibly due to influence by the next numeral 四 (sì) (*s.l- > s-) (⇒ *pV-lij), FOUR.
- Middle Chinese: 三 (sɑm, sɑmH)
  → Japanese: 三 (さん, san)
  Korean: 삼 (三, sam)
  Vietnamese: tam (三)
  
  → Proto-Tai: *saːm (“three”) (whence Thai สาม (sǎam), Lao ສາມ (sām))
  - Mandarin
    - Beijing: 三 ("three") (sān, /san⁵⁵/)
    - Chengdu: 三 /san⁵⁵/
  - Cantonese
    - Guangzhou: 三 /säːm⁵⁵/
    - Taishan: 三 /ɬam³³/
  - Hakka
    - Sixian: 三 /sam²⁴/
    - Meixian: 三 /sam⁴⁴/
  - Wu
    - Shanghai: 三 /se̞⁵³/
- Min
  - Eastern Min
    Fuzhou: 三 /saŋ⁵⁵/
  - Northern Min
    Jian'ou: 三 /saŋ⁵⁴/
  - Southern Min
    Hokkien:
    Quanzhou: 三 /sã³³/ (colloquial), /sam³³/ (literary)
    
    Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Kaohsiung, Taipei: 三 /sã⁴⁴/ (colloquial), /sam⁴⁴/ (literary)
    
    Teochew: 三 /sã³³/ (colloquial), /sam³³/ (literary)
Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
  - Bodic
    - Tibetan
      - Tibetan: གསུམ (gsum, “three”)
        Modern Tibetan (Lhasa): /sum˥˥/
    - Eastern Bodish:
      - Kurtöp: སུམ (sum)
  - Lepcha: ᰠᰦᰮ (sám, “three”)
  - Tamangic/West Bodish
    *ᴮsom (“three”) (Mazaudon, 1994)
    - Tamang (Sahu): २सोम (²som, “three”)
- Newar
  - Newar (Dolakhali): सों (sõ, “three”)
  - Newar (Kathmandu): सो (swɔ, “three”)
- Mahakiranti
  - Kiranti
    - Eastern Kiranti = Rai
      - Limbu: ᤛᤢᤶᤛᤡ (sumsi, “three”)
rGyalrongic
- West rGyalrongic
  - Horpa
    - Geshiza: wsʰu
    - Tangut: 𘕕 (*sọ¹, “three”)
  - Khroskyabs: çsə̂m
- East rGyalrongic
  - Japhug: χsɯm
  - Situ: kəsam
Naic
- Proto-Naish: *saɣ
  - Naxi: seeq
  - Narua: so
  - Laze: [Term?] (/⁠su˥ gv˧⁠/)
Lolo-Burmese
- Burmish
  - Achang: somh
  - Burmese: သုံး (sum:, “three”) /θóʊɴ/
- Proto-Loloish: *C-sum² (“three”) (Bradley, 1979)
  - Northern Loloish
    - Yi (Liangshan): ꌕ (suo, “three”)
  - Central Loloish
    - Lisu (Southern): ꓢꓺ (sɑ̱, “three”) (ꓢꓽ (sɑ̀) / ꓢꓼ (sɑ̱̀) before most mid tone classifiers)
Proto-Kuki-Chin: *thum (“three”) (VanBik, 2009)
- Central Chin
  - Mizo: thum (“three”)
Jingpho-Asakian
- Jingpho: masum (“three”)
Boro-Garo
- Garo: gittim (“three”) (probably)
- Kokborok: tham (“three”)
Proto-Northern Naga: *C̬-sum (“three”) (French, 1983)
Proto-Tangkhulic: *tʰum (“three”) (Mortensen, 2012)
Proto-Karen: *səmᴬ (“three”) (Luangthongkum, 2013)
- S'gaw Karen: သၢ (thuh)
- Pa'o Karen: သွံ
- Western Pwo: ၥၧၫ့
- Western Kayah: ꤞꤛꤣ꤭ (thūeoe)
Proto-Tani: *ɦum (“three”) (Sun, 1993)
- Galo: aum
Baic
- Bai: sanl (“three”)
Karbi: kethom
Proto-Kho-Bwa: *um (see there for further descendants)