Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/məj

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *myəy ~ sməy/smyəy (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *mey (Matisoff, STEDT; Weidert, 1987; LaPolla, 1987; Benedict, 1972)

Comparing Chinese 火 (huǒ) with Proto-Tibeto-Burman *mey is problematic. Sagart (1999) reconstructed the Chinese word as /*m̥ˤɨjʔ/, citing its variant 𤈦 (huǐ) (an ancient Wu dialect word) as the basis for reconstructing a voiceless bilabial initial. This was however revised to a uvular initial in the Baxter-Sagart (2011) system, perhaps in accordance with Zhengzhang (2003). Li (1980) reconstructed it as *hwərX, and commented that it likely came from an earlier *hmərX. The word "fire" is classified by some to belong to the same family as some words meaning "to destroy", represented by 毁 (huǐ). Compare Written Tibetan སྨྱེ་བ (smye ba, “(archaic) damaged, impaired, poor quality”).

Compare Proto-Tai *ʰmajᶜ (“to burn (intr.)”) (Thai ไหม้ (mâi), Lao ໄໝ້ (mai)).

rGyalrongic shows a pre-initial *s-.

*məj

1. fire

• Old Chinese:

  火 (huǒ) /*qʷʰˤəjʔ/ (B-S); /*qʰʷaːlʔ/ (ZS) ("fire") (see note)

  and perhaps dialectally

  𤈦 (huǐ) /*m̥əjʔ/ (B-S); /*m̥ɯlʔ/ (ZS) ("(ancient Wu dialect) fire")

  燬 / 毁 (huǐ) /*m̥ajʔ/ (B-S); /*m̥ralʔ/ (ZS) ("(ancient Qi dialect) fire")

  (火 in the oracle bone script)

  • Middle Chinese: 火 (huɑX)

    → Japanese: 火 (か, ​ka)
    Korean: 화 (火, hwa)
    Vietnamese: hoả (火)

    • Mandarin
      • Beijing: 火 (huǒ) (huǒ, /xu̯ɔ²¹⁴/)
      • Chengdu: 火 (huǒ) /xo⁵³/
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 火 (huǒ) /fɔː³⁵/
      • Taishan: 火 (huǒ) /fu̯ɔ⁵⁵/
    • Hakka
      • Meixian: 火 (huǒ) /fo³¹/
      • Sixian: 火 (huǒ) /fo³¹/
    • Wu
      • Shanghai: 火 (huǒ) /hɯ³⁴/
  • Min
    • Eastern Min

      Fuzhou: 火 (huǒ) /huoi³³/ (colloquial), /huo³³/ (literary)

    • Northern Min

      Jian'ou: 火 (huǒ) /xo²¹/

    • Southern Min

      Hokkien:

      Xiamen, Taipei: 火 (huǒ) /he⁵³/ (colloquial), /hɔ̃⁵³/ (literary)

      Zhangzhou: 火 (huǒ) /hue⁵³/ (colloquial), /hɔ̃⁵³/ (literary)

      Quanzhou: 火 (huǒ) /hə⁵⁵⁴/ (colloquial), /hɔ̃⁵⁵⁴/ (literary)

      Teochew: 火 (huê²) /hue⁵²/

• Himalayish
  • Tibeto-Kanauri
    • Bodic
      • Tibetan
        • Tibetan: མེ (me, “fire, flame”)
    • East Bodic:
      • Kurtöp: ག་མི (gami)
    • Lepcha: ᰕᰧ (mi, “fire”)
  • Mahakiranti
    • Kiranti
      • Eastern Kiranti = Rai
        • Athpare: मि (mi, “fire”)
        • Yamphu: मि (mi, “fire”)
      • Western Kiranti
        • Khaling: मि (mi, “fire”)
        • Dumi: मी (mi, “fire”)
• rGyalrongic
  • West rGyalrongic
    • Horpa
      • Geshiza: wmə
      • Tangut: 𗜐 (*mə̱¹, “fire”), 𘖐 (*mjɨ², “fire”)
    • Khroskyabs: ʁmə̂
  • East rGyalrongic
    • Japhug: smi
• Naic
  • Proto-Naish: *me
    • Naxi: mi (/⁠mi³³⁠/)
    • Narua: mu (/⁠mv̩˧⁠/)
    • Laze: [Term?] (/⁠mv̩˧⁠/)
• Proto-Lolo-Burmese: *s/ʔ-mej²
  • Burmish
    • Achang: nyi (“fire”)
    • Burmese: မီး (mi:, “fire; light”)
  • Loloish
    • Northern Loloish
      • Yi (Liangshan): ꃆꄔ (mup dut, “fire”)
• Proto-Karen: *hmeᴮ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
  • S'gaw Karen: မ့ၣ် (maỳ), မ့ၣ်အူ (maỳ ʼoo)
  • Western Pwo: မ့ၪ
  • Pa'o Karen: မေႏ
  • Western Kayah: ꤗꤤ꤬ (mì)
• Proto-Tani: *a-mə
  • Tangam: ame
• Proto-Kuki-Chin: *maj
  • Khomic
    • Khumi Chin: mai
  • Northern
    • Zou: mei
  • Central
    • Mizo: mei
• Manipuri: ꯃꯩ (mei)

• *bʷar ~ pʷar (“to burn, to ignite; fire”)
• *hwa-t (“to shine; light”)
• *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s (“water, liquid, fluid”)