Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/mə-l(j)ək

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *liek (Coblin, 1986); *ljək (Schuessler, 2007)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *m-lyak ⪤ *s-lyak ⪤ *g-lyak (Matisoff, STEDT); *(m-)lyak ~ (s-)lyak (Benedict, 1972; Weidert, 1987; Coblin, 1986); *m-lyak ⪤ *s-lyak (LaPolla, 1987; Michailovsky, 1991)

Other cognate roots in STEDT:

• *m/s-laj ~ s-lej (“tongue”)
• *s-l(j)a (“tongue”)
• *s-ljam (“tongue, flame”)
• *s-ljaːw (“to lick, tongue”)

The words for "to lick" and "tongue" in many languages have similar shapes, compare:

• Indo-European
  • Proto-Indo-European: *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue”) (English tongue, Latin lingua; the change *dn̥- to l- occured in three branches: Lithuanian, Armenian, Latin)
  • Proto-Indo-European: *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”) (English lick, Latin lingō)
• Hmong-Mien
  • Proto-Hmong-Mien: *mblet (“tongue”) (Hmong RPA nplaig)
• Tai-Kadai
  • Proto-Tai: *liːnᶜ (“tongue”) (Thai ลิ้น (lín), Lao ລີ້ນ (līn))
  • Proto-Tai: *Ĉ.lwiəᴬ (“to lick”) (Thai เลีย (lia), Lao ເລັຽ (līa), ລວບ (lūap))
• Austroasiatic:
  • Vietnamese: lưỡi (“tongue”), liếm (“to lick”), lời (“word”), lém (“glib”)
  • Khmer: លិឍ (lɨt, “to lick”)
• Austronesian:
  • Proto-Malayo-Polynesian: *dilaq (“tongue”) (Malay lidah)
  • Malay: jilat/dilat ("to lick")
• Afroasiatic: *lis- ("tongue"), *lVḳ- ("to lick")
  • Proto-Semitic: *lišān- (“tongue”) (Arabic لِسَان (lisān), Hebrew לשון (lāšôn))
  • Arabic: لَحِسَ (laḥisa, “to lick”), لَعِقَ (laʕiqa, “to lick”)
  • Hebrew: לִקֵּק (likek, “to lick”)
• Kartvelian:
  • Proto-Kartvelian *loḳ- (“to lick”) (Georgian: ლოკვა (loḳva, “to lick”))

*mə-l(j)ək

1. to lick

• It is unexplained in the literature why the medial *-j- is missing in Bodish (Tibetan **ljag instead of ldag would be expected). Given how Tibetan ལྗགས (ljags, “tongue (honorific)”) is a derivative honorific form, however, it could be surmised that the *-j- was reinterpreted as inserted secondarily, leading to the *-j- being lost via back-formation.

• Chinese: (see there for further descendants)

  食 (*mə-lək (B-S), *ɦljɯɡ (ZS), “to eat”)

  蝕 / 蚀 (*mə-lək (B-S), *ɦljɯɡ (ZS), “to eat away, to erode; eclipse”)

  食/飼 / 食/饲 (*s-m-lək-s (B-S), *ljɯ (ZS), “to feed, to rear”)

• Proto-Bodish: *'lak
  • Tibetic
    • Dzongkha: བལྡག (bldag), ⇒ ལྗགས (ljags)
    • Sikkimese: སླབ (slab), ⇒ ལྗགས (ljags)
    • Tibetan: ལྡག (ldag), ⇒ ལྗགས (ljags)
  • Dakpa-Dzala
    • Dakpa: ངླག (nglak)
    • Dzala: ངླག (nglak)
• Lolo-Burmese
  • Burmish
    • Burmic
      • Burmese: လျက် (lyak, “to lick”)
    • Maruic
      • Pela: jaʔ³¹ (“to lick”)
  • Loloish
    • Northern Loloish
      • Yi (Liangshan): ꑽ (yot, “to lick, to lap up”)
• Naic
  • Namuyi: jā
  • Proto-Naish: *jak
    • Naxi: yeq (/⁠jɤ²¹⁠/)
    • Narua: yeq (/⁠jɤ˧˥⁠/)
• Tangkhulic: *lek
  • Tangkhul Naga: khamalek
• Proto-Karen: *hlajᴮ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
  • S'gaw Karen: လ့ၣ် (laỳ, “to lick; to lap”)
• Proto-Kuki-Chin: *liak
  • Central Kuki-Chin:
    • Mizo: lı̂ak
  • Khomic
    • Khumi Chin: bäleite (“to lick”)

• *dzaʔ (“to eat”)